European consumers’ interest in nutrition information on (sugar-free) chewing gum

Abstract

A B S T R A C TMuch consumer and public health research into nutrition labelling has explored the effects of information provision on consumer behaviour and how it can help consumers in making informed food choices. Among other things, it has been shown that European consumers' interest in and use of nutrition information varies greatly across country and product category. Chewing gum represents an understudied product category where little is known about whether consumers are interested in and would use nutrition information, let alone where they might want to access it due to small pack sizes limiting the space available to provide the information. The present study investigates European consumers (n = 3500) in seven countries and shows that while overall interest in nutrition information on chewing gum is relatively low, considerable differences can be observed with regards to users of regular versus sugar-free chewing gum, as well as with regards to low/medium versus heavy users. Sugar-free chewing gum users are more interested in general as well as specific nutrition information that is relevant for chewing gum, compared to regular chewing gum users. And low and medium user groups have a better awareness of which nutrients are relevant for chewing gum, compared to heavy users who appear less concerned about nutrition and health. The results provide insights into European consumers' attitudes towards nutrition information for chewing gum, and alternative sources of such information provision as pack size is a limiting factor in regards to this product.

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“…This finding might relate to the fact that chewing gum is a product very likely perceived by consumers as scarcely affecting their diet and, thus, their health. In fact, consumers' interest in nutrition attributes related to chewing gum has been recently shown as relatively low (Hieke et al 2018). On the contrary, our results have shown that environmental concerns have a significant impact on participants' willingness to upgrade to the natural product.…”

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