Do Consumers Care about Nutrition and Health Claims? Some Evidence from Italy

Abstract

This study investigates Italian consumer knowledge and use of nutrition and health claims (NHCs). Six specific claims are examined on the basis of a web survey carried out on a sample of 504 consumers. Our results show that there is little attention to NHCs and their use is not widespread; objective knowledge of the selected claims is fairly scant, generating misinterpretation and confusion about their real meaning. K-means cluster analysis allowed us to identify three segments of consumers, characterized by different levels in attention and use frequency of NHCs, with a specific profile in terms of motivation and nutritional knowledge. Our results suggest the advisability of policy interventions and communication efforts which target the three segments with a view to achieving greater attention to NHCs. In conclusion, to boost knowledge concerning the actual meaning of the claims and their relation with a healthy diet, especially to reach non-users, information should be provided both simply and clearly, avoiding the use of complex scientific terminology.

The Role of Individual Knowledge in Functional Olive Oil Preferences: Does Self-Coherence Lead to Different Health Attributes Perception?

“…The existing literature addressed the cognitive processes correlated with the effects of food labels and the role of nutritional labels in driving consumers’ healthy food choices [ 24 , 25 ]. Although information about the nutritional content of food has a strong influence on consumers’ choices of healthier food products [ 26 ], in many cases, the nutrition information provided on such labels is underutilized by consumers due to their limited amount of objective knowledge [ 4 , 19 , 25 ].…”

“…In addition, a recent paper pointed to the coexistence of different market segments with different levels of sensitivity to nutrition and health claims, thus identifying potential claim users, actual claim users, and non-users [ 4 ]. Conversely, the role of health claims in consumers’ olive oil choices is quite under-researched.…”

“…The definition of the term ‘healthy’ is not always consistent, and nuances and subjective conceptualizations persist among consumers [ 1 ]. Scholars and researchers have paid significant attention to health claims, and particular emphasis has been placed on labels reporting the nutrition and healthiness of foods [ 4 , 5 , 6 ], that aim to allow consumers to also better identify functional foods, even in the absence of direct or specific knowledge. Recent studies on consumers’ perceptions of the healthiness of olive oil have indicated that consumers feel that it is a naturally healthy food.…”

Nutrition Claims Frequency and Compliance in a Food Sample of the Spanish Market: The BADALI Study

“…Some factors related to customers may also be important to the effect of NCs. Nutrition knowledge, motivation to adopt a healthy diet, health consciousness and consumers’ difficulty to understand claims may modulate the effect of NCs [ 9 , 10 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. As a summary of all the potential factors influencing the effect of NCs on food choices, Oostenbach proposed a conceptual model in 2019 [ 10 ].…”

Nutrition, Choice and Health-Related Claims

“…On the other hand, the least important claim was "low salt". Annunziata and Mariani [13] examined six specific claims on the basis of a web survey carried out on a sample of 504 consumers. Findings revealed that there is little attention paid to nutritional health claims and their use is not widespread.…”