The Healthy Eater’s Idea and Related Behavior of a Healthy Diet—A Case Study with Kombucha Drinkers

Abstract

Consumers’ demand for ‘healthy’ food is growing at a fast pace. Beverages are one of the fastest-growing segments in the healthy food market. Kombucha is a product with a rapid market growth and is considered a ‘healthy beverage’. Kombucha drinkers (n = 296) in the contiguous United States (U.S.) were targeted to investigate differences in the various consumer segments regarding the healthy eater’s behavior, namely—(1) healthy diet stage-of-change attitudes, (2) healthy eating criteria, and (3) label information usage. An online survey questionnaire was used as a data collection tool. The data were analyzed via chi-square tests and multiple correspondence analysis (MCA). The majority of kombucha consumers were health-conscious and kombucha fitted into their view of a healthy diet. The female, older, western U.S. residents, and higher-educated consumers were more likely to take action and maintain a healthier diet. Healthy eaters’ idea of a healthy diet was very similar to that of the general population. Kombucha consumers focused mainly on sugar/calories and natural/organic ingredients. Additional investigations to expand the understanding of the healthy eater’s behavior with actual kombucha samples are needed in the future.

Investigating the consumption status of Functional drinks (fortified) based on the theory of planned behavior and the stages of change model in female employees

“…In the case of vitamin D-enriched juices, most of the participants were in the pre-contemplation stage and they had no intention for consuming this drink. Most of the participants had regular consumption of probiotic drinks (maintenance stage), which was consistent with the study of Kim Juyoung et al (31)in relation to a probiotic and functional drink.…”

“…They concluded that it was not possible to distinguish how education level and socio-economic characteristics clearly affect the consumption of functional foods (3). However, in the results of other studies, these demographic variables were signi cantly different, such as the study of Kim,Juyoung et al (31)in which the effect of gender, education, geographic region and culture were signi cant.…”

Consumption status of functional drinks based on the theory of planned behavior and the stages of change model in female employees

“…However, in the results of other studies, these demographic variables were significantly different, such as the study of Kim et al . 37 in which the effect of gender, education, geographic region and culture were significant.…”

“…Most of the participants had regular consumption of probiotic drinks (maintenance stage), which was consistent with the study of Kim et al . 37 in relation to a probiotic and functional drink.…”

Live, Probiotic, or Neither? Microbial Composition of Retail-Available Kombucha and “Hard” Kombucha in the Pacific Northwest of the United States

“…The detection of erythritol only in hard kombucha samples in our survey, on the other hand, is less readily explainable. As a noncaloric sweetener, erythritol addition likely reflects attempts to appeal to health-conscious consumers [2,36]. Alternatively, hard kombucha producers may be taking advantage of the relative microbial stability conferred by ethanol, acidity, and low residual sugars and therefore using erythritol for organoleptic balance without a risk of continued in-package fermentation, even when stored at non-refrigeration temperatures.…”