by Arianna Hooker
PepsiCo’s growth is depleting as many Americans opt for healthier snack options, Reuters reported Monday.
The company, whose products include many popular soft drink and snack food brands, saw its sales drop 2% in the second quarter of 2026, the outlet reported. This comes in part as Americans have been gravitating towards healthier food options such as those with higher protein and fiber and lower sugar.
PepsiCo has implemented price cuts on some of its most popular products such as Doritos, Cheetos, and Lay’s of up to 15% yet still faced depleting volume in sales of PepsiCo products, according to Reuters.
The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, first promoted in 2025 by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., seeks to eliminate ingredients and additives—such as artificial dyes—that it deems harmful to American health.
In November 2025, PepsiCo announced the “Simply NKD” line for Cheetos and Doritos that lack artificial flavors and colors.
“No color, no artificial flavors, same intensity- that’s simply NKD. Doritos and Cheetos are pioneering a snacking revolution, or a renaissance, if you will,” PepsiCo food US CEO Rachel Ferdinando said at the time.
Over half of American’s say that the healthiness of food is highly important to them when deciding what to eat, according to a 2025 Pew Research Center survey.
Furthermore, about half of American’s say they are actively trying to eat healthy, Statisica reported in 2023.
“Consumers have moved from snacking on autopilot to making much more deliberate decisions about what they eat and how often,” Suzy Davidkhanian, vice president and principal analyst at eMarketer said, according to Reuters.
PepsiCo’s decline also comes as the use of GLP-1 weight loss drugs such as Ozempic has increased to 21% of U.S. households in May 2025, the outlet reported.
In an effort to be more transparent, PepsiCo and other members of the American Beverage Association launched a website to help consumers better understand what is in their products.
“Consumers want greater transparency and deserve to have confidence in the safety of their foods and beverages,” said American Beverage Association President and CEO Kevin Keane. “Transparency means more than simply listing ingredients – it means providing relevant context that helps people understand where specific ingredients are used, what function they serve and how regulators in different countries view them. By integrating Good to Know into QR codes, we’re making it easier than ever for consumers to have clear and reliable information right at their fingertips.”
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Arianna Hooker is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation. Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network and contributed to this story.
