Why the “healthy” aisle runs on just nine crops

Walk the wellness aisle of any UK supermarket and you'll meet the same nine ingredients on rotation: oat, almond, soy, pea, rice, wheat, coconut, maize, potato. New brands appear weekly; the underlying pantry barely changes.

This narrowing wasn't inevitable. It's the outcome of a century of agricultural consolidation, global trade routes optimised for shelf life, and a marketing economy that rewards familiarity over nutrition.

The cost is paid quietly, by bodies that were built for variety and now run on repetition. The next greens powder never quite lands because there's nothing genuinely new in it.

A fuller piece — with sources, charts, and the policy backstory — is being written. Subscribe to the Journal to read it first.