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Choosing between an Apple and a Chocolate Bar: the Impact of Health and Taste Labels
Increasing the consumption of fruit and vegetables is a central component of improving population health. Reasons people give for choosing one food over another suggest health is of lower importance than taste. This study assesses the impact of using a simple descriptive label to highlight the taste...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2013
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3796478/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24155964 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0077500 |
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author | Forwood, Suzanna E. Walker, Alexander D. Hollands, Gareth J. Marteau, Theresa M. |
author_facet | Forwood, Suzanna E. Walker, Alexander D. Hollands, Gareth J. Marteau, Theresa M. |
author_sort | Forwood, Suzanna E. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Increasing the consumption of fruit and vegetables is a central component of improving population health. Reasons people give for choosing one food over another suggest health is of lower importance than taste. This study assesses the impact of using a simple descriptive label to highlight the taste as opposed to the health value of fruit on the likelihood of its selection. Participants (N=439) were randomly allocated to one of five groups that varied in the label added to an apple: apple; healthy apple; succulent apple; healthy and succulent apple; succulent and healthy apple. The primary outcome measure was selection of either an apple or a chocolate bar as a dessert. Measures of the perceived qualities of the apple (taste, health, value, quality, satiety) and of participant characteristics (restraint, belief that tasty foods are unhealthy, BMI) were also taken. When compared with apple selection without any descriptor (50%), the labels combining both health and taste descriptors significantly increased selection of the apple (’healthy & succulent’ 65.9% and ‘succulent & healthy’ 62.4%), while the use of a single descriptor had no impact on the rate of apple selection (‘healthy’ 50.5% and ‘succulent’ 52%). The strongest predictors of individual dessert choice were the taste score given to the apple, and the lack of belief that healthy foods are not tasty. Interventions that emphasize the taste attributes of healthier foods are likely to be more effective at achieving healthier diets than those emphasizing health alone. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-3796478 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2013 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-37964782013-10-23 Choosing between an Apple and a Chocolate Bar: the Impact of Health and Taste Labels Forwood, Suzanna E. Walker, Alexander D. Hollands, Gareth J. Marteau, Theresa M. PLoS One Research Article Increasing the consumption of fruit and vegetables is a central component of improving population health. Reasons people give for choosing one food over another suggest health is of lower importance than taste. This study assesses the impact of using a simple descriptive label to highlight the taste as opposed to the health value of fruit on the likelihood of its selection. Participants (N=439) were randomly allocated to one of five groups that varied in the label added to an apple: apple; healthy apple; succulent apple; healthy and succulent apple; succulent and healthy apple. The primary outcome measure was selection of either an apple or a chocolate bar as a dessert. Measures of the perceived qualities of the apple (taste, health, value, quality, satiety) and of participant characteristics (restraint, belief that tasty foods are unhealthy, BMI) were also taken. When compared with apple selection without any descriptor (50%), the labels combining both health and taste descriptors significantly increased selection of the apple (’healthy & succulent’ 65.9% and ‘succulent & healthy’ 62.4%), while the use of a single descriptor had no impact on the rate of apple selection (‘healthy’ 50.5% and ‘succulent’ 52%). The strongest predictors of individual dessert choice were the taste score given to the apple, and the lack of belief that healthy foods are not tasty. Interventions that emphasize the taste attributes of healthier foods are likely to be more effective at achieving healthier diets than those emphasizing health alone. Public Library of Science 2013-10-14 /pmc/articles/PMC3796478/ /pubmed/24155964 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0077500 Text en © 2013 Forwood et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Forwood, Suzanna E. Walker, Alexander D. Hollands, Gareth J. Marteau, Theresa M. Choosing between an Apple and a Chocolate Bar: the Impact of Health and Taste Labels |
title | Choosing between an Apple and a Chocolate Bar: the Impact of Health and Taste Labels |
title_full | Choosing between an Apple and a Chocolate Bar: the Impact of Health and Taste Labels |
title_fullStr | Choosing between an Apple and a Chocolate Bar: the Impact of Health and Taste Labels |
title_full_unstemmed | Choosing between an Apple and a Chocolate Bar: the Impact of Health and Taste Labels |
title_short | Choosing between an Apple and a Chocolate Bar: the Impact of Health and Taste Labels |
title_sort | choosing between an apple and a chocolate bar: the impact of health and taste labels |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3796478/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24155964 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0077500 |
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