The Experts below are selected from a list of 8100 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Bruce Neal - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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the relative importance of primary food choice factors among different consumer groups a latent profile analysis
Food Quality and Preference, 2021Co-Authors: Liyuwork Mitiku Dana, Helen Dixon, Bruce Neal, Bridget Kelly, Kathy Chapman, Caroline Miller, Kylie BallAbstract:Abstract Food choices determine consumers’ dietary and energy intakes, and in turn their risk of obesity and diet-related diseases. Factors affecting food choices are complex, varied, and inter-connected. The aims of this study were to assess the relative importance of four factors influencing food choices (taste, price, Healthiness, and convenience) and identify segments of consumers according to their ratings. Australian consumers (n = 1,558) aged 18+ years completed an online survey assessing a range of factors influencing their food choices, including the perceived importance of taste, price, Healthiness, and convenience. Latent profile analysis was undertaken to identify segments, with bivariate analyses then conducted to describe the differences between the derived segments. Overall, taste was reported to be the dominant factor determining food choices (Mean (M)=4.42; SD=0.72; z-score=0.43), followed by price (M=4.19; SD=0.78; z-score=0.15), Healthiness (M=4.07; SD=0.82, z-score=0.00), and finally convenience (M = 3.79; SD = 0.82, z-score=-0.35). However, there were variations in absolute and relative ratings across the four identified segments. Two segments (‘High involvement’ and ‘Taste focused’, together accounting for 53% of the sample) rated taste highest, and the other two segments (‘Moderate involvement’ and ‘Indifferent’, 47% of the sample) rated price highest. Age, gender, residential location, and responsibility for grocery shopping were associated with segment membership. Understanding the dominant drivers of food choices across different consumer segments is useful for the development of tailored nutrition promotion messages and interventions to address obesity and other diet-related diseases.
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effects of different types of front of pack labelling information on the Healthiness of food purchases a randomised controlled trial
Nutrients, 2017Co-Authors: Bruce Neal, Simone Pettigrew, Elizabeth Dunford, Michelle Crino, Annie Gao, Rohan Greenland, Judith Ngai, Cliona Ni Mhurchu, Gary SacksAbstract:Background: Front-of-pack nutrition labelling may support healthier packaged food purchases. Australia has adopted a novel Health Star Rating (HSR) system, but the legitimacy of this choice is unknown. Objective: To define the effects of different formats of front-of-pack labelling on the Healthiness of food purchases and consumer perceptions. Design: Individuals were assigned at random to access one of four different formats of nutrition labelling—HSR, multiple traffic light labels (MTL), daily intake guides (DIG), recommendations/warnings (WARN)—or control (the nutrition information panel, NIP). Participants accessed nutrition information by using a smartphone application to scan the bar-codes of packaged foods, while shopping. The primary outcome was Healthiness defined by the mean transformed nutrient profile score of packaged foods that were purchased over four weeks. Results: The 1578 participants, mean age 38 years, 84% female recorded purchases of 148,727 evaluable food items. The mean Healthiness of the purchases in the HSR group was non-inferior to MTL, DIG, or WARN (all p 0.07), but WARN resulted in healthier packaged food purchases (mean difference 0.87; 95% confidence interval 0.03 to 1.72; p = 0.04). HSR was perceived by participants as more useful than DIG, and easier to understand than MTL or DIG (all p < 0.05). Participants also reported the HSR to be easier to understand, and the HSR and MTL to be more useful, than NIP (all p < 0.03). Conclusions: These real-world data align with experimental findings and provide support for the policy choice of HSR. Recommendation/warning labels warrant further exploration, as they may be a stronger driver of healthy food purchases.
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an evaluation of the Healthiness of the indian packaged food and beverage supply
Nutrients, 2017Co-Authors: Bruce Neal, Alexandra Jones, Elizabeth Dunford, Rachel Crossley, Sudhir Raj Thout, Mike RaynerAbstract:Availability of less-healthy packaged food and beverage products has been implicated as an important driver of obesity and diet-related disease. An increasing number of packaged foods and beverages are sold in India. Our objective was to evaluate the Healthiness of packaged foods sold by India’s largest manufacturers. Healthiness was assessed using the Australian Health Star Rating (HSR) system and the World Health Organization’s European Regional Office (WHO Euro) Nutrient Profile Model. Sales-value-weighted mean Healthiness and the proportions of “healthy” products (using a validated HSR cut-off of ≥3.5, and products meeting WHO Euro criteria as healthy enough to market to children) were calculated overall, by company and by food category. Nutrient information for 943 products sold by the 11 largest Indian manufacturers was obtained from nutrient labels, company websites or directly from the manufacturer. Healthiness was low overall (mean HSR 1.8 out of 5.0 stars) with a low proportion defined as “healthy” by both HSR (17%) and also by WHO Euro criteria (8%). There were marked differences in the Healthiness of similar products within food categories. Substantial variation between companies (minimum sales-value-weighted mean HSR 0.5 for Company G, versus maximum HSR 3.0 for Company F) was a result of differences in the types of products sold and the nutritional composition of individual products. There are clear opportunities for India’s largest food companies to improve both the nutritional quality of individual products and to improve their product mix to include a greater proportion of healthy products.
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do health claims and front of pack labels lead to a positivity bias in unhealthy foods
Nutrients, 2016Co-Authors: Zenobia Talati, Simone Pettigrew, Helen Dixon, Bruce Neal, Kylie Ball, Clare HughesAbstract:Health claims and front-of-pack labels (FoPLs) may lead consumers to hold more positive attitudes and show a greater willingness to buy food products, regardless of their actual Healthiness. A potential negative consequence of this positivity bias is the increased consumption of unhealthy foods. This study investigated whether a positivity bias would occur in unhealthy variations of four products (cookies, corn flakes, pizzas and yoghurts) that featured different health claim conditions (no claim, nutrient claim, general level health claim, and higher level health claim) and FoPL conditions (no FoPL, the Daily Intake Guide (DIG), Multiple Traffic Lights (MTL), and the Health Star Rating (HSR)). Positivity bias was assessed via measures of perceived Healthiness, global evaluations (incorporating taste, quality, convenience, etc.) and willingness to buy. On the whole, health claims did not produce a positivity bias, while FoPLs did, with the DIG being the most likely to elicit this bias. The HSR most frequently led to lower ratings of unhealthy foods than the DIG and MTL, suggesting that this FoPL has the lowest risk of creating an inaccurate positivity bias in unhealthy foods.
Michael Siegrist - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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european consumer Healthiness evaluation of free from labelled food products
Food Quality and Preference, 2017Co-Authors: Christina Hartmann, Sophie Hieke, Camille Taper, Michael SiegristAbstract:Abstract This study aimed to find out how “free-from labelling” shapes consumers’ perception of food products and whether the absence of an ingredient is considered an indicator of improved nutritional value of the product. An online survey was conducted in four European countries: the United Kingdom, Sweden, Poland, and France (overall N = 1950). Four “free-from labels” (lactose-free, gluten-free, GMO-free, and palm oil-free) were tested using different product categories that these labels typically appear on. Healthiness perception was evaluated by comparing products with the free-from labels to identical products without the labels. Potential predictors for Healthiness evaluation and intention to pay a price premium were assessed, including nutrition knowledge, information-seeking on food packages, preference for food naturalness, general health interest, trust in actors in the food domain, and affect regarding the absent ingredients. Products with a free-from label were considered healthier than products without such a label, with the strongest effects occurring for labels indicating that products were free of GMOs and free of palm oil. Some differences were observed among countries in the evaluation of the product-label combinations. Information-seeking, nutrition knowledge, and affect were significant predictors of Healthiness evaluation. Furthermore, Healthiness evaluation, information-seeking, nutrition knowledge, and preference for naturalness predicted intention to pay a price premium for products labelled free-from. When shaping consumers’ food shopping behaviour using certain food labels, it is important to know how consumers interpret those labels. A false interpretation of labels might lead to unintended changes in consumer behaviour.
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does environmental friendliness equal Healthiness swiss consumers perception of protein products
Appetite, 2016Co-Authors: Gianna A Lazzarini, Jasmin Zimmermann, Vivianne H M Visschers, Michael SiegristAbstract:Food production and consumption have major impacts on the environment. At the same time, changes in human diets worldwide are increasingly leading to health problems. Both issues are highly influenced by consumers' everyday food choices and could be addressed by reducing consumption of meat and other animal products. To promote sustainable food consumption, we need to know how consumers perceive the environmental friendliness and Healthiness of food products, on which criteria they base their evaluations of environmental friendliness and Healthiness, and how their estimations relate to life cycle assessments and nutrient profiling. We presented 30 protein products, which varied in provenance, production methods, and processing, to 85 participants from Switzerland. They were asked to sort the products once according to their perceived environmental friendliness and once according to their perceived Healthiness. The mean distances between the products were compared to the products' life cycle assessments and nutrient profiles. The results showed that perceived environmental friendliness and Healthiness are highly correlated. The main predictors of the products' perceived environmental friendliness were product category, presence of an organic label, and provenance; and for perceived Healthiness, these predictors were product category, fat content, processing, and presence of an organic label. Environmental friendliness and Healthiness estimations were significantly correlated to the life cycle assessments and the nutrient profiles of the products, respectively. Hence, to promote healthy and environmentally friendly food choices, motivators related to environmental friendliness and Healthiness could be used in synergy. Awareness about meat's environmental impact should be increased and better information is needed for consumers to make an accurate environmental impact and Healthiness assessments of protein products.
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Adolescents’ perception of the Healthiness of snacks
Food Quality and Preference, 2016Co-Authors: Tamara Bucher, Sabine Diem, Clare E. Collins, Michael SiegristAbstract:Abstract Changes in snacking habits in developed countries are a growing cause for concern, since foods and beverages commonly consumed as snacks, tend to be both energy dense and nutrient poor. Adolescents are characterised by frequent snack consumption. Therefore, promoting more healthful snack choices to adolescents is important for optimising nutrient intake and lowering the risk of chronic disease. The ability to evaluate the Healthiness of snacks is essential to making healthy choices. Previous research has shown that health claims can influence consumers’ perceptions of food products. However, little is yet known about consumers’ perceptions of how nutritious or healthy specific foods or beverages are. This knowledge is important for planning successful interventions and designing healthy snacks that will also appeal to population groups with a higher dietary risk, including adolescents. The aim was to investigate how adolescents evaluate the Healthiness of snacks currently available for consumption in school environments. Seventy-five adolescents participated in a sorting task and evaluated the Healthiness of 37 representative snacks. The data were analysed using hierarchical multiple regression and cluster analysis. The sugar (β = −.51, P The findings of this study are important for tailoring future interventions to promote healthy eating and setting priorities for nutrition education.
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simply adding the word fruit makes sugar healthier the misleading effect of symbolic information on the perceived Healthiness of food
Appetite, 2015Co-Authors: Bernadette Sutterlin, Michael SiegristAbstract:People may use simple heuristics to assess the Healthiness of food products. For instance, the information that a product contains "fruit sugar" (in German, "fruit sugar" is the colloquial term for fructose) could be interpreted as a cue that the product is relatively healthy, since the term "fruit" symbolizes Healthiness. This can have a misleading effect on the perceived Healthiness of a product. In Experiment 1, participants (N = 164) were asked to evaluate the Healthiness of one of two breakfast cereals based on the information provided in a nutrition table. For one group, the label "fruit sugar" was used; for the other, the label "sugar" was used. Results suggest that the phrase "fruit sugar" listed as an ingredient of the breakfast cereal resulted in a more positive perception of the Healthiness of the cereal compared with the ingredient labeled "sugar." In Experiment 2 (N = 202), the results of Experiment 1 were replicated with a within-subjects design in which participants evaluated the two products simultaneously. Experiment 3 (N = 251) ruled out the alternative explanation that the effect could be due to differing inferences about the product's ingredients based on the label used, that is, that the product labeled with "fruit sugar" contains fruit. Finally, in Experiment 4 (N = 162), the results show that the Healthiness associated with the labeling of the ingredient "sugar" ("fruit sugar" vs. "sugar") mediates the observed effect. Results of the four experiments indicate that symbolic information is an important factor that can influence people's health perceptions of food. These findings have implications for marketing and public health.
Miles Richardson - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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an objective examination of consumer perception of nutrition information based on Healthiness ratings and eye movements
Public Health Nutrition, 2007Co-Authors: G Jones, Miles RichardsonAbstract:Objective. Previous research on nutrition labelling has mainly used subjective measures. This study examines the effectiveness of two types of nutrition label using two objective measures: eye movements and Healthiness ratings. Design. Eye movements were recorded while participants made Healthiness ratings for two types of nutrition label: standard and standard plus the Food Standards Agency’s ‘traffic light’ concept. Setting. University of Derby, UK. Subjects. 92 participants (mean age 31.5 years) were paid for their participation. None of the participants worked in the areas of food or nutrition. Results. For the standard nutrition label, participant eye movements lacked focus and their Healthiness ratings lacked accuracy. The traffic light system helped to guide the attention of the consumer to the important nutrients and improved the accuracy of the Healthiness ratings of nutrition labels. Conclusions. Consumer’s have a lack of knowledge regarding how to interpret nutrition information for standard labels. The traffic light concept helps to ameliorate this problem by indicating important nutrients to pay attention to.
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an objective examination of consumer perception of nutrition information based on Healthiness ratings and eye movements
Public Health Nutrition, 2007Co-Authors: G Jones, Miles RichardsonAbstract:Objective. Previous research on nutrition labelling has mainly used subjective measures. This study examines the effectiveness of two types of nutrition label using two objective measures: eye movements and Healthiness ratings. Design. Eye movements were recorded while participants made Healthiness ratings for two types of nutrition label: standard and standard plus the Food Standards Agency’s ‘traffic light’ concept. Setting. University of Derby, UK. Subjects. 92 participants (mean age 31.5 years) were paid for their participation. None of the participants worked in the areas of food or nutrition. Results. For the standard nutrition label, participant eye movements lacked focus and their Healthiness ratings lacked accuracy. The traffic light system helped to guide the attention of the consumer to the important nutrients and improved the accuracy of the Healthiness ratings of nutrition labels. Conclusions. Consumer’s have a lack of knowledge regarding how to interpret nutrition information for standard labels. The traffic light concept helps to ameliorate this problem by indicating important nutrients to pay attention to.
Elizabeth Dunford - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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effects of different types of front of pack labelling information on the Healthiness of food purchases a randomised controlled trial
Nutrients, 2017Co-Authors: Bruce Neal, Simone Pettigrew, Elizabeth Dunford, Michelle Crino, Annie Gao, Rohan Greenland, Judith Ngai, Cliona Ni Mhurchu, Gary SacksAbstract:Background: Front-of-pack nutrition labelling may support healthier packaged food purchases. Australia has adopted a novel Health Star Rating (HSR) system, but the legitimacy of this choice is unknown. Objective: To define the effects of different formats of front-of-pack labelling on the Healthiness of food purchases and consumer perceptions. Design: Individuals were assigned at random to access one of four different formats of nutrition labelling—HSR, multiple traffic light labels (MTL), daily intake guides (DIG), recommendations/warnings (WARN)—or control (the nutrition information panel, NIP). Participants accessed nutrition information by using a smartphone application to scan the bar-codes of packaged foods, while shopping. The primary outcome was Healthiness defined by the mean transformed nutrient profile score of packaged foods that were purchased over four weeks. Results: The 1578 participants, mean age 38 years, 84% female recorded purchases of 148,727 evaluable food items. The mean Healthiness of the purchases in the HSR group was non-inferior to MTL, DIG, or WARN (all p 0.07), but WARN resulted in healthier packaged food purchases (mean difference 0.87; 95% confidence interval 0.03 to 1.72; p = 0.04). HSR was perceived by participants as more useful than DIG, and easier to understand than MTL or DIG (all p < 0.05). Participants also reported the HSR to be easier to understand, and the HSR and MTL to be more useful, than NIP (all p < 0.03). Conclusions: These real-world data align with experimental findings and provide support for the policy choice of HSR. Recommendation/warning labels warrant further exploration, as they may be a stronger driver of healthy food purchases.
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an evaluation of the Healthiness of the indian packaged food and beverage supply
Nutrients, 2017Co-Authors: Bruce Neal, Alexandra Jones, Elizabeth Dunford, Rachel Crossley, Sudhir Raj Thout, Mike RaynerAbstract:Availability of less-healthy packaged food and beverage products has been implicated as an important driver of obesity and diet-related disease. An increasing number of packaged foods and beverages are sold in India. Our objective was to evaluate the Healthiness of packaged foods sold by India’s largest manufacturers. Healthiness was assessed using the Australian Health Star Rating (HSR) system and the World Health Organization’s European Regional Office (WHO Euro) Nutrient Profile Model. Sales-value-weighted mean Healthiness and the proportions of “healthy” products (using a validated HSR cut-off of ≥3.5, and products meeting WHO Euro criteria as healthy enough to market to children) were calculated overall, by company and by food category. Nutrient information for 943 products sold by the 11 largest Indian manufacturers was obtained from nutrient labels, company websites or directly from the manufacturer. Healthiness was low overall (mean HSR 1.8 out of 5.0 stars) with a low proportion defined as “healthy” by both HSR (17%) and also by WHO Euro criteria (8%). There were marked differences in the Healthiness of similar products within food categories. Substantial variation between companies (minimum sales-value-weighted mean HSR 0.5 for Company G, versus maximum HSR 3.0 for Company F) was a result of differences in the types of products sold and the nutritional composition of individual products. There are clear opportunities for India’s largest food companies to improve both the nutritional quality of individual products and to improve their product mix to include a greater proportion of healthy products.
G Jones - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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an objective examination of consumer perception of nutrition information based on Healthiness ratings and eye movements
Public Health Nutrition, 2007Co-Authors: G Jones, Miles RichardsonAbstract:Objective. Previous research on nutrition labelling has mainly used subjective measures. This study examines the effectiveness of two types of nutrition label using two objective measures: eye movements and Healthiness ratings. Design. Eye movements were recorded while participants made Healthiness ratings for two types of nutrition label: standard and standard plus the Food Standards Agency’s ‘traffic light’ concept. Setting. University of Derby, UK. Subjects. 92 participants (mean age 31.5 years) were paid for their participation. None of the participants worked in the areas of food or nutrition. Results. For the standard nutrition label, participant eye movements lacked focus and their Healthiness ratings lacked accuracy. The traffic light system helped to guide the attention of the consumer to the important nutrients and improved the accuracy of the Healthiness ratings of nutrition labels. Conclusions. Consumer’s have a lack of knowledge regarding how to interpret nutrition information for standard labels. The traffic light concept helps to ameliorate this problem by indicating important nutrients to pay attention to.
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an objective examination of consumer perception of nutrition information based on Healthiness ratings and eye movements
Public Health Nutrition, 2007Co-Authors: G Jones, Miles RichardsonAbstract:Objective. Previous research on nutrition labelling has mainly used subjective measures. This study examines the effectiveness of two types of nutrition label using two objective measures: eye movements and Healthiness ratings. Design. Eye movements were recorded while participants made Healthiness ratings for two types of nutrition label: standard and standard plus the Food Standards Agency’s ‘traffic light’ concept. Setting. University of Derby, UK. Subjects. 92 participants (mean age 31.5 years) were paid for their participation. None of the participants worked in the areas of food or nutrition. Results. For the standard nutrition label, participant eye movements lacked focus and their Healthiness ratings lacked accuracy. The traffic light system helped to guide the attention of the consumer to the important nutrients and improved the accuracy of the Healthiness ratings of nutrition labels. Conclusions. Consumer’s have a lack of knowledge regarding how to interpret nutrition information for standard labels. The traffic light concept helps to ameliorate this problem by indicating important nutrients to pay attention to.
