Nutrient Content Claims

ABSTRACT

As people’s interest in health issues has grown, nutrition has become a more critical factor in consumers’ food purchasing decisions. However, several unhealthy foods have recently started to highlight their healthful qualities by adding artificial nutrients, so many people can be misguided by the duplicitous nutrient content claim labels.

This study evaluates how nutrient content claims affect young adults’ attitudes toward food products and their purchase intention. During March 5 to April 4, 2018, a total of  278 young adults in the Washington DC metropolitan area responded to surveys regarding the impact of nutrient content claims on food products and their purchase decisions.

Multiple regression analysis was used to analyze medical characteristics (cost, service quality, physician quality, facilities and access), and touristic characteristic (food, accommodation, shopping, attractiveness, and security) on intention to take a medical tour to South Korea. Multiple regression analysis was conducted using the four factors of food product label characteristics and young adults’ purchase intentions.

The results show that advertising with nutrient content claim labels had a significantly positive effect on young adults’ attitudes toward food products, and a strong impact on their purchase intention. Moreover, this study also provides that nutrient content claim labels positively influenced the perception of a food’s healthiness and consumers’ attitudes toward advertising.