Experts Note Trend Toward 'Emotional Wellbeing' in Nutrition
Dietitian Nuria Dianova reported that in 2026, consumers are increasingly seeking products that help cope with stress and provide a sense of comfort, while also abandoning strict diets in favor of convenient and understandable food.
Food as therapy: why the $2.5 billion 'emotional eating' market is just the beginning of a big game
The Gist: What's Really Happening
In early May 2026, dietitian and executive director of the Research Center 'Healthy Eating' Nuria Dianova identified the year's main vector: consumers are quitting diets and starting to seek emotional support in food. The phrase 'emotional wellbeing through food' sounded like a confirmation of an already accomplished fact. But behind this is not just a shift in consumer preferences. We are witnessing a tectonic shift that over the next eight years will turn the 'mood food' market from a niche into a mainstream worth $6.7 billion.
What the media presents as a 'soft trend toward comfort' is actually a hard commercial reality. The global functional food market is already valued at $364 billion and growing at a double-digit CAGR. The 'emotional wellbeing' segment within this market is the fastest-growing. The key driver is the demand for stress reduction through daily routines. Food is the only routine that a person repeats 3-5 times a day. That's why it becomes the main channel for delivering mental wellness to the body.
Timeline and Context
2023-2024. The 'mood food' concept moves beyond niche startups. Major manufacturers begin adding adaptogens to mass-market products: L-theanine appears in sodas, ashwagandha in snacks, rhodiola in coffee.
2025. The National Restaurant Association of the US includes 'comfort and value' as the two main pillars of the 2026 menu for the first time. This is a landmark moment: the restaurant industry acknowledges that diners pay not for molecular cuisine but for the feeling of 'like home, only better.' Stress and digital fatigue become the main drivers of food choices.
March 2026. The SIAL Paris and NellyRodi report is published: food is transforming from fuel into a self-help tool. Consumers want to manage mood, energy, and hormonal balance through nutrition. At the same time, FoodNavigator analysts note: affordability leads purchase drivers at 34.59%, but right behind it is 'comfort and emotional wellbeing' at 17.32%, higher than the importance of gut health.
May 2026. Dianova formulates the Russian projection of the global trend: 'clean and understandable food,' gut care, and emotional wellbeing as the three pillars of the new nutrition paradigm.
Who Wins and Who Loses
Winners: functional beverage manufacturers. The functional beverage segment in the mood food category will be the largest throughout the forecast period until 2034. The reason is simple: a drink requires minimal behavioral change from the consumer, ensures rapid absorption of ingredients, and provides an instant subjective feeling of effect. Ready-to-drink cocktails with adaptogens, herbal teas with nootropics, and 'psychobiotic' sodas are a goldmine. The cost of a can of drink with added ashwagandha is $0.40-0.60, retail price $3-4. Margins compete with luxury cosmetics.
Winners: retailers with private labels. Emotional health products are no longer a premium niche. The demand for affordability (34.59% of consumers) forces chains to launch their own lines of 'clean' products with short ingredient lists. This squeezes out small manufacturers but gives retailers margins of 40-50% versus 25-30% on branded goods.
Losers: manufacturers of strict diet systems. Keto bars, detox teas, and other products with a 'restrictive' positioning are losing audience. RDNs survey data shows: intermittent fasting has completely dropped out of the list of leading dietary patterns in 2026. Consumers are tired of prohibitions. Food 'for pleasure and calm' wins over food 'for weight loss.'
Losers: manufacturers of ultra-processed snacks. The demand for a 'clean label' means that products with long ingredient lists and chemical additives will lose to competitors with short and understandable compositions. Even comfort food must now be natural—otherwise, consumers won't believe in its 'therapeutic' effect.
What the Media Isn't Saying
First: the trend is driven by the 'gut-brain axis' as a commercial argument. When Dianova talks about caring for the gut as the center of immunity and mental wellbeing, she is describing exactly the mechanism that marketers use to sell 'mood food.' Psychobiotics—probiotics that affect mental state through the microbiome—are becoming the industry's holy grail. Research shows that certain strains of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium can reduce cortisol levels and anxiety. But the media fails to mention that the evidence base for most commercial products is still very weak: clinical trials are conducted on small samples, and reproducibility is low.
Second: 25% of Americans no longer want to divide food into 'good' and 'bad.' This is not just a psychological shift. It is a direct challenge to the entire diet food industry built on guilt. Consumers say: 'I will eat what brings me joy and comfort, and I'm not going to apologize for it.' For manufacturers, this means a complete overhaul of marketing messages: not 'calorie reduction,' but 'emotional support'; not 'weight loss,' but 'calm and energy.'
Third: the CBD and hemp extract category is forecast to have the highest CAGR until 2034. This is a sensitive topic for the Russian market, where CBD is banned. While Russian consumers get 'emotional wellbeing' through adaptogens and psychobiotics, the Western market goes further—where interaction with the endocannabinoid system provides a faster and more tangible effect. The Russian mood food market will remain 'soft' in composition, but this will limit its growth potential.
Forecast: Next 30 Days and 90 Days
Next 30 days (until June 19, 2026). A wave of publications about 'psychobiotics' and adaptogens will flood consumer media. Yogurt and fermented drink manufacturers will launch ad campaigns emphasizing 'calm and balance.' I expect at least two major Russian restaurant chains to introduce menu items labeled 'anti-stress'—for example, bowls with ashwagandha or drinks with rhodiola. Search queries for 'food for stress' and 'mood-boosting foods' on Google Trends will increase by 25-30% from May levels.
90-day horizon (until mid-August 2026). By August, major retailers (VkusVill, Azbuka Vkusa, Lenta) will launch their own product lines 'for emotional health.' The expected volume of this micro-market in Russia is $15-20 million per year by the end of 2026. Simultaneously, educational projects will ramp up: dietitians and nutritionists will start mass-launching courses and webinars on 'nutrition against stress.' This will create a secondary market for content and consulting worth another $3-5 million.
Strategic forecast. By 2030, 'emotional wellbeing through food' will cease to be perceived as a trend and will become as basic a category as 'healthy snacks' or 'sports nutrition.' Companies that are now investing in the scientific basis for specific products will dominate in five years. The rest will sell 'placebos' with marketing promises—and lose, because the mood food consumer of 2026 already reads ingredient lists and demands proven functionality. The main lesson of this news is simple: food has ceased to be just food. It has become the cheapest and most accessible psychotherapist, which means the market will grow even in a crisis—because the need for comfort never disappears.
— Editorial Team
