Americans are spending much more on snacks like protein bars, chips and beef jerky, while overall grocery spending has remained almost flat, according to data provided by Nielsen to The Huffington Post. Worldwide, snack sales rose 2 percent to $374 billion for the year ending in March.
The number of snacks we eat at mealtimes is expected to grow by 5 percent over the next five years. That means that in 2018, Americans will be eating snacks as meals 86.4 billion times a year, according to the NPD Group, a market research firm.
NPD predicts most of that growth will come from healthier snacks, but that doesn't mean we're over chocolate and chips. Pepsi's recent patent for a granola bar with Pop Rocks is one food that combines these desires, but for the most part we're looking to eat carrots and hummus around lunchtime and then grab some candy a few hours later.
James Russo, a senior vice president of consumer insights at Nielsen, pointed to Americans' contradictory feelings toward salt as an example of this dynamic. While the top snack in North America over the past 30 days was chips or crisps, the third-highest health priority for respondents was low salt/sodium, Nielsen found.
"We want indulgent snacks but we also want healthy options for a snack," Russo said. "We're increasingly using all these different food products to satisfy our hunger."
(via Huffington Post)
