Maxine Weber

For over 500 years, we’ve been looking for the fountain of youth—that magical restorative water that will make us look and feel younger. While the fountain has yet to be discovered, we can find some solace in knowing that many of the foods we eat are becoming healthier for us.

If it seems like everywhere you turn, you are hearing more about grains—whole, ancient or sprouted—you are paying attention. You’re also witnessing a major food trend.

Nuts and seeds have long remained dietary staples. But these days, consumers have started to realize the wide range of diversity that these ingredients offer.

During research and development, bakers and snack producers face formulation hurdles on a daily basis. Luckily, functional ingredients like fats, oils, dough conditioners and egg replacers can help them solve a host of common challenges.

Fruits, nuts and chocolate are go-to ingredients for inclusions, toppings and fillings that add nutritional benefits to baked goods and snacks.

Spicy, savory and contrasting remain flavor favorites in the baked goods and snack categories, while reds and all-natural colors are tops for adding visual appeal.

Nutritionally enhanced drizzles and compound coatings help bakers and snack manufacturers create better-for-you products for health-conscious consumers.

New sweeteners are helping bar producers reduce the sugar in their formulations and create healthier, go-to snacks.

Consumer perceptions of fats and oils have changed, as have governmental regulations, but more ingredient solutions are available today than ever before.

As people seek to reduce their sugar consumption, snack producers and bakers look for solutions that still deliver sweetness along with the added functionality sugar brings to the formula.