The health and wellness trends Modern Retail and Glossy staffers are watching in 2026
The rise of new wearable tech like the Oura ring, as well as burgeoning trends like biohacking, has shifted the way many consumers are thinking about health and wellness. In short, more consumers today are obsessed with tracking their health, want to know which products actually work and are more heavily scrutinizing certain claims. And brands are trying to figure out how to respond accordingly.
That was one of the big takeaways from the virtual Health & Wellness Trends Town Hall, hosted exclusively for Modern Retail+ and Glossy+ subscribers on Feb. 4. At the event, Modern Retail reporters and editors shared what health and wellness trends are watching this year and what ingredients and sub-categories are expected to be in and out this year. The event also dug into how, overall, the way consumers are thinking about health and wellness has changed and how brands are responding accordingly.
Modern Retail Executive Editor Anna Hensel is watching longevity this year. According to a new report from XRC Ventures, global search interest in longevity reached around 4.9 million monthly searches in November 2025, up 4X year over year. “That just is really stark and indicates how much this is a really new area, and I’m just interested to see how brands figure out what people are interested in related to longevity.”
Modern Retail and Glossy editor-in-chief Jill Manoff is watching how wellness is becoming more of a luxury play and how some of the biggest brands are tailoring their offerings accordingly. Last year for example, Dior hosted its first wellness retreat. “Luxury consumers are pivoting their spending from shiny things, I would say, to wellness experiences and products that are meant to support their health and longevity,” she said.
Gabriela Barkho, Modern Retail’s senior reporter who covers food and beverage, joked that last year, “it felt like all I did was write about protein.” This year, many in the industry are saying that fiber will be the new protein, but beyond that, one of the buzzwords she is watching is the idea of “food as medicine,” as more food and beverage brands consider talking about topics like stress management or combating an overactive nervous system in their marketing.
“It’s become one of my favorite phrases that a lot of investors and brands talk to me about. I think the thing is that it can encompass anything,” she said.
Lastly, Glossy’s West Coast correspondent, Lexy Lebsack, said that one of the things that makes wellness an interesting area to cover is the fact that it is taking market dollars from beauty. Some of the things she is reporting on for 2026 include the changing wellness retail landscape, research on peptide therapy, the evolution of supplements and how consumers are increasingly tracking their own health data. As she put it, “consumers are sitting on a mountain of health data” from day-to-day health trackers like Oura rings and Apple Watch, plus consumers are increasingly demanding more comprehensive blood panels from their doctors.
“If it’s a problem, you can track it nowadays, which really takes us to the problem that there is no one universal hub for all of this data and all of this information that we’re learning about ourselves,” she said.
You can check out the YouTube below for the introductory remarks delivered during the virtual town hall.