A scientific study on modern health worries and the acceptance of natural and synthetic additives in functional foods

The concept of functional foods can be traced back to Japanese initiatives in the 1980s sparked by government policies to improve health. Put simply, functional foods are foods that are part of a normal diet which have been fortified or enriched to provide additional health-promoting benefits in conjunction with normal nutritive properties. Functional foods can be conceptualised as having two primary effects on health: the enhancement of physiological function and the reduction of disease risk.

There is an increasing array of functional foods available that are designed to confer health benefits. However, individuals' worries about new technology and modernity may influence the acceptance of these products.
A study was executed by the Department of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medical and Health Science, from The University of Auckland to investigate how modern health worries influence attitudes and decisions about functional foods in the context of products with either added vitamins or scientific compounds. These products were designed to either reduce the likelihood of a disease, reduce a risk factor associated with a disease, or improve personal appearance.

The study showed that modern health worries influence the preference for the type of additive used in functional foods. Higher modern health worries were associated with a stronger preference for functional foods with added natural vitamins as opposed to synthetic compounds. Researchers found that people with high modern health worries were more likely to choose functional foods with disease-preventing properties than either risk-reducing or appearance-enhancing properties. The preference for natural products appears to be a more important consideration for individuals with high levels of modern health worries than the targeted effect of the product. They also found that modern health worries were significantly associated with a higher use of organic foods and food allergies.

Overall, the appeal of functional foods is that they help to protect health or manage a specific health problem in a convenient way. Persuading the public to adopt more functional foods in their diet rests on a better understanding of the factors that make such food choices more appealing. The current study suggests that information highlighting lowered disease risk may be more effective in influencing the purchase of functional foods than information stressing the reduction of a specific risk factor for an illness. Also, understanding risk perceptions and concerns about personal health status, processing technologies and modern scientific innovations may shed more light on consumer choices in relation to functional foods. Further research is also needed to understand more clearly the factors and boundaries that influence the perceptions of additives being "natural" as opposed to "synthetic" and the preference for functional foods in groups of the population that have identified higher risk profiles such as those with raised cholesterol.

It should be noted that the study is limited by the crosssectional design, which means causal inferences about the relationship between modern health worries and attitudes towards functional foods cannot be made. The participants were also drawn from a university medical student population, and their responses may not be representative
of a broader population sample, particularly in regard to their risks of illness. Bearing these limitations in mind, the present study points to the relevance that modern health
worries have in relation to the acceptance of functional foods.

Reference
Devcich, D. A., Pedersen, I. K., Petrie, K. J., 2007. You eat what you are: Modern health worries and the acceptance of natural and synthetic additives in functional foods. Appetite, 48: 333-337.

Back