On their face, the three ingredient strategies for human food brands highlighted in a recent webinar from Innova Market Insights, “Top global ingredient trends 2026,” don’t seem at all new. Certainly not for pet food, let alone human food:
- Add the good.
- Keep it natural.
- Cut the bad.
Yet LuAnn Williams, Innova’s president and co-founder, who presented the webinar, described the information as a “fundamental shift in how consumers relate to food and beverage products that they choose.” She added that one reason ingredients have topped the company’s top 10 overall food trends the past three years is that consumers are “no longer just passive recipients of nutrition; they’re engineering their health outcomes.” It’s evolved into people studying and researching ingredients the way they do their medications and supplements, she said.
I would argue that for many of today’s devoted pet owners, they take the same approach to feeding and caring for their pets.
‘Adding the good’ often means protein — for people and pets
According to Innova’s database, 33% of consumers globally say they have become more self-sufficient in terms of their own health and well-being, and are taking much greater action to live healthier. A full 77% say they think it’s important to eat healthy foods. “It’s almost like ingredients have become the new front-of-pack labeling,” Williams commented.
In 2025, the healthy eating approaches followed by global consumers the most included naturalness (choosing natural foods for their inherent nutrition) at 30%, reduction of substances like sugar, salt and fat at 29%, enhanced nutrition at 23% and no additives at 18%.
Tying the “no additives” approach with naturalness, Innova derived the three ingredient strategies — add the good, keep it natural, cut the bad — from this consumer data. “These are not competing strategies, they also overlap,” Williams said. “We see consumers doing all three at the same time.”
To wit, 60% of consumers globally say they always look at the ingredients list of the products they buy, though Williams commented that there’s a “say-do” gap involved; not all people who say they read ingredient lists actually do. That brings to mind the gap between pet owners who say they’re willing to pay more for certain pet food ingredients or claims — like sustainability — but in practice, don’t.
In fact, 77% of global pet owners say they would pay more for products featuring functional ingredients, according to an ADM survey. It’s not clear whether the company compared that to actual purchases. However, a survey of U.S. pet owners conducted by Lonnie Hobbs Jr., Ph.D., assistant professor of agricultural economics at Kansas State University, showed they’re willing to pay US$.051 more for high protein in a pet food. That gibes with their actual product purchases: The survey revealed high protein as the top pet food ingredient claim in pet foods purchased, at 43.8%.
High protein has been a popular ingredient claim in pet food for several years, closely linked with the same trend in human food. The Innova data indicated 58% of those global consumers are actively including protein in their diets — one reason “powerhouse protein” was Innova’s top food trend for 2026.
Yet this is evolving, with protein being combined with at least one other health-related claim on food purchases; such combinations increased 32% from 2024 to 2025, according to Innova. A specific claim, weight management, paired with protein increased 66%, likely due to the growing use of GLP-1 medications among people.
Similarly, an Innova survey specific to pet owners from 2025 showed a weight loss or maintenance claim on cat food influenced purchasing decisions for 11% of the cat owners responding.
Gut health and longevity rank high for humans and pets
Another top food trend for 2026 is “gut health hub,” and Innova’s data indicated 50% of global consumers say gut health is important for the whole body. Specific to ingredients, fiber is starting to play more of a role; 48% are choosing fiber as a nutrient to include in their diets, and 38% of global product launches with a gut/digestive health claim also had a high-fiber claim. That’s surpassed probiotics, which appeared as a claim on 19% of products with a gut/digestive health claim. (Williams commented that European regulations related to probiotics have played a role in those claims being less prevalent.)
Among U.S. pet owners, digestive health was the top health-related claim on pet food products purchased by Hobbs’ survey respondents, selected by 32.2%. Gut or digestive health did not rank among the claims these owners said they’re willing to pay more for; but the microbiome does make it on a list of top pet care claims in NielsenIQ’s database, increasing by 8% in usage from 2024 to 2025.
Finally, in terms of “adding the good” as a consumer strategy for targeting ingredients for health, Williams shared data on claims related to longevity — and not just living longer but staying healthy longer. Global consumers said the most important aspects of healthy aging for them include maintaining mobility, staying physically active and keeping an active mind. Those translate into ingredients like antioxidants, creatinine and vitamins.
In the ADM survey of pet owners, 84% said they’re interested in products that may help increase their pets’ life span.
“As pet humanization intensifies and companion animals live longer lives, the conversation around aging is transforming,” said Francesca Susca, Ph.D., global category manager for Pet at Lallemand Animal Nutrition, in a January 2026 article written by my colleague, Lindsay Beaton. “The focus is shifting from reactive care to proactive intervention, addressing not just the symptoms of aging, but the underlying biological processes.”
