As people spend more and more of our lives online, it’s getting easier to collect data that reveals our mundane daily activities as well as our secret interests, desires, and anxieties. It is not absurd to say,
Show me your browsing history and I will tell you who you are.
With this in mind, we’ve taken a peek into internet searches and social media activity all around the globe to see how people are thinking about eating and dieting in 2022.
Have a look at the data, statistics, and trends we’ve discovered, including:
We also break down the numbers from surveys, reports, and more traditional ways of gathering information.
Here is the data and statistics for the most popular diets in 2022, as measured by how many searches people make per month, both worldwide and in the United States.
Study by PlanKetogenic
Data collected using Ahrefs software
Data collected 2022, April 27 - May 4
What are the key takeaways?
This may be surprising when compared to data from the International Food Information Council’s 2021 Food & Health Survey1, which showed that the 3 diets followed by most Americans were calorie counting (10%), clean eating (9%), and intermittent fasting (8%), followed by low-carb (6%) and ketogenic or high-fat (5%).
Of course, most of us are painfully aware that searching for information about a diet is not the same as actually following it!
However, the number of internet searches reveal valuable insights into people’s curiosity about these ways of eating.
And this curiosity may naturally translate into action.
It’s easy to imagine, for example, somebody buying food products labeled as “keto” even if they don’t strictly follow the dietary guidelines.
Or looking up “low-carb recipes” to cook at home without keeping their daily carbohydrate limit low enough to stay in ketosis.
(Learn more about the ketogenic marketplace and industry later in this article.)
And it’s not the only one! Intermittent fasting, Weight Watchers (now known as WW), and the Mediterranean eating style also rank higher than weight loss.
This may serve as a reminder that losing weight is not always the main goal when starting dieting (although it is the most popular reason people give1).
Plant-based and flexitarian plans are more popular in the United States than vegan and vegetarian ones, in terms of monthly searches in 2022:
This seems to be a continuation of trends reported1 in 2021 showing that, compared to the previous year,
Here we can see that when it comes to social media, veganism shoots to the top of the charts, earning the number 1 spot for Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, and coming in 2nd behind keto on Reddit.
Weight loss and gluten-free are also much higher in the ranks when it comes to social media, as compared to monthly searches. This may be on the one hand because people are proud of sharing or showing off their weight loss accomplishments on social media, and on the other, gluten-free people can find a supportive community with others who face similar challenges.
Keto is the biggest diet community on Reddit in 2022. Since Reddit is a place where people search for information, ask for advice, and share their experiences, this makes sense. Following a ketogenic plan can be difficult at first, especially overcoming the adaptation period and entering ketosis. So, it isn’t surprising that people reach out with questions for those who’ve already gone through the process.
Study by PlanKetogenic
Data collected 2022, April 27-28
*(asterisk) indicates that Reddit thread is related but not identical to hashtag
Related threads as indicated are r/WeightLossAdvice and r/healthyeating
All other threads used are identical to hashtags in table (i.e., #keto and /r/keto)
Bold text indicates diets in the top 3 most popular on 1 more social media platforms
As we have seen in the data above,
All signs point to a growing keto marketplace in 2022 and beyond. This may be widely driven by the increase of ketogenic foods and supplements:
Products with ketogenic claims are up 132% in 2022 compared to last year2
This seems to be a continuation of the trend as reported in 2021, which saw a 72% increase of products with “keto” in the name, as compared to the previous year before3
Looking ahead,
Projections may vary due to the inexact science of predicting the future(!)
Let’s hear it from the horse’s mouth! Here is some direct data from a survey6 of more than 300 people with experience following keto.
Where in the world is the keto most popular?
Here we can see that while the US is the king of keto in terms of sheer numbers, the UK is also showing quite a lot of interest, especially when you consider that the population of the US is almost 5 times that of the UK (329.5 million vs. 67.22 million people).
In fact, you could argue that keto is more popular in the UK than in the US, when you compare monthly searches to population.
329.5 M people in the US, divided by 523 K monthly searches, equals 1 search for every 630 people.
67.22 M people in the UK, divided by 156 K monthly searches for keto, equals 1 search for every 430 people.
Here are the numbers for the pie chart above:
Study by PlanKetogenic
Search term “keto diet”
Data collected using Ahrefs software
Data collected 2022, April 27 - May 4
Finally, let’s take a look at where dietary plans are most popular in 2022.
Study by Planketogenic
Data collected using Ahrefs software
Data collected 2022, April 27 - May 4
Here we can see that the United States has the highest number of search results for all except for “healthy diet” (1st place India) and “calorie counting” (1st place UK).
Of course, there are many factors at play when comparing numbers of searches across countries, including the population of the country, the percentage of the population with regular internet access, whether English is a main language in the country, etc.
For example, the language issue may help explain why Germany comes in 2nd for searches of “keto” but is not even in the top 5 for “keto diet,” which would be Keto-Diät in German.
Still, it’s interesting to see the US, UK, and India emerge as the top players in the search for information across so many different dietary styles.
As with any study, when you answer one question, many more appear. Certainly, there is no lack of fertile areas of inquiry to explore on the topic of dieting in 2022.
References
1. International Food Information Council (IFIC)’s 2021 Food & Health Survey
https://foodinsight.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/IFIC-2021-Food-and-Health-Survey.May-2021-1.pdf
Note: Results were weighted by age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, and region to reflect the American population ages 18 to 80.
2. NielsenIQ Label Insight e-commerce consumer search data, year-over-year searches
https://nielseniq.com/global/en/insights/commentary/2022/ask-the-dietitian-2022-top-diets/
3. Instacart survey of 2,050 U.S. adults conducted online by The Harris Poll in 2021
https://www.instacart.com/company/pressreleases/instacart-releases-first-new-year-new-cart-2021-grocery-trends-report-forecasting-the-food-trends-grocery-shopping-habits-for-the-year-ahead/
4. Ketogenic Diet Market Forecast to 2027 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis by Product Type (Supplements, Beverages, Snacks, Dairy, and Others); and Distribution Channel (Hypermarket & Supermarket, Specialty Stores, Convenience Stores, and Others); and Geography
https://www.theinsightpartners.com/reports/ketogenic-diet-market
5. Ketogenic Diet Market by Product and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2021-2025
https://www.technavio.com/report/ketogenic-diet-market-industry-analysis
Survey by U.S. News and America’s Test Kitchen, from 2020
https://health.usnews.com/wellness/articles/we-surveyed-people-on-the-keto-diet-heres-what-they-say
