This study extends extant research by examining the impetus behind the consumption of both nutritionally rich and nutritionally poor functional foods. It uses diaries and in‐depth interviews and demonstrates that nutritionism theory, that is, where focus shifts from base food products to their constituent nutrients, is central to consumers' perception and consumption of functional foods. An unfortunate consequence is that consumers are unable to distinguish between nutritionally rich and nutritionally poor functional foods, believing instead the health claims of both. Nutritionally poor foods are often as unhealthy and calorific as nonfortified alternatives, and thus this consumption behaviour can have a negative impact on consumer well‐being. This is exacerbated by functional foods being used to boost unhealthy diets as an alternative to more substantial dietary overhaul and being habitually used as substitutes for healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables. Finally, this article reveals that theories of guilt and justification can and should be applied to the consumption of functional foods because many consumers often use functional foods and the nutrients therein to assuage any guilt resultant from unhealthy eating patterns. This study has important implications for nutrition policies. It illustrates the necessity of educating consumers about (i) what constitutes a healthy diet and (ii) the role of nutrients as building blocks in healthy diets, highlighting the importance of choosing appropriate sources for these nutrients. This should enable them to make healthier dietary choices and reduce their propensity to use functional foods as a quick fix to unhealthy eating patterns. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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This paper examines the impact of consumer confusion on nutrition knowledge, literacy, and dietary behavior. While previous research largely focuses on understanding why consumers might not respond to healthy eating communications, this paper seeks to uncover the various behavioral responses to such campaigns, particularly those that contravene health communication objectives. Using an interpretive methodology, findings suggest that most participants do respond to health communications by striving to eat healthily, but inadequate nutrition information derived from unreliable sources, flawed baseline nutrition knowledge, and poor nutrition literacy hinder participants' efforts. Inconsistent, incomplete, and contradictory information leaves many participants feeling confused about how to implement healthy eating habits. Further, a lack of ability to differentiate between credible and unreliable sources of nutrition information means that many participants blame their confusion on policy-makers, and express frustration and cynicism towards vague and often contradictory communications. This, in turn, increases participants' reliance on food adverts, product labels, and other commercial sources of ambiguous yet appealing information. The paper's theoretical contribution includes a consumer confusion framework for healthy eating, and policy implications highlight that health campaigns seeking to increase consumer awareness of healthy eating are not enough. Policymakers must become the most credible sources of information about healthy eating, and distinguish themselves from competing and unreliable sources of nutrition information.Keywords: Nutrition Knowledge; Nutrition Literacy; Consumer Confusion. The Impact of Consumer Confusion on Nutrition Literacy and Subsequent Dietary BehaviorThe aim of this research is to explore whether consumer confusion regarding healthy eating and nutrition information has a negative impact on nutrition knowledge and literacy, as well as on dietary behaviors. Healthy eating can be defined as the eating behaviors that enable a person to achieve "a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity" (World Health Organization [WHO], 2007). The best health outcomes are associated with balanced dietary patterns that boast high intakes of fruits, vegetables and grains, not just eating or avoiding a single food (Nestle, 2007;Wansink, 2007). Nutrition literacy is essential to healthy eating: it can be seen as the end result of many pushes and pulls, and a response to multiple forces that create an overall nutrition environment (Blaylock, Smallwood, Kassel, Variyam & Aldrich, 1999). One such pull is the rise of healthy eating communications, and social marketing campaigns devised by policy-makers who seek to encourage healthier dietary habits among consumers. Indeed, the dramatic rise in obesity over the past decade (Finkelstein et al., 2012;Stevens et al., 2012) has prompted academic discourse to assist the development of interv...

Spiteri-Cornish, L 2020, 'Why did I buy this? Consumers' post-impulse-consumption experience and its impact on the propensity for future impulse buying behaviour',

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