Factors affecting parents’ choices of functional foods targeted for children

Abstract

In recent years the link between diet and disease has become well established, with studies increasingly pointing to the role of diet in disease prevention, as well as its ability to prevent chronic diseases affecting children. As a consequence, there are ever more functional products specifically targeting children, marketed in terms of the benefits conferred on children's health as well as their potential in reducing the risk of disease. The current study aims to explore factors affecting parents’ choices of suitable FFs for their children. The questions addressed in this paper concern how FFs for children are perceived by their parents and what driving factors affect their willingness to purchase FFs. The results from a web survey conducted in southern Italy on a sample of 365 parents of children aged from 1 to 10 years reveal that parents have a strong interest in functional nutrition for their children, even if their level of familiarity with these products is still low. Furthermore, multivariate analysis shows that the buying frequency of FFs targeting children is influenced by several variables, beyond socio-demographics, generally related to parents’ nutritional knowledge, and trust and familiarity with FFs. The paper provides some practical indications for both policy makers and marketers to build different strategies to improve communication on the nutritional and health benefits of FFs for children

What Do We Know About Chain Actors’ Evaluation of New Food Technologies? A Systematic Review of Consumer and Farmer Studies

“…This is similar for functional food in a study by Annunziata et al. (), but different for Vecchio et al. () who showed a higher willingness to pay for functional food. Residence: Living in urban or rural areas also affects consumers’ food technology evaluation that are rather mixed (Canavari & Nayga, ; Olofsson, Öhman, & Rashid, ; Onyango & Nayga, ).…”

“…The specific relationships are explained in more detail in the following paragraphs. Information assessment: There is a tendency for a positive relationship toward evaluation of new food technologies, that is, the more knowledge a consumer has about, or the more familiar a consumer is with the new technology, the better and more positive is the food evaluation (with respect to GM: Amin, Othman, Lip, Jusoff, & Jusoff, ; Baker & Burnham, ; Lusk et al., ; fortification: Annunziata, Vecchio, & Kraus, ; Brečić, Gorton, & Barjolle, ; and nanotechnology: Kim & Kim, ). For example, an experimental auction by La Barbera, Amato, and Sannino () demonstrated the positive effect of level of (subjective) knowledge about lycopene on willingness to pay for functionalized healthy food in both auctions condition (hypothetical compared with real).…”

“…But, on the other hand, there are studies that show older people who were willing to pay more for innovative food (with respect to GM: Lusk & Rozan, ; non‐GM biofortification: Oparinde, Banerji, Birol, & Ilona, ; fortification: Kavoosi‐Kalashami et al., ; Siegrist et al., ; Vecchio et al., ), had less fear toward GM foods (González, Johnson, & Qaim, ; Laros & Steenkamp, ; Sjöberg, ; Titchener & Sapp, ), or had higher intention to buy functional food or nutraceutical products (Henson et al., ). Gender: Results of gender influences on food evaluation seem to be more consistent. Overall, compared to men, women evaluated GM foods (Chen, ; Govindasamy, Onyango, Hallman, Jang, & Puduri, ; Lusk & Rozan, ; Napier, Tucker, Henry, & Whaley, ; Zepeda, Douthitt, & You, ) as well as food produced by nanotechnology more negatively (Sodano et al., ; Spence & Townsend, ) but were more attentive to healthy life including healthy food and more willing to try functional food (Annunziata et al., ; Chen, ; Coppola et al., ). There are also a few studies that have demonstrated that men were more reluctant toward new food than women (Cranfield et al., ; Nayga, Fisher, & Onyango, ; Sjöberg, ). Education and income: In terms of education and income level, different studies find varied effects on food evaluation.…”

“…Gender: Results of gender influences on food evaluation seem to be more consistent. Overall, compared to men, women evaluated GM foods (Chen, ; Govindasamy, Onyango, Hallman, Jang, & Puduri, ; Lusk & Rozan, ; Napier, Tucker, Henry, & Whaley, ; Zepeda, Douthitt, & You, ) as well as food produced by nanotechnology more negatively (Sodano et al., ; Spence & Townsend, ) but were more attentive to healthy life including healthy food and more willing to try functional food (Annunziata et al., ; Chen, ; Coppola et al., ). There are also a few studies that have demonstrated that men were more reluctant toward new food than women (Cranfield et al., ; Nayga, Fisher, & Onyango, ; Sjöberg, ).…”

Valuation of nutritional and health claims for yoghurts in Spain: A hedonic price approach

“…More specifically, a study of Van Wezemael et al (2014) investigates consumer preferences for nutritional and health claims (NHCs) on lean beef steak in four EU countries (Belgium, France, the Netherlands and United Kingdom) found that in Belgium, the Netherlands and France, NHCs on saturated fat yielded higher utilities than claims on protein and/or iron, while the opposite was found among consumers in the UK. On the other hand, studies conducted in different countries covering a broad range of issues including consumers' attitudes and perceptions (Urala & Lahteenmaki, 2007;Masson et al, 2016), preferences (Betchtold & Abdulai, 2014;Annunziata & Vecchio, 2016) and WTP for functional food products with NHCs (Hellyer et al, 2012;Hirogaki, 2013;Cavaliere et al, 2015;de-Magistris & Lopez-Galan, 2016;Jurado & Gracia, 2017;LopezGalan & de-Magistris, 2017) found that healthconscious consumers have positive perception and are willing to pay premium prices for food products with NHCs. Others indicate that healthier perceptions and acceptance of functional foods with NHCs depend on the ingredients and their combination within the product.…”