America’s Love Affair With Diet Products Is Mostly Over

The shift in American consumers’ attitudes toward health and dieting is giving diet product marketers a sour stomach, according to Mintel. A Mintel analyst says “the diet industry faces downward pressure” because Americans are skeptical of diet product ingredients and their effectiveness in weight loss. In short, they believe “a magic weight loss pill likely doesn’t exist." The researcher found that 91 percent of U.S. consumers now believe a well-rounded diet is more important than using weight loss products. This shift is reflected in the fact that sales of weight-control tablets continue to decline steeply: nearly 20 percent for the 52-weeks ending July 2015. U.S. consumers agree diet products are not as healthy as they claim to be, and 61 percent believe most diets are not healthy at all.