Emma Vik and Gabi Kinney || Senior Strategists
With health and wellness authority moving from doctors and agencies into grocery aisles, TikTok feeds, and online communities, consumers now expect brands to take a stance on health and wellness. This shift can feel overwhelming, but it also opens doors for organizations to connect with consumers in ways that feel more authentic, accessible, and culturally relevant.
At broadhead, we’re lucky to partner with brands across the full spectrum of health and wellness, from emerging startups to household names that collectively define how we eat, move and live. This vantage point has given us a unique perspective: health and wellness aren’t siloed ideas. They’re showing up in both expected and unexpected categories, such as water bottles, ice cubes, and digital weight loss solutions.
Step back, and the big picture comes into focus: health transparency isn’t optional anymore. It’s the baseline expectation.
The question isn’t whether the definition of health is changing, it’s how fast. Let’s dive deeper into what we’ve been seeing, where we believe these shifts are headed next, and what it means for brands.
Trend 1: Holistic Health Isn’t Just a Buzzword Anymore
Feeling good is replacing old notions of what being “healthy” means, and spoiler alert: it’s no longer just about physical health. The health and wellness zeitgeist is shifting to encompass all other systems of health, such as mental health, financial stability, and community connection, including how they build on each other.
Consumers are no longer attributing health to the number on the scale or the steps on their fitness tracker. Instead, they are measuring how their daily habits make them feel. This “cultural operating system,” as broadhead’s Chief Strategy Officer, Emilie Hitch, likes to call it, is a framework consumers have begun to use to navigate their lives in and beyond traditional ways of thinking about health (Health is Now a System, Not a Symptom).
Brand takeaway: Position your product as part of a bigger lifestyle system, not a one-off solution. Emphasize how it supports more than just physical outcomes.
Trend 2: Trust is the Foundation of the Health Equation
When health expands beyond the body, it naturally connects to other systems; food systems, political systems, healthcare systems, and to the people in power who run them. This has led to trust playing a central role in how consumers define wellness today.
The challenge is that trust is in short supply. The Kaiser Family Foundation found state and local health official trust dropped from 64% in June 2023 to 54% in 2025. Similarly, trust in the FDA fell from 65% to 53% during that same period.
This decline in institutional trust is translating to policy. In June, an Axios-Ipsos poll found that 87% of Americans support increased government action on food safety, from clearer labeling to reducing the use of food dyes. Heightened attention has fueled national conversations and regulatory action, such as the banning of Red Dye No. 3. (taking effect January 2027), raising an important question: Will these shifts rebuild confidence or simply redirect skepticism into new arenas?
Brand takeaway: Build long-term credibility by proving reliability in both product and practice through consistent actions and partnerships that earn trust over time.
Trend 3: Wellness Is Now a Brand Expectation
It was not long ago that a brand could avoid talking about wellness unless it was central to its product. That’s no longer the case. Recent Ogilvy research shows that 73% of consumers believe brands should make wellness part of their core mission.
And they mean it. Consumers want wellness to show up in brand messaging, in partnerships, and in how companies operate, not as a marketing tagline but as a genuine part of the business.
The consumer tension here is that not everyone can afford to prioritize values when money is tight. Recent MRI-Simmons data shows that economic pressures reduce willingness to pay more for wellness-aligned products. This is creating what some have coined the “twin track” consumer. Values-driven shoppers stick with wellness-first products no matter what, while price-driven shoppers pull back in hard times. The brands that succeed will find ways to deliver both; making wellness accessible without losing the authenticity that makes it meaningful.
Brand takeaway: Offer wellness that’s both authentic and attainable to avoid losing either tribe.
Trend 4: The Definition of “Healthy” Is Getting Messy
As more brands enter the wellness space, the definition of “healthy” has become harder to pin down. Labels like low sugar, clean, or better-for-you sound positive, but often live in a gray area. In a low-trust environment, that gray area can be dangerous.
We have seen the rise of “health-washing,” where claims are vague or misleading. With influencers and social media watchdogs dissecting ingredient lists, sometimes sharing information that may be incomplete or inaccurate, while also monetizing their support for “clean” brands, it is easier than ever for a brand’s credibility to be challenged.
The truth is, there are few absolutes in health. What is considered good today might be questioned tomorrow. People are defining “healthy” for themselves based on their own needs, values, and experiences.
Brand takeaway: Step into the role of educator. Help consumers navigate the gray areas by explaining your brand’s choices, defining terms clearly, and setting higher standards in your category.
If Holistic Trust is the Baseline… What’s Next?
Authenticity matters now more than ever. If holistic health is the new framework, the next challenge will be navigating complexity in conflicting values. Economic pressures will continue to influence value-based shopping. Political polarization will keep shaping health narratives.
In this environment, brands cannot afford to be vague. The ones that thrive will speak with clarity, show empathy, and protect brand trust at all costs.
With the evolving landscape of holistic health and wellness, we believe every brand has a role in the conversation, whether it is obvious or not. Your supply chain, your sustainability commitments, and your storytelling all influence how people view your connection to wellness.
If you are ready to find your place in the new wellness conversation, reach out. We’re ready to help.