Using principal component analysis to explore consumers' perception toward quinoa health and nutritional claims in Gweru, Zimbabwe

Abstract

Quinoa is one of the ancestral grains now considered as the “superfoods of the future” due to their characteristics as functional foods with great environmental adaptability. The Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund has introduced quinoa in Zimbabwe to increase resilience of farming systems in light of environmental shocks. In order to improve adoption of the crop, it is important to understand the combined effects of socio‐demographic variables on consumer perceptions of the crop. However, there is limited literature on the combined effects of socio‐demographic variables on quinoa health and nutritional benefits in Zimbabwe. In this study, we used principle component analysis to identify consumers' perception about health and nutritional benefits of quinoa in Gweru Urban District, Gweru, Zimbabwe. A questionnaire was designed and applied to 200 participants. However, only 167 forms were valid for analysis. Age, education, and income level are main factors that determine consumer perceptions on health and nutritional claims. The results indicate that quinoa need to be promoted a as a crop that goes beyond food and income security by placing additional emphasis on health and nutritional aspects. This is very insightful in light of the need to improve the uptake of the crop by smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe. However, the use of self‐reporting survey method has received criticism for failing to get detailed information on perceptions of individuals. These findings could be handy to promote quinoa as a climate smart crop with additional health and nutritional benefits. This is one of the novel research studies exploring the motives of Zimbabwean consumers towards quinoa as a functional food crop. The work also contributes to knowledge on consumer food preferences.

Genotype-Dependent Variation of Nutritional Quality-Related Traits in Quinoa Seeds

“…These farmers domesticated the cultivars, preserving the genetic diversity found currently in quinoa [5]. This genetic diver-sity can be divided into different ecotypes that include thousands of accessions (16,422) [6] that reflect the diffusion from the center of origin of the crop around Lake Titicaca [5].…”

“…Antioxidants have been found to reduce the risks of cancer and cardiovascular disease and to present anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial activity [14,15]. Quinoa also shows unique fiber, lipid (with a high ratio of omega-6:omega-3), and microand macronutrient profiles (often higher than cereal-based products) that give quinoa seeds beneficial characteristics, such as decreasing the risk of cancer and cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases; decreasing blood pressure, diabetes, and development of hemorrhoids; and weight control [16], thus improving intestinal health [9]. Overall, quinoa seeds provide nutritional and health benefits, which is why quinoa is considered a "superfood of the future" [17,18].…”

Are Local Dairy Products Better? Using Principal Component Analysis to Investigate Consumers’ Perception towards Quality, Sustainability, and Market Availability

“…In particular, this technique allows the information provided by responses to a large number of questions to be condensed into a small number of orthogonal components [ 59 ]. This multivariate statistical methodology is widely used in market research, and particularly in consumer studies, to assess individuals’ preferences and attitudes based on purchasing behavior and product characteristics [ 28 , 57 , 59 , 60 ]. This approach has proven useful in making critical decisions applicable to the real world of the agri-food sector [ 61 , 62 ].…”

Genotype-Dependent Variation of Nutritional Quality-Related Traits in Quinoa Seeds

“…Quinoa seeds are a good source of antioxidants, exceeding the antioxidant capacity of cereals [16]. Furthermore, quinoa also shows a unique fiber, lipid (with a high ratio of omega-6: omega-3), micro-and macronutrient profiles (often higher than cereal-based products) that give quinoa seeds beneficial characteristics such as decreasing the risk of cancer, cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases, decreasing blood pressure, diabetes, development of hemorrhoids and weight control [17], improving intestinal health [9]. Due to all these characteristics, providing not only nutritional services but health benefits, quinoa is considered a "superfood of the future".…”