NO longer satisfied by three meals a day, Americans have become accustomed to noshing whenever hunger hits.
On any given day, about a quarter of Americans skip breakfast and 1 in 8 skip lunch, but 90% treat themselves to a snack, according to the International Deli-Dairy-Bakery Assn. In 2002, a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that about 86% of Americans admit to eating between meals on any given day. On average, Americans eat about two snacks daily -- a frequency mostly unchanged since the first CDC survey in 1971.
Although Americans are consuming about the same weight of snacks daily (about 21 ounces, including snack beverages) as they did three decades ago, the number of snack calories has increased significantly over the last three decades, according to the CDC surveys. In 1971, a typical snack was about 185 calories; in 2002, it was 234.
Now, however, snackers may be having second thoughts. Although bored cubicle workers may not be ready to give up the midmorning vending machine visit, they seem increasingly aware of the caloric toll.
About three-quarters of American shoppers are now trying to eat more healthfully, according to a recent survey by Information Resources Inc., a market analysis research group. About two-thirds are trying to replace high-calorie snacks with healthier options or eat snacks with more nutritional value. And 57% are flat-out trying to snack less often.
These trends have certainly caught the eye of the snack food industry, even being called "growing concerns" in a state of the industry report at Snaxpo, the annual meeting of the Snack Food Assn. in March.
So food manufacturers, always responsive to society's needs (or, more accurately, the changing marketplace), are scrambling to expand into the fastest-growing niche in the snack market: healthful snacks.
Well, not-so-unhealthful snacks.
No longer just the stuff of hippie health food stores, new better-for-you snacks are likely to be comforting favorites -- or familiar variations thereof -- rejiggered and repackaged to reflect the latest health concerns. Trans-fat free. Whole-grain goodness. Or fortified with flavanols.
But be forewarned: Some nutritionists question whether the new snacks will actually make consumers healthier. Unnecessary calories are unnecessary calories -- whether they're "free of trans fats," made with "real fruit juice" or stuffed with vitamins most people get plenty of anyway.
