The food and nutrition industry is constantly evolving along with consumer demands and food beliefs. The trend for healthy eating has turned towards finding the right balance. Consumers aim to reduce “bad” nutrients such as sugar, salt or carbs in their diets, while increasing “good” nutrients such as fibre and protein. 

New niche ingredients constantly appear on the market with promising health benefits, some backed by scientific evidence more than others. Delhi-based start-up Habbit Health and Nutrition is also walking on similar lines by developing clean, healthy and nutritious products on the back of ‘alternatives’ (proteins, fats, and sugars), without compromising on the taste. 

Founded in 2019 by serial entrepreneur and angel investor Dhruv Bhushan and leading brand consultant Dev Kabir Malik, Habbit Health aims to build an innovative global FMCG company.

Market for Alternative Proteins

There is huge buzz around plant-based eating and ‘Alternative Proteins’ at the moment. Alternative proteins is a general term that covers plant-based and food-technology alternatives to animal protein.

The company at present is offering five main products – Wise Cream, Super Shake, Habbit Apex, Habbit Active and Habbit Green. While Apex and Active contain whey protein, Green contains Pea protein. These proteins are trending and have marked serious growth in vegan product development.

The core theme of the nutrition-tech start-up is to make “everyday nutrition simple, enjoyable and rewarding”. If you look at the packaging of the company’s products, it is premium and sustainable, with fun and flavourful design. In short, no technical language, just plain nutrition.

Majority of the protein-based food brands in the market are very product-centric and positioned to target those who are highly involved in fitness. This is the point where the offering of the start-up is different. It is an everyday protein and not specific for a gym-goer or an athlete. 

The conversation around health has moved beyond exercise and diet plans, giving way to the buzzword “Nutrition”. We have always looked at food from an energy perspective rather than nutrition. With growing awareness amidst poor lifestyles, consumers want to know exactly what they are eating, what they should eat and what needs to be supplemented. 

Does My Food Contain Enough Nutrition?

From ready to cook meals to a chocolate bar, the technical information declared on food labels stating complex ingredients, nutrition facts, and daily recommended values, serving sizes, allergens and more, often leave us overwhelmed. Startups have entered the space by empowering people with the knowledge of ‘what exactly they are eating, is it healthy, what nutrition does it have?’ 

Mumbai-based start-up The Nutrition Alchemy has developed a platform called LabelBlind which simplifies complex information on food labels and reviews and rates food products to guide consumers to make smart food choices that support good health and well being. The free-to-use platform has 8,000 products listed, across 120 categories and customized product recommendations based on user health profiles. 

Click a picture of a food plate and the app will automatically detect its nutrition information. Mumbai-based GOQii, the preventive healthcare app, uses artificial intelligence, neural networks, computer vision and image recognition to analyse Indian and continental food. 

Bengaluru-based start-up HealthifyMe has developed an AI powered nutritionist, named Ria, that assists people regarding their meals. For instance, you can ask Ria to tell you how much nutrition you had in your food a day before or what you can eat today to supplement the diet. It can even analyse a picture of your lunch to tell you what you should go eat for your dinner.