Insight by Gama Compass
MANCHESTER – 28th September 2026: Children’s food and drink launches are increasingly embracing the functional foods agenda, rapidly catching up with the wider consumer landscape – a shift that suggests that, to a certain extent at least, parents are progressively filtering their children’s dietary requirements through the lens of their own health preoccupations. In this month’s Insight by Gama Compass, we explore the changing dynamics in the children’s food and drink sector, noting how positive health associations – most notably around protein, fibre, and reduced sugar – are taking centre stage, competing directly for consumer attention with more established claims such as those highlighting the avoidance of artificial additives.
Read this Insight by Gama Compass in the next issue of Gama News.
A close examination of innovation data reveals a telling evolution in how manufacturers go about communicating health to parents. For nearly a decade, claims focused on the removal of ‘health nasties’ – specifically “no artificial flavours” and “no artificial colours” alongside “gluten-free”. However, in the last between the 2015-17 and 2024-2026 YTD period, “high fibre” claims in children’s products surged from 15.6% to 22.8% of launches, while “high protein” claims rose from 19.4% to 23.9%, highlighting how aggressively the children’s category is adapting to functional trends that were once the exclusive domain of adult wellness.
“The evolution of claims in children’s food and drink ultimately serves as a fascinating mirror to broader shifts in product marketing and consumer priorities over the past decade”, commented Gama insights director Tom Warden. “While these changes reflect a desire among parents to align their children’s diets with their own wellness goals, they also highlight a distinct focus: developmental health remains paramount, sugar reduction stays high on the agenda, and a transformed relationship with snacking replaces traditional indulgence with considered, nutrient-dense additions”.
Source: Gama Compass
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