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. 2018 May 22;10(5):656.
doi: 10.3390/nu10050656.

The Impact of Nutrition and Health Claims on Consumer Perceptions and Portion Size Selection: Results from a Nationally Representative Survey

Tony Benson  1 , Fiona Lavelle  2 , Tamara Bucher  3   4 , Amanda McCloat  5 , Elaine Mooney  6 , Bernadette Egan  7 , Clare E Collins  8   9 , Moira Dean  10
Affiliations

The Impact of Nutrition and Health Claims on Consumer Perceptions and Portion Size Selection: Results from a Nationally Representative Survey

Tony Benson et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Nutrition and health claims on foods can help consumers make healthier food choices. However, claims may have a 'halo' effect, influencing consumer perceptions of foods and increasing consumption. Evidence for these effects are typically demonstrated in experiments with small samples, limiting generalisability. The current study aimed to overcome this limitation through the use of a nationally representative survey. In a cross-sectional survey of 1039 adults across the island of Ireland, respondents were presented with three different claims (nutrition claim = "Low in fat"; health claim = "With plant sterols. Proven to lower cholesterol"; satiety claim = "Fuller for longer") on four different foods (cereal, soup, lasagne, and yoghurt). Participants answered questions on perceived healthiness, tastiness, and fillingness of the products with different claims and also selected a portion size they would consume. Claims influenced fillingness perceptions of some of the foods. However, there was little influence of claims on tastiness or healthiness perceptions or the portion size selected. Psychological factors such as consumers' familiarity with foods carrying claims and belief in the claims were the most consistent predictors of perceptions and portion size selection. Future research should identify additional consumer factors that may moderate the relationships between claims, perceptions, and consumption.

Keywords: consumer; food labelling; health claims; health halo; nudging; nutrition claims; perceptions; portion size.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The founding sponsors had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, and in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Example of food packaging with claims used in survey. Lasagne photograph from Leon Wilson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/chop/973369384)—CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/). Modified to include labels and text.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Example of portion size selection show card used in survey for cereal. Taken from validated food atlas [34].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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