60 second summary:
Many popular diets are ineffective, but some nutrition trends are here to stay
- Fad diets come and go, but these emerging or developing health trends will stand the test of time:
- Eating more fibre to boost heart and gut health
- Including nutrient-dense foods in your daily diet
- Eating enough protein, particularly from plant-based sources
- Increasing the variety and quantity of plant-based foods you eat
- Personalising your diet in line with your individual needs, goals and lifestyle
While fad diets proliferate on social media, from juice cleanses to blood type diets, there are 5 nutrition trends that emerged or developed in 2025 that will continue to be popular in the coming year and beyond.
Remember, when you see any nutrition and diet advice being shared in the media or social media, check whether the person behind it is a registered dietitian or registered nutritionist and ask yourself, is this a sustainable way of eating for you? If it cuts out major food groups, promotes extreme restriction or is not something you could sustain for more than a few weeks, it’s probably best to avoid it.
Check out the 5 nutrition trends that will stand the test of time.
Fibre and gut health
Fibre has been an unsung hero for decades and is finally receiving its well-deserved time in the spotlight. UK dietary surveys reveal that we eat around 20g of fibre a day, while recommendations for healthy digestion and cardiovascular health are to consume at least 30g.
It’s important to eat different types of fibre to ensure a good balance of the gut bacteria that help us to digest food, support our immune system and may even help regulate our appetite. So, try to eat a wide range of foods that provide soluble, insoluble and prebiotic fibre. The more variety, the greater the benefits.
Examples include whole grains (whole-grain bread, pasta, rice, oats, quinoa), lentils and beans, soy products like tofu, vegetables and fruit (including dried fruit), and seeds and nuts. Sources of prebiotic fibre are important because they help to feed the beneficial bacteria in our gut. They can be found in onions, leeks, bananas, apples, chicory, and wholegrain foods.
Nutrient density
Nutrient-dense foods provide a range of micro- and macronutrients in good quantities.
Energy-dense foods provide a lot of calories per serving, so they should be eaten in smaller amounts.
However, energy-dense foods can also be nutrient-dense, e.g. meat, oily fish, nuts and seeds. These can be eaten more regularly than nutrient-poor foods like cakes, crisps, biscuits, and fast food.
Nutrient-dense, energy-dense foods like red meat provide iron, vitamin B12 and protein; oily fish provide omega-3s 3s and nuts and seeds contain essential fats, vitamin E and fibre. They are all foods that can support our health as part of a varied and balanced diet when eaten in appropriate quantities.
Nutrient-dense foods can also be low in calories, while still providing lots of useful nutrients. Foods like lentils and beans provide fibre, protein and iron, so are important to consume if you eat a plant-based diet. Soy-based foods like tofu and tempeh are similarly nutrient-dense and provide a high-quality source of protein. Fruit and vegetables are high in vitamins and minerals but low in calories, so it’s important to eat plenty in a wide range of colours to provide a variety of nutrients.
Protein
The trend towards eating high-protein foods regularly continues to grow. If you are very active, eating a low-calorie diet to try to manage your weight, or over 50 years of age, you may need more than the national dietary recommendations of 50g a day.
With raised awareness over the sustainability of animal protein like meat, fish, milk, and eggs, we can increase our consumption of more plant-based protein foods like lentils, beans, soy, tofu, tempeh as well as peas, nuts and seeds. Don’t forget that grains like quinoa, rice and wholegrain pasta can also provide useful amounts of protein as well as fibre.
There’s no reason why you can’t get all the protein you need, even if you have higher requirements, via a plant-based diet.
Plant-based and flexitarianism
As we learned above, eating lots of animal-based foods is not sustainable, and indeed, eating large quantities of red and processed meat (like ham, sausages and bacon) has been linked to a high risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease. For health and environmental reasons, we are being encouraged to adopt either a more flexitarian or plant-based diet.
You don’t have to go vegan; it can be as simple as adding some pulses to a meal to reduce the meat content, e.g., 50-50 beef mince and lentils in a cottage pie or Bolognese, or swapping some or all of the chicken for tofu or beans in a curry or fajita. You could try having a couple of meat-free days a week and even explore some plant-based recipes, such as chilli with Quorn mince. Not only will eating more plants benefit the environment, but it will also boost your fibre intake and reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes, cancer and heart disease.
Personalised nutrition
There are many apps and online services claiming to offer personalised nutrition based upon a blood, DNA or stool test. While some of them give advice based on healthy eating principles, it is rarely aligned with your lifestyle, habits, and preferences, so it’s hard to maintain the recommendations in the long term.
However, personalised nutrition has significant potential for the future because it aligns with your individual needs and goals.
There is still a lot of research that’s needed before blood, DNA, or gut bacterial tests can be used to create truly personalised plans. It’s far better to chat with a registered dietitian or registered nutritionist to understand how to overcome your own barriers to improving your diet and make changes that are sustainable and personal to your lifestyle, culture and food preferences.
Claire Baseley – Consultant Nutritionist
