Self‐reported nutritional knowledge and the acceptance of health‐related food benefit claims

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this study is to determine whether reported nutritional knowledge and the acceptance of benefit claims for a fresh produce item is related to changes in preference in order to provide food marketers insight and guidance into giving consumers more information to change beliefs and preferences, using health-benefit claims to position their brands as offering ingredients, e.g. Lycopene which may prevent serious illnesses such as heart disease and cancer. Design/methodology/approach -The sample was drawn from an internet panel maintained by Markettools, Inc, a respected market research company in the USA. A total of 594 respondents were surveyed. Besides demographic questions, respondents were asked about their knowledge of nine nutrients. Basic nutrient knowledge was estimated through a one-sample t-test tested against a value of two on a 1-4 scale. Respondents evaluated eight benefit statements regarding the health benefits of mushrooms. After reading each statement, respondents indicated their likelihood of purchasing fresh mushrooms and were asked about the believability, favorability, and uniqueness of each statement. Findings -The results indicate that health-related food benefit claims are better accepted by female respondents who claim to be nutritionally knowledgeable and who are older. Three hypotheses related to nutritional knowledge and beliefs showed that knowledge and beliefs have an effect but the effect varied by nutrient and nutrient cluster. In particular, knowledge of esoteric nutrients such as Pantothenic Acid was associated with acceptance of health-related claims. Practical implications -Food marketers are spending millions of dollars/pounds/euros on informing people of the nutrient content and health benefits of their foods. However, this money can be better spent if one first understands the existing levels of nutritional knowledge and the specific nutrients that motivate change in preference or buying intention. Originality/value -This paper builds on the existing body of knowledge using additional statistical techniques to cluster nutrients and to provide a demonstration on a fresh produce food group not currently investigated in the literature. It suggests that food marketers need to gather more information on their consumers to target their health and nutrition message to the proper (more receptive) audience.

Can “Functional Sweetener” Context Increase Liking for Cookies Formulated with Alternative Sweeteners?

“…Chi-square analysis showed that there was no significant difference in demographic factors and cookie-eating habits among clusters (for age, χ 2 4, 0.05 = 8.866, p = 0.065; for gender, χ 2 2, 0.05 = 1.840, p = 0.399; for low-sugar food purchase experience, χ 2 2, 0.05 = 0.397, p = 0.820; for purchase intention of low-sugar food, χ 2 4, 0.05 = 2.324, p = 0.676). It was initially hypothesized that demographic factors such as age, gender, low-sugar food related attitudes could moderate the effect of information based on previous findings [26,[36][37][38]. However, the results of the present study did not support this hypothesis.…”

“…Therefore, it is assumed that the interaction between sensory characteristics and information varies across individuals depending on their personal traits. Age and gender are the most frequently studied individual traits that can affect the processing of health information [36]. In addition, dietary habits, degree of health orientation or interest in health [37,38] and the level of knowledge about health information [39] have been studied as potential moderating variables for the effect of health-related information on liking.…”

Low‐sugar strawberry yogurt: Hedonic thresholds and expectations

“…Participant age was a limitation because more than 64% of the participants were 18–25, and this age group is generally more likely to choose high‐sugar products (Banik, Naher, Pervez, & Hossain, 2020; Dave, An, Jeffery, & Jasjit, 2009; Schroder, Fito, & Covas, 2007; Valente, Stangarlin‐Fiori, Seiscentos, de Souza, & Opolski, 2019). In this sense, research with elderly people is necessary since this age group is often more health conscious (Ares, Gimenez, & Gambaro, 2009; Baglione, Tucci, & Stanton, 2012; Cavaliere, Ricci, & Banterle, 2015; Karelakis, Zevgitis, Galanopoulos, & Mattas, 2019; Pinto et al, 2020) and may represent a new contrast between sensory acceptance and health expectations. According to Demattè et al (2013), smell or taste loss in elderly individuals is one of the factors that causes a decline in their sensory perception, making them less intolerant to new foods (e.g., low‐sugar products).…”

A comparison of front-of-pack nutrition claims between the US and EU

“…At the most basic level, health claims are simply claims about nutritional value that are designed to influence consumers' product choice (Baglione, 2012). Unlike nutrient disclosures which may or may not be mandated, that do not directly refer to any health effects, health claims attempt to link specific product attributes to certain health outcomes (Butler, 2002).…”