By JERRY HAGSTROM

First Lady Michelle Obama’s campaign against childhood obesity may have a hard time reaching busy parents, but the food industry needs to be aware that people who are over 50 years or have experienced health problems are changing their eating habits, according to a prominent food trends analyst.

The first lady’s “Let’s Move” campaign, which encourages healthy eating and exercise, “has had an impact on manufacturing, and for consumers it’s creating an awareness,” said Joe Derochowski, executive director for business development at The NPD Group market research company, speaking to the American Sugar Alliance International Sweetener Symposium in Stowe, Vt., earlier this month.

But, he said, most people don’t act on their health concerns until after their children grow up, they experience a health problem and have more time to be careful about their diets and get exercise, Derochowski said.

There are people who make sure they eat properly and get exercise all their lives, he said, but they are a minority. For most people who are working full time and have children, the issue is "how to life this life."

The first lady has said, of course, that, however busy parents are, they need to focus on what their families are eating. She has cited her own experience of receiving a warning from the Obama family doctor in Chicago that even though she was a busy working mother she needed to change the family diet because one of her daughters was gaining too much weight.

Asked whether front-of-package labeling will affect what people buy, Derochowski questioned whether education, while good, would change behavior. The increased awareness of the problems that obesity causes and more consumer information “will be part of the equation, but it's not a silver bullet,” he said.

But Derochowski warned the food industry officials that health consciousness is becoming a more important factor in consumer decision-making for two simple reasons: the percentage of women who work has peaked and the baby boomers are aging.

For many years, the most important factor driving change in the food business has been “What can you do to make Mom’s life easier?” he said.

“Women have learned what men have known for a long time — work sucks," he quipped, adding that figuring out how to market to working women is not the growth industry it has been.

At the same time, the number of people over 50 is growing and they are watching what they eat. Once people start having medical issues, he said, they start to act on watching their diet.

In addition, older people have more time and they read food labels more so they are more discriminating.

While working-age people often don't have time for a side dish or a dessert, older people, with more time to prepare food, are more likely to eat both vegetables and dessert, he said.

People eat out until they have children, and after their children leave home they buy take-out food, Derochowski said. Since 2000, the restaurant business has been flat or declining, he said, but breakfast ordered from a car or carried out has gone up. “Take-out has become an appliance," he observed.

Derochowksi also had a number of other fascinating observations on the food business:

• Breakfast is about routine. Lunch is about speed, and the meal most likely to be eaten away from home.
• People are most health-conscious in the morning and on Mondays. As the day and week go on, there is less concern.
• Snacking between meals has declined, but more people eat snack foods as side dishes with meals, because adding them is so easy.
• People today are more interested in adding items they perceive as healthful, such as fiber and anti-oxidants to their diets.
• Many low-carb items have failed because they did not taste good.
• Yogurt has been the most successfully expanded product recently because it has been adapted to many different tastes and uses.
• American consumers love to try new products and foods that are easy to prepare, and rank cost as third in what they are looking for.
• Consumers are confused about sugar. Sixty percent say they want to cut down, but more than 60 percent of consumers reject sugar substitutes.

Derochowski and two other panelists said that Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity campaign and consumer demands have had an impact on food manufacturers' decisions to change their ingredient mixes.

Hadrian D'Souza of General Mills noted that his company has “improved the nutritional profile” of 60 percent of its U.S. retail products since 2005, including reducing sugar in all children's cereals, fortifying Yoplait with vitamins A and D, removing trans-fat from nearly all its products, and has making a commitment to reducing sodium. Consumer activists note, however, that food processors have said they do not want to reduce some of their ingredients as much as federal agencies have proposed.

Bill Kloster, president and CEO of Dublin Dr. Pepper, a Dublin, Texas, firm, noted that he has defied trends to make Dr. Pepper with cane sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup. Kloster also noted that a traditional 8-ounce bottle of Dr. Pepper amounts to "portion control," compared with the size of some sodas today.