Explainer: Is the booming healthy snacks sector in the region well-regulated?

As consumers in the GCC increasingly focus on adopting fitter lifestyles, the regional health food industry has seen massive growth

- Mahmoud Adham

With an increased focus on wellbeing, has the health food industry seen a rise in the region in recent years?

Yes. With the new generation in the GCC being much more health-conscious and aware of what they put in their bodies, we have seen a tremendous increase in the demand for healthy snacking. Covid-19 has also played an additional role in increasing this demand because people are staying at home with little opportunity to go out or workout. This means they need to be extra careful with what they eat so they do not gain weight and face health problems due to the lack of movement.

Are there specific segments within the sector seeing stronger growth?

With the faster lifestyle people have adopted, the time for sit-down meals is no longer a priority as it was before.

This means people are getting more and more of their food intake on the go, while snacking. We can see this in the growth of the number of products on the shelves of retailers and the space they give in their stores to healthy snacking products.