Mintel has reported that over the past five years the smoothies market has seen sales growth of 523% to reach £134m last year.
Vivianne Ihekweazu, senior market analyst at Mintel, said: "Smoothies have been the true drinks success story of the 21st century and are clearly no longer a niche market. Healthy eating, and in particular the five a day fruit and vegetable campaign, has been the driving force behind the continuing rates of exceptional growth."
According to Mintel, last year Britons drank 34 million litres of smoothies, enough to fill almost 14 Olympic size pools, up from just 6.3 million litres in 2001.
Despite the growth in the market, less than a third of the adult population currently buy smoothies. The young 15-19 and 25-34 age groups are the most likely to reach for a smoothie.
Mintel is predicting that volumes will almost treble between 2006 and 2011, to almost 100 million litres.
Will Government proposals to ban the display of tobacco in retail premises damage the wholesale sector?
