Claiming health in food products
Highlights
► Overview of consumers’ perception of health claims with a European emphasis. ► Linking perception of health claims with information processing. ► Discussing future research needs related to health claims.
Introduction
Food choices and eating behaviour are increasingly discussed from health-related viewpoints. Public concern revolves around the increasing incidence of lifestyle-related non-communicable diseases that could partly be prevented by improved dietary behaviours (WHO, 2011). For the food sector the increased health concerns offer possibilities but also create challenges. In promoting healthy eating, food manufacturers have a role as providers of better options for consumers to choose from when purchasing food. The interest among food manufacturers can be fuelled both by the pressure from the public sector to produce “healthier” options and by increased consumer attention to healthy eating. Using health as an important quality criterion in a product assortment may further be exploited as an indication of socially responsible corporate behaviour that looks beyond profit making. Health claims in products try to respond to consumers’ interest in health by conveying messages about product-specific benefits that potentially add value to products.
However, marketing products with health-related messages can be based on different aspects of perceived healthiness. Science-based nutrition or health claims with specific benefits have to compete with other health-related messages for consumers’ attention. Consumers tend to perceive organic foods as healthier than their conventional counterparts (Magnusson, Arvola, Hursti, Åberg, & Sjöden, 2003). This may be partly based on the fact that consumers interpret naturalness per se in products as being good for them (Rozin et al., 2004). In addition to naturalness, there may be other cues and messages that consumers have learnt as indicators of healthiness, e.g. cues related to vitality and activity. Thus for the consumer, nutrition and health claims are just one piece of information they may use when assessing the products’ potential benefit for them. Second, emphasising health as a product characteristic may influence other product-related expectations and imply a negative impact on taste, naturalness and convenience of the product (Brunner et al., 2010, Lähteenmäki et al., 2010, Raghunathan et al., 2006).
This article concentrates on exploring the impact of health claims on consumers’ perception of food products. Health claims are typically used as front-of-package information and they link the product with specific health-related functions or health outcomes. Nutrition claims convey the nutrient content without explaining the relation to the health function or outcome. Even though technically and legally it is possible to distinguish nutrition and health claims from each other, for consumers this distinction may not be clear or even very meaningful, because both are based mostly on nutritional factors and thus shared associative networks when processing information (Lawson, 2002). While concentrating on health claims, other kinds of health messages are used as reference points when comparing the impact of health claims.
Generally, giving consumers misleading information about products is illegal and thereby can be sanctioned, but in many countries the use of health claims is governed by additional specific legislation and regulations. In Europe the legislation requires that all health claims are based on substantiated scientific evidence, but in Japan and the USA also claims that are based on suggested scientific evidence are allowed as long as qualifying statements are provided (Lalor & Wall, 2011). In Europe the health claim regulation (Regulation (EC) No. 1924/2006) states that all health claims must be approved beforehand and only pre-approved claims can be used on food products or in any related material used in marketing. The European health claims legislation has built-in safeguards against misleading consumers. The regulation explicitly states that health claims must be worded in a form that allows an average consumer to understand the benefit of the product as aimed by the food manufacturer, but there is no reference to the way this understanding should be verified. The interpretation of what is meant by an average consumer and how to test the understanding has triggered a lot research in Europe assessing consumer responses to health claims. The second precaution in European legislation is setting boundaries on the required nutrition profile for products that are allowed to use health claims. However, so far no agreement has been reached on how to define this nutrition profile.
The objective of this paper is to review the existing evidence on how consumers perceive health claims, reflect the findings against more general principles of information processing in humans, and discuss the implications for health claims producing adding value to products, mainly from a European perspective. The next part of the paper reviews the existing findings on consumer perception of health claims on food products by looking at the claim, products and consumer-related factors and in the third part the findings are reflected against the theoretical background of information processing and the fourth section discusses whether health claims can bring added value to consumers. The final part looks at the future research needs in consumer research related to health claims.
Section snippets
Factors influencing how claims are perceived
Consumer responses to health claims have been studied in several studies that varied in their design, measures used and stimuli. The most typical designs have presented a set of claims and asked respondents to rate their opinions on a set of verbally anchored scales. The ratings measured perceived healthiness or benefit, convincingness or credibility of the claim, or appeal or liking for the product with a health claim. Very few studies have attempted to measure consumer understanding of the
Consumers information processing and health-related information
Overall, there seems to be relatively few consistent findings on consumers’ responses to health claims. One main tendency is that products with health claims are rated as being healthier than their non-claimed counterparts, but this effect tends to be rather small and not unconditionally positive. Furthermore, the responses in relation to product appeal or willingness to use are more cautious and varied. As health claims are used to inform consumers about the health-related benefits, the
Health claims as adding true value to products or misleading consumers
By providing information about the benefits of the product, health claims should add value to the consumer. The added value per se can be related to the credibility or convincingness of the claim regardless whether the content is understood in the way intended by the manufacturer, as demanded by the EU regulation (Regulation (EC) No. 1924/2006). Health claims can only give true added value if consumers both recognise the benefit and find it important. This requires two different types of
Future perspectives
Health claims are gaining increasing interest as an option to market products with special health benefits and to advance public health by improving people’s diets, thereby lowering the risk factors of non-communicable diseases. So far research on consumer perception of health claims has demonstrated the challenges of communicating health benefits through short front-of-package claims. In order to be able to assess and use the claims, consumers must process the information in the claims,
References (43)
- et al.
Influence of gender, age and motives underlying food choice on perceived healthiness and willingness to try functional foods
Appetite
(2007) - et al.
Consumer perceived healthiness and willingness to try functional milk desserts. Influence of ingredient, ingredient name and health claim
Food Quality and Preference
(2009) - et al.
The perceived healthiness of functional foods: A conjoint study of Danish, Finnish and American consumers’ perception of functional foods
Appetite
(2003) - et al.
Convenience food products. Drivers for consumption
Appetite
(2010) - et al.
Predicting intentions to consume functional foods and supplements to offset memory loss using an adaptation of protection motivation theory
Appetite
(2004) - et al.
Perceived relevance and foods with health-related claims
Food Quality and Preference
(2012) - et al.
Consumer perceptions of healthy cereal products and production methods
Journal of Cereal Science
(2007) - et al.
Consumers’ ratings of the natural and unnatural qualities of foods
Appetite
(2010) - et al.
Determinants of consumer understanding of health claims
Appetite
(2011) - et al.
Nutrition knowledge, and use and understanding of nutrition information on food labels among consumers in the UK
Appetite
(2010)
Who consumes functional foods and nutraceuticals in Canada?. Results of cluster analysis of the 2006 survey of Canadians’ Demand for Food Products Supporting Health and Wellness
Appetite
Impact of health-related claims on the perception of other product attributes
Food Policy
Consumer attitudes towards enhanced flavonoid content in fruit
Food Research International
A pan EU survey of consumer attitudes to food, nutrition and health: An overview
Food Quality and Preference
Factors influencing consumers’ willingness to use beverages and ready-to-eat frozen soups containing oat β-glucan in Finland, France and Sweden
Food Quality and Preference
Choice of organic foods is related to perceived consequences for human health and to environmentally friendly behaviour
Appetite
The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion
Advances in Experimental Social Psychology
Quantification of consumer attitudes to health and hedonic characteristics of foods
Appetite
Preference for natural: Instrumental and ideational/moral motivations, and the contrast between foods and medicines
Appetite
Country-wise differences in perception of health-related messages in cereal-based food products
Food Quality and Preference
Consumers’ willingness to buy functional foods. The influence of carrier, benefit and trust
Appetite
Cited by (224)
Consumers’ willingness to pay for health claims during the COVID-19 pandemic: A moderated mediation analysis
2023, Journal of Agriculture and Food ResearchThe interplay between health claims and sensory attributes in determining consumers’ purchase intentions for extra virgin olive oil
2023, Food Quality and PreferenceInformation about health and environmental benefits has minimal impact on consumer responses to commercial plant-based yoghurts
2023, Food Quality and PreferenceDoes attitude moderate the effect of labelling information when choosing functional foods?
2023, Food Quality and PreferenceSupporting consumers' informed food choices: Sources, channels, and use of information
2023, Advances in Food and Nutrition Research