1. Prebiotics

With each year going by, prebiotics seems to take a larger portion of the supplementation market and one of the nutrition trends of 2021.

Taking prebiotics will optimize the health of your gastrointestinal tract, as well as other organ systems.

One might argue that prebiotics is found in food(e.g., legumes, oats, bananas, berries), and therefore, there is no need to supplement them. Unfortunately, that’s far away from the truth since most of the population doesn’t get nearly as enough through their diet.

The primary role of prebiotics is to optimize the quality of your gut flora(a.k.a., gut microbiome). Your gut flora is a crucial entity that influences most organ systems, including the central nervous system, heart, liver, and skin.

In fact, researchers keep uncovering new evidence about the gut microbiome that makes it one of the most critical components in the body. People often confuse between PREbiotics and PRObiotic.

What’s the Difference Between Probiotics and Prebiotics?

Probiotics are themicroorganisms that help restore the balance to your digestive tractby suppressing the growth of opportunistic microbes. They also help by aiding in the digestion of certain foods (e.g., fiber, complex carbohydrates).

On the other hand, prebioticsis the actual food for those microorganisms. Their role is to help your microbiome become more balanced and diverse.

2. Protein-packed coffee

Protein coffee has been trending over the past couple of years, and for a good reason as it is one of the nutrtition trends of 2021.

Before we explain why this product is beneficial, let’s define it first:

As the name implies, protein coffee is the combination of coffee with protein powder to make a stimulant, muscle-building smoothie.The idea is that most people don’t get sufficient amounts of protein through their diet, especially if they do strength training. Consequently, a lot of potential muscle growth is lost in the process.By adding protein into one of your sacred rituals (e.g., drinking coffee), you’ll provide your muscles with the necessary amino acids to mediate hypertrophy.In general, most protein-packed coffees add whey, soy, or collagen to the mix.

Let’s see how whey protein (the most common among the three) helps you increase lean muscle mass:

Whey protein is extracted from milk during the cheesemaking process. This product is loaded in branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) that carry numerous anabolic properties, such as muscle growth stimulation.One of the most prevalent amino acids in BCAAs is leucine, which has been researched for decades, as it’s a vital compound for post-exertional muscle growth and recovery.In a2009 study, researchers experimented on whey, soy, and casein protein to see which product is the most potent at inducing muscle growth.The study results showed that whey protein causes 31% more muscle growth compared to the other supplements. For this reason, whey has become the market standard when it comes to protein supplements, especially in the field of strength training.Note that whey protein gets extracted from milk, which means that lactose-intolerant individuals may experience digestive symptoms (e.g., diarrhea, bloating, gas) after intake.With that being said, the combination of whey and coffee powders will continue trending in 2021 and the upcoming years.

3. Innovative Dairy Products

Over the years, people have become more familiar with lactose intolerance, which pushed manufacturers to develop innovative alternatives for individuals with this condition.

This resulted in several dairy-free products, including lactose-free ice cream. Food products like this are becoming nutrition trends of 2021.

Despite the terminology, this ice cream is not produced without lactose since manufacturers add a synthetic lactase enzyme to metabolize the lactose. However, some companies filter lactose out of the milk when making the product.

In both scenarios, lactose-free ice cream is trending as it allows people with lactose intolerance to enjoy their favorite treat without having to go through terrible indigestion.

Flavored Cottage Cheese

Technically speaking, cottage cheese is cheese curds. This product is made by draining the cheese instead of pressing it, retaining the moisture, and whey. Another characteristic of cottage cheese is that it doesn’t undergo the ageing process.

This type of cheese is rich in B vitamins, calcium, protein (1 small cup contains up to 25 grams), and other essential minerals.

To meet people’s different tastes, manufacturers started flavoring cottage cheese (e.g., sweet and spicy mango), which was met positively by the public.

We expect that this trend will continue to grow and include more flavors to help people get large amounts of protein, vitamins, and minerals while enjoying the flavors.

Takeaway Message — Research the Trends

Nutrition trends occur every year, starting by making big claims and promises that end up being untrue, making people abandon the direction and move on to the next.

By covering these current trends, we hope that it shed some light on the logic that keeps some products on the market to help you make better choices in the future.

If you have any questions or something that you want to add, please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts in the comment section below. If you enjoyed this article make sure to give it a round of applause with 50 claps and give my blog a follow so I can produce more educational content.