Waitrose customers shun low-fat options and embrace whole foods as supermarket claims 'we're back to basics'

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The new year is well and truly underway and supermarkets are teeming with calorie-conscious, protein-heavy foods to help people kickstart their 2025.Consumers are turning to their favourite supermarkets to aid their health and fitness goals, but one retailer has reported a change in their shopping habits that may actually surprise you.Waitrose claims many customers are turning away from low-fat, highly processed products in favour of less-processed, whole food ingredients.In other words, it's "back to basics" for a lot of shoppers who are often inundated with the proposed benefits of swapping full fat milk, for example, to skimmed."There’s been a lot of bad press around so-called ‘healthy’ products which aren’t nutritious and don’t taste great, however the growing awareness of ultra processed food in our diets has seen many customers seeking the basics and embracing a much simpler approach to their diet," Maddy Wilson, Director of Waitrose Own Brand explained.Whole milk and full-fat Greek yogurt sales are up 11 per cent and 21 per cent compared to skimmed milk and Greek style yoghurt a year ago, the supermarket said.Block butter is up 20 per cent compared to dairy spreads and brown rice has seen a seven per cent hike compared to white rice.

Meanwhile, 20 per cent more breakfast-lovers are swapping white bread out for sourdough. It comes after researchers pinpointed exactly how much time common ultra-processed foods can shave off your life.

Astonishingly, the University of Michigan study found that each time someone eats a hot dog, it costs them an average of 36 minutes of lifespan, while cured meats like prosciutto could cost you 24 minutes of life.Fancy a Diet Coke with that?