As we roll into the new year, The AG Show is diving into the latest trends shaping how health‑conscious consumers are eating. From the rise of high‑protein and high‑fibre everything, to the buzz around weight‑loss jabs and supplements, AHDB’s consumer guru Vanessa Adamson and nutrition and health top bod Kate Arthur help us make sense of it all. They join Charlotte, Hannah and Tom to unpack what these shifts could mean for our plates -and our farmers.
Plus, Farmer Tom is back! He’s giving us an update on his Farmer Time charity and how it’s reconnecting kids with the fields and farms where their food begins.
SOME USEFUL BITS
The new consumer health revolution | AHDB
2026 consumer health predictions | AHDB
Farmer Time | Connecting Classrooms & Farms
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Charlotte, Hannah, and Tom would love to hear what you think! Got feedback, stories, or ideas for future episodes? Drop them a message at agshow@ahdb.org.uk.
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Happy New Year, Tom. Happy New Year, Charlotte and producer.
Tom S:Happy New Year.
Hannah:I hope you all had a lovely break. Can I ask, is it bad luck to still have your Christmas tree up this late in January?
Charlotte:Technically, yes, but the one year I did have mine up until, I want to say, middle of February because it was just so depressing to take it down. So one year I did have tinsel and everything up till middle of Feb.
Tom S:And did any bad luck ensue?
Charlotte:Oh, yeah, it really did. Yeah. Hannah, take it down. Hi, I'm Charlotte Forkes-Rees.
Tom S:I'm Tom Spencer.
Hannah: the first episode to drop in: Charlotte:Coming up, we'll be looking at consumer health. Given this is the time of year that brings many changes to people's eating hapits.
Hannah:We'll try to understand what's causing those barriers to a healthy lifestyle.
Vanessa:They have the desire to change their lifestyle, but things that do hold them back are primarily cost but also time. You know, they are held by time constraints and that ability to have the time to cook healthy meals.
Tom S:We'll also hear from friend of the Ag Show, Tom Martin, about his project connecting classrooms with farmers.
Tom M:That's the thrill for them, is they're not watching a farmer, they're not watching Clarkson or Henson or people like that. They're interacting. They ask a question and the farmer answers their question.
Charlotte:A reminder, new episodes of the Ag show drop every Wednesday at midday. Available wherever you get your podcasts.
Hannah:We've got traditional audio, but we've also got shiny video on YouTube for every show. Just subscribe to make sure you don't miss an episode.
Tom S:And don't forget to get in touch. We'd love to hear from you. Thank you. Comment on any of our social posts, rate us five stars, or email agshowhdb.orguk.
Hannah:What did you make with your wooden spoon, Charlotte?
Charlotte:It's already curry stained. My husband has a bit of a habit of if I get a new cooking implement, I don't cook, so I just like going and buying things.
I do bake, though, so I quite often will go and buy a spoon for baking so it doesn't smell like curry. I was like, oh, maybe I'll use my wooden spoon for baking. No, it's the curry spoon now gone.
Hannah:Don't like the idea of a cake tinted with korma jalfrezi.
Charlotte:For those of you who might be feeling a little bit lost, we are of course referring to our big Christmas quiz of the year, where I think I have finally gotten over the fact that Tom won, even with me trying to nobble him. So, yes, once again, congratulations to Tom. I've kind of gotten over on a.
Tom S:Topic that doesn't really have a right answer. Unlike last week, we are talking about consumer health and their purchasing intentions.
Charlotte:Well, it has definitely been, you know, an indulgent few weeks that we've been having following Christmas and New Year, but we are firmly into January now.
And this is when I think my attention and a lot of other people's attention starts becoming perhaps a little bit more focused on health and actually that is then perhaps driving some choices, whether that's at checkout or the meals that people are making or even just how they're thinking and feeling about the foods that they are eating and purchasing. And this is going to have an impact, isn't it, on our ag industry. So whether that is food or whether that is farming.
Recently, Vanessa, who is a retail and consumer insight manager at hdb, has undertaken a piece of research looking at what is important to consumers when it comes to health. So, Vanessa, come on, what's the top stats? Are people looking at having, you know, restrictive diets?
Are they looking at making healthier choices by including more things within what they're eating? What's the score?
Vanessa:Hi, Charlotte, Happy New Year to you. It's a bit of a balance actually. 23% of people are actually looking to reduce their fat, salt and sugar intake, which probably comes as no surprise.
And also just slightly Ahead of that, 26% are saying they want to reduce their ultra the amount of ultra processed foods they consume, which again is no surprise because, you know, I think we're all more aware of this nowadays and that that appeal to be actually eating more natural food. But in terms of what people are adding into their diet, what do they want to add in? We are seeing that protein is still very popular.
14% of our respondents in our survey by YouGov said that they are still very keen to increase the protein intake. And this is primarily with the under 34s and we do see an influence there, more on the males rather than females incre their protein intake.
But we also see close behind that 13% are looking to increase their fibre intake, which is quite a new trend off the block, but yet we predict that's only going to grow actually.
Charlotte:So it's a bit of a balance then, isn't it? About some people are potentially looking at what they can be reducing, but other people's. It's more about what they can include within the Diet.
So you mentioned protein and fibre there. Is it that you are seeing the younger consumers are more interested in looking at that within their diet or is it across the ranges?
And I say this only because I remember growing up and it's going to be aging me completely now where it was low fat ski yogurts and that's what you wanted to do for your healthy, healthy diet or Special K diet. And you'd be eating Special K two or three times a day to replace meals. Is that still the case or is this quite different now?
Vanessa:I think with trends we're seeing now definitely within protein intake. This is dominated, I would say, by the males that are under 34.
They like to be consuming higher levels of protein to build up their muscle and for athletic performance. And I know I've only got a sample of one, my son, but yes, he's very much a meat and eggs diet, however much I try and push for fruit and veg.
Charlotte:So yes, he's gonna say Tom's just had a very rye smile there. So I feel like Tom might also be part of that good sample too.
Tom S:I do, I do love my eggs, that's for sure.
Vanessa:But eggs and say chicken or eggs and meat together, Tom?
Tom S:Yeah, no, for sure. I think that chicken as well, pork's definitely on our table a lot at the minute, getting that protein up.
But you're right, that athletic attitude and trying to be a bit more active. I think you want to sort of do both sides of the coin.
Not only are you being active, but also you've got to have a healthy lifestyle in the consumption side as well. And that's where, yeah, protein is probably up there for sure.
Vanessa:I mean, I do have to have a rice mile as well when he goes off to work and he takes his great big lunchbox full of muesli and natural and Greek yogurt. So natural yogurt is very much, sorry, Charlotte, it's not a ski flavored yogurts anymore.
It's definitely the natural yogurt that again, ticks that protein box for him. But yeah, that's the trend we're seeing. It's not just a sample of one, it's definitely what we're seeing out the survey we've conducted recently.
Charlotte:What else are we seeing, Vanessa? Because obviously, you know, health is clearly being important, but equally with these wider trends, we can't get away from cost, can we?
Is there perceptions that it's easy or affordable to eat healthily or is anything like that coming through in the data.
Vanessa:We do see in the data basically 85% of our respondents said that diet is very important to them in terms of their health and 77% said that fitness was important to them. But things that are holding them back is, as you say, the rising costs. They have the desire to change their lifestyle.
But things that do hold them back are primarily costs but also time. You know, they are held by time constraints and that ability to have the time to cook healthy meals.
So it might just be, you know, a quick fix, a quick ready meal, for example.
So they did desire is bare, but it is about challenging the industry to supply maybe more recipes, more healthy recipes which are quick and simple to use. I know that's something that ahdb, we actively highlight recipes for consumers and across the board as well through retailers.
I know they do a lot of work in this sphere as well.
And it is a fact, you know, our research does tell us world panel by numerator quote that an average evening meal with a healthy element to that meal is £3 65, which is actually 13% more expensive than one without any healthy element to it. So really are up against it. But health is really important.
Charlotte:And I suppose some of that is then going to be coming down to perhaps people are having to rely on more expensive elements if they're less comfortable or confident in how to cook things.
Because actually, you know, we know, don't we, that if you are making a meal and you're using, you know, ingredients from scratch, that is going to be a cheaper way of cooking compared to having to get these different components added in to, you know, save on time or, you know, sauces or different bits that you might add in.
So actually, yeah, if people are perhaps having to rely on things like ready meals or different bits of kits to make that so called, you know, quote unquote healthy meal, actually that is going to have that cost element.
So perhaps some more work needs to be done there around that, you know, confidence and consumer perceptions of how easy it might be to cook a nice healthy meal.
Vanessa:I think it is, I think it's about getting that word out there that there are affordable dishes, you know, whether that's for example, a stir fry or a spaghetti bologna. There are ways you can do this maybe with pork instead of beef, for example, as the rising beef prices.
But there are affordable recipes that you can make.
But again, it's down to time or whether actually, you know, not all households have got facilities, kitchen facilities to make large maybe batch cooking. Cause that's a cheaper way of approaching food. But it is what people you know, can do within their home, within their timescales.
Tom S:Yeah. Vanessa, that comment you made about can the consumer. Well, at least there's a perception that the cost of a healthier meal is more expensive.
So I might introduce Kate Arthur now to give a bit of her insight.
She's head of health and nutrition here at AHDB about maybe the consumer might not understand what is healthy and what isn't and maybe there's some misconceptions there. Would that be right, Kate?
Kate:Yeah. Hi, Tom. And happy New Year to everyone. Yeah, you're right.
I think from the survey that Vanessa's been talking about, one of the key things that came out was that a lot of consumers are really confused as to what is healthy.
And I think in this day and age there's so much misinformation out there in the press, on packaging, you know, health claims, in the media, social media especially, you know, things like TikTok, where people are now going to for their health information. But there is a lot of misinformation out there.
So people are generally quite confused as to what they should be eating, what they shouldn't be eating. So that's really not helping.
And I think as well there's so much focus on like single nutrients, you know, fat is bad or eating too much ultra processed foods. We need to get back to talking about actually what makes up a healthy balanced diet, what should be people eating to stay healthy.
You know, as we all know, it's really important to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables and whole grain cereals, beans, pulses, but also lean proteins, light lean meat, dairy. You know, these animal source foods play a really important role in the diet.
I guess that's why we run canned campaigns like let's Eat Balanced, which really tries to get across to consumers the importance of healthy balanced diet and how things like beef, lamb, dairy can be part of that overall healthy plate of food. You haven't got to exclude. It's actually about having an overall healthier dietary pattern that's really important.
And I was actually really interested from what Vanessa said about the growing interest in protein as well as fibre. And I think we're seeing fibre coming up as the next big trend.
I guess I've heard the word fiber maxing people now really trying to get a lot more fibre in their diets alongside protein.
And actually having red meat in a meal could be a good way of actually encouraging you to have more fiber rich foods because you always tend to pair things like red meat with vegetables, don't you? If you think when you make things like a spaghetti Bolognese or a stir fry, you tend to add vegetables to it.
So actually meat can be a great vehicle for driving consumption of more fruit, more veg and more of those fibre rich foods.
Hannah:Yeah, and we've done some work on that, haven't we?
The healthier baskets work at HDB that actually put some evidence behind that that when red meat and primary red meat is in a basket, that basket's more likely to contain those other, you know, fruit and vegetables that contribute to that fibre goal.
Kate:Yeah, we've done some healthy basket analysis work using Kanthar data recently and yeah, it shows exactly that, that when you put primary meat in your baskets, you tend to put more, a greater volume of vegetables and other plant rich ingredients, things like and pulses into your basket because you just don't eat meat on its own. You don't just have a plate of meat or some people might, but most people tend to have, you know, meat and make it as part of a meal, don't they?
So if, you know, you take your traditional roast dinner, you know, most people will have two, three portions of different veg with that roast dinner. Or if you're making a stir fry, a nice lean pork stir fry, you're going to put a load of veggies in with it.
Same with like a spaghetti Bolognese, you know, you put tomatoes in it, don't you? And maybe some carrots.
Controversial, but think that's that the research we've recently shown done is really showing that that meat is a great vehicle for driving consumption of more veg and more of those plant rich ingredients which we want consumers to consume more of. They're really important part of that healthy, balanced diet, I think.
Tom S:On that note, it's time for a quick break, but we will be back with Vanessa and Kate later.
Charlotte:Welcome back to The AG Show.
Now, Tom, I'm so pleased you're back this week because our next guest is Farmer Tom, who when he was last on the show, Hannah and I had a bit of a tricky time keeping track of which Tom we were even talking about.
Tom S:That's right, we've got Farmer Tom back. So I began by asking him whether he felt the disconnect between children and where their food comes from.
Tom M:Absolutely.
Wouldn't it be great if we were in a world where farmertime, a charity set to connect people with where their food comes from, to link farmers and teachers, farmers and classes for video calls throughout the farming year, wasn't needed at all. But we're at a point in history where we've never been more divorced from where our food comes from.
I hardly ever meet anybody with a living relative involved in farming when I'm not at a farming event. You know, most people, oh, well, you know, my great, great grandfather, whatever, et cetera.
But actually hardly anyone has a living relative involved in farming and food production. But I also think we're at a time when people have never been more interested. You turn the television on, you turn the radio on, you go online.
Actually it's peppered with people wanting to do small holding, connecting with things. We're getting into fermentation nowadays, aren't we looking at a lot of things? We're fascinated by our food and where it comes from.
So what a great tension that is of a very low level of knowledge, but a high level of interest. And we put them together as farmer time and we have a great time with it.
Tom S:Yeah, I was reading some comments that minette batters made in the House of Lords, drawing upon examples of where it's potentially been done better than it has in the uk, in Japan and Finland and the techniques they're using. I think it's a really exciting place to be.
I know I've got a few colleagues from university who did their dissertations sort of on that and that disconnect. And it was quite apparent that there is, in terms of school and education, when it comes to agriculture, how does it work then?
Do you dial into a classroom? What's the process?
Tom M:It is super simple, you know, and we've all come through that torrid time of COVID so we all know how to make video calls. It's very, very simple. We pair one farmer to one teacher, one farmer to one classroom.
We use whatever video app works in terms of the farm and the school. And in essence, we have a series of video calls. It's very flexible. So it work. Whatever works for the farmer, whatever works for the teacher.
You've got two industries of incredibly busy people. But the beauty of farmer time is it just takes 10 minutes every two or three weeks.
And typically what will happen is the farmer or the teacher, the farmer will say to the teacher, you know, what are you studying at the moment? Well, it might be soils or worms or pollinators or poo or reproduction or whatever it might be. And the farmer will then go somewhere.
I go somewhere on the farm that's appropriate to whatever they're studying. It can be a whole range of topics and normally I just introduce where I am, what I'm doing, and the kids just ask questions.
We Very much learn together, you know. Absolutely.
We, as farmers, we know what's going on on our farm, but sometimes I say to the kids, well, you know, why don't you tell me what you're learning? And they can kind of share what they're learning and we chat together, we have a lot of fun.
And interestingly, a lot of farmers who are a bit nervous about doing it the first time send me an email to say, oh, gosh, it was so amazing. We had a great time. Because it's all effectively facilitated by the teacher, what feels like it could be quite a dangerous environment.
25 kids asking question. Actually very sanitized and safe.
The teacher will kind of, in the case of my teacher, we'll pick children to ask questions and sometimes they'll need to be a bit explained to me or repeated if the kids are a bit quiet and we just have a great chat. There are never fewer hands up at the end than there are at the beginning.
There's always more questions and they're so curious and interested and, yeah, we have a great time. I hear from so many farmers that it's the highlight of their week. It's certainly the highlight of mine. So we. It's great fun.
We always need farmers, we always need more farmers to take part. So. Farmertime.uk sign up. Why not?
Tom S:This one actually hits quite close to home, actually, because my mum, she's now retired, but she was a biology teacher and as much as she tried her hardest to sort of promote agriculture within the education system, you know, trying to get dad into the classroom wasn't always practical. So if something like this was about when she was.
When she was still teaching, I think dad would have been first sign up to get on a video call type thing.
Tom M:Well, it's great because it's only a very short period of time, but also we pair across the uk, so what our children, our learners, what they tend to do is a lot of comparing and contrasting in education nowadays. So, I mean, it's great if sometimes we pair quite locally, but often we'll pair much further afield.
And what you get there is, what's the weather like with you? What does the soil look like? What can you see out the window? Often that compare and the.
And contrast is interesting for the farmer, but also for the schools as well. So it's not just about connecting with that local school, of course, because there's.
Tom S:Some kids sort of in a city who are probably quite far away from their nearest farm who wouldn't normally get access to that on A normal year.
Tom M:Well, that's right. And actually, you don't just get access to view, you get access to really feel part of it. I can take my farmer time.
I can take my class onto the combine. I can climb up on top of the muck heap. I can be around heavy machinery where there's no way I wouldn't allow a class of kids within half a mile.
And yet I can take them wherever I am, whatever's going on, I can just beam them to that part of the farm and we get straight to the point, which is, again, so, so important. And from their perspective, they absolutely love it. And I've realized that as farmers, we think we're just farmers.
We turn up, grow some stuff or breed some. Some things and fatten them up. But actually, we're very much scientists from the kind of education perspective.
We are doing all the things they're doing within their kind of scientific process.
It's not always just the science subjects, but we're observing and we're researching and we're coming up with a plan and we're formulating our strategy. We're controlling our variables, we're implementing our experiments.
I mean, for us, that's our lifestyle, that's our livelihood, and we're collecting data, we're analyzing it, we're assessing what went wrong or what went right. You know, we're implementing again the next year, the next season. So we're very much scientists. And it really. The overlap.
The Venn diagram is a huge overlap with the curriculum. So it's a really exciting thing to.
Tom S:Be part of imagining you on the combine whilst you're.
Well, I guess you're almost like one of these Twitch streamers or YouTube streamers of live with an audience, and you've got a chat there, sort of asking questions. I think that's what the next generation is doing in their spare time now. They get to do it in the classroom and actually learn something.
That sounds awesome.
Tom M:And that's the thrill for them, is they're not watching a farmer. They're not watching Clarkson or Henson or people like that. They're interacting. They ask a question, and the farmer answers their question.
Tom, that's a great question. Let me show you this, or let me tell you the answer, or let me take you over here and we'll have a look at what you're interested in.
That's why they get so much out of it. That's why that kind of real visual learning side of things is so important. Important.
That's why we kind of fire we pique their curiosity and that's why we get such positive feedback from our teachers.
Tom S:So if farmers, or indeed schools, want to get involved, how can they? Tom?
Tom M:Farmertime.uk there's information on there for teachers, there's information for farmers and it might be that your child is in a class and actually you want to pass that on to the teacher there. Absolutely. Go for it. It's a very simple signup process. It is free. It is absolutely free and it's completely flexible.
If you're a farmer or a teacher, it will fit into your curriculum or to your farming year and it's possibly the most impactful thing you can do without leaving the farm.
Vanessa:Yeah.
Hannah:It's so important to get that education down to school level, isn't it? Because I think it's a topic that's not often easy to keep in the curriculum.
So Tom's doing excellent work there and we should say as well, they're currently accepting classrooms into the scheme from Keith stage two through to key stage five. So please do get involved. But now a quick break. We're going to carry on this conversation around health and consumer choice.
We've already talked about the relationship between health and fitness and price and convenience and kind of what, what. What consumers are thinking about when they think of what is healthy. Misinformation being a really big part of that as well.
I'm interested to know about the differences between gender. So I am fully into gym talk and the videos that you get served and the new. All the nutrition advice that comes along with that.
There is a lot of information and we've talked about some of that possibly not being completely accurate, but it's more than just blanket advice. It's more than just blanket nutrition, isn't it?
Because everyone's different and everyone has different requirements of what they should eat to be healthy. Vanessa, I know your report's done a bit of work on this. What have you sort of found?
Vanessa:Well, interestingly, we found there is a bit of a gender health gap and there's also a bit of an age health gap, which is probably more expected, I would say.
I know we touched on younger males probably having this protein fix, but what we do see see as well is that almost a half of teenage girls and a quarter of women are most likely to be iron deficient. So this is a real concern, I would say, amongst this cohort.
And we did see as well in the survey when we asked about what supplements people are likely to take, that females are more likely to be taking vitamin D and Iron supplements and also vitamin B12. So that does go along the lines of, yeah, being, you know, iron deficient, potentially tired. So they're taking these supplements to combat that.
And we do know in the research we did last year that actually vegans and vegetarians are more likely to be taking these supplements as well. So that really is, you know, where the role of red meat can play an important part here.
And I know Kate's done an in depth report, red meat report, that report.
Kate:That we put out earlier on this year really is a deep dive into the latest scientific evidence around the role red meat is playing within a healthy and sustainable diet. And in that report we look at different gender, different age groups and what people are actually consuming. And we can clearly see that it's.
There's the more.
I call them more vulnerable groups in society like children, teenage girls, pregnant women and the older population groups that are more likely to be lacking in certain vitamins and minerals and things like iron is a key one. So we know that around 49% of teenage girls in the UK have low iron intakes and around 9% actually have clinically diagnosed iron deficiency anaemia.
So it's really important that we look at ways of actually encouraging a higher iron intake. And red meat can play a really important role there because it's really rich in iron and a very sort of absorbable form of iron as well.
It's what we call heme iron. It's very easily absorbed by the body. So red beets obviously played a key role in there and then things like dairy as well.
So we know around 17% of teenage girls are not getting enough calories, calcium in their diets. Calcium is so important for bone health.
And in the early years, you know, the children and teenage years, that's when we need to be getting a calcium into the diet because that's when we can help strengthen our bones and reach what we call peak bone mass. And if we're not doing that, we're going to be putting our bone health at risk later on in life.
So actually making sure that people are eating foods which are nutrient rich, that contain things like iron and calcium and B12, zinc, selenium, all those really important micronutrients, you find those in animal source foods like red meat, like dairy. So, yeah, really important message.
Charlotte:I think I attended a webinar tail end of last year and it was talking about different areas that have seen like, strong growth throughout the year.
And one area that I found was particularly interesting was that they were saying that vitamin and mineral Supplements have been sort of booming and, and when you're looking at who's buying it, they are more likely to be potentially a more affluent consumer, partly because they are actually quite an expensive way to get these nutrients into your diet. And I think that is, you know, when it then comes down to actually that education piece, doesn't it?
Because like you were saying, Kate, red meat and dairy are great sources of a number of nutrients that people are perhaps more likely to be deficient in. Will actually it can be a cheaper way to get those into your diet than having to do these additional sort of tablets, supplements.
So how can we sort of position this to consumers that this is something they need to be looking at and perhaps they don't need to be going and buying that additional supplement to meet their health needs.
Kate:Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it? Because I think that younger generation want that quick fix. They're sort of living in the sort of here and now.
And it's quite easy to take a supplement rather than thinking about cooking a healthy, healthy balanced meal. Interesting that a lot of consumers now are really concerned about ultra processed foods.
So they are looking for foods that are less processed, much more natural with less ingredients.
So I think we can really benefit from that in terms of promoting the fact that animal source foods like red meat, like dairy are natural and they're naturally rich in really important vitamins and minerals.
Campaigns like our let's Eat Balance campaign really helps to get some of those key nutrition messages across, you know, highlighting the fact that it's naturally rich in protein and vitamin B12 and iron.
You know, more of that type of messaging I think is really helpful because it actually shows consumers when they're shopping, particularly when you see these nutrition claims on Pat and they go, oh, right, okay, I didn't realize red meat was a, you know, a rich source of vitamin B12. That's, that's interesting. Maybe I'll, I'll go and buy that rather than taking that supplement.
So I think, yeah, education and showing people that actually you can get nutrients, really important nutrients from whole foods is really helpful. I mean, I'm not anti supplements, but I think, you know, it's great to try.
And if you can get your vitamins and minerals from whole foods and obviously there are certain vitamins and minerals that we might need, like vitamin D for example. We should all be taking our vitamin D, particularly through the winter months.
That's a government recommendation and that's an important recommendation. But generally speaking, you know, if we can get it from whole Foods.
Hannah:Foods.
Kate:Then that's the way to go, I think.
Hannah:Kate, I want to ask a potentially spiky question. Could we not just take supplement pills to get our nutrients?
Kate:I think that'd be really sad, wouldn't it, if we all started doing that? I think food plays such an important role in our lifestyles, our lives. You know, we've just been through Christmas, haven't we?
And I'm sure how many of us sat around a table with our families enjoying our Christmas dinner? You know, food plays such an important role culturally, socially. It'd be really sad if we just stopped eating and just relied on some.
I think we've got to remember that that food is a lot more than just providing nutrients. It does so much more. And I know, you know, I love sitting down with my family, my friends, enjoying a good meal. It's really, really important.
Charlotte:Maybe we need to start really making it clear about those tangible benefits that eating that red meat and dairy can do within diets.
And like you've mentioned, that's where our let's Eat Balance campaign can come in really well, that is currently live and it will be throughout all of January and then February will be moving on to our British pork, but not as you know it.
And both of these will look tangible health benefits as well as the enjoyment factors and price credentials that come into including red meat and dairy within diets.
Tom S:Now, I know I don't want to sort of bang on with the idea that I have been to Geneva to a lovely conference, but one of the topics that did pop up, Vanessa, when I was at the JIRA meat club was GLP1. Now what the information I was given there was more of sort of a global context, but have you got any stats on how that's affecting diets in the uk?
Vanessa:Yes, we have. I must admit, a bit like you, Tom. I've attended a few webinars this year and GLP has always been on the agenda.
Hannah:By GLP we mean weight loss jabs, don't we? And like Ozempic, is that right?
Vanessa: % in:It rose up to 4% in terms of GP households last year. And it's a trend we only expect to. To grow. It's much higher in the States and we just expect it's going to follow that.
It is by prescription, but people can buy this as well. And it has become popular, you know, it's very Much advertised on social media as a way, key way to lose weight.
And these consumers are then looking for lighter meals, so it is changing their eating habits. They're looking for lighter meals with a high protein content.
So this does fit in well with what we've previously been saying about, you know, lean red meat, meat, natural yogurt, milk and eggs all fit the bill for this because they will be doing less snacking, probably less takeaways. Their lifestyles will change while they're on these drugs. And yeah, it's just a trend we expect to see, to see growing.
Tom S:Yeah, with, with GLP1s you've got consumers that are actively reducing the amount they are spending because they're consuming less. But potentially they've got deficiencies in some of those key nutritional ingredients such as has that protein and that fibre.
Is that something that we could potentially see consumers value a bit more if they're on those GLP1s and maybe be willing to pay a bit more for a more protein dense product?
Kate:Totally. Tom.
I think it's really important that those on weight loss therapies like GLP ones make sure they're getting adequate nutritional intake, particularly protein, because you get more muscle wastage when you're on these types of therapies. So nutrient dense foods. So things like meat, dairy that we know and we've already discussed are really nutrient dense foods.
They'll play a really important role in people's diets going forward. So it's definitely a trend that's here to stay.
So I think there's a real opportunity there for foods like meat and dairy to play an important role in people's diets that are on these weight loss medications.
Charlotte:Yeah, I think it's going to be an interesting one to watch, isn't it? Because obviously we've been talking about cost and people finding that having a healthy diet is, is perhaps an expensive way to.
Or it could be more expensive for them. But these weight loss drugs come with a cost too.
So while it could potentially take off and there'd be lots of people looking to use them, actually the cost can be prohibitive, I would think as well for some because it's not a cheap option for people to look towards.
So yeah, we could have this one way, couldn't we, where it's, you know, 10% of the population or it's something similar to that, isn't it, Vanessa, that in the same states there's uptake of these GLP1s but actually because it is one that you would have to fund yourself although the NHS is looking to roll this out to certain people with certain criteria that they meet.
What's the tipping point, or what's the balancing point that people are potentially going to be looking for, for that cost becoming less prohibitive for them? So, yeah, one to watch, for sure.
Tom S:I think that's a great point that we can end on. Thank you so much, so much, Vanessa and Kate, for joining us. Thank you at home for listening.
We've covered a lot today on the food nutrition side of things, as well as an important chat with Farmer Tom. If you do have any questions on this subject or want to suggest anything further, please do get in touch.
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