Preference for natural: instrumental and ideational/moral motivations, and the contrast between foods and medicines

Making sense of the "clean label" trends: A review of consumer food choice behavior and discussion of industry implications

Consumers in industrialized countries are nowadays much more interested in information about the production methods and components of the food products that they eat, than they had been 50years ago. Some production methods are perceived as less "natural" (i.e. conventional agriculture) while some food components are seen as "unhealthy" and "unfamiliar" (i.e. artificial additives). This phenomenon, often referred to as the "clean label" trend, has driven the food industry to communicate whether a certain ingredient or additive is not present or if the food has been produced using a more "natural" production method (i.e. organic agriculture). However, so far there is no common and objective definition of clean label. This review paper aims to fill the gap via three main objectives, which are to a) develop and suggest a definition that integrates various understandings of clean label into one single definition, b) identify the factors that drive consumers' choices through a review of recent studies on consumer perception of various food categories understood as clean label with the focus on organic, natural and 'free from' artificial additives/ingredients food products and c) discuss implications of the consumer demand for clean label food products for food manufacturers as well as policy makers. We suggest to define clean label, both in a broad sense, where consumers evaluate the cleanliness of product by assumption and through inference looking at the front-of-pack label and in a strict sense, where consumers evaluate the cleanliness of product by inspection and through inference looking at the back-of-pack label. Results show that while 'health' is a major consumer motive, a broad diversity of drivers influence the clean label trend with particular relevance of intrinsic or extrinsic product characteristics and socio-cultural factors. However, 'free from' artificial additives/ingredients food products tend to differ from organic and natural products. Food manufacturers should take the diversity of these drivers into account in developing new products and communication about the latter. For policy makers, it is important to work towards a more homogenous understanding and application of the term of clean label and identify a uniform definition or regulation for 'free from' artificial additives/ingredients food products, as well as work towards decreasing consumer misconceptions. Finally, multiple future research avenues are discussed.

Exploring Tactile Perceptual Dimensions Using Materials Associated with Sensory Vocabulary

Considering tactile sensation when designing products is important because the decision to purchase often depends on how products feel. Numerous psychophysical studies have attempted to identify important factors that describe tactile perceptions. However, the numbers and types of major tactile dimensions reported in previous studies have varied because of differences in materials used across experiments. To obtain a more complete picture of perceptual space with regard to touch, our study focuses on using vocabulary that expresses tactile sensations as a guiding principle for collecting material samples because these types of words are expected to cover all the basic categories within tactile perceptual space. We collected 120 materials based on a variety of Japanese sound-symbolic words for tactile sensations, and used the materials to examine tactile perceptual dimensions and their associations with affective evaluations. Analysis revealed six major dimensions: "Affective evaluation and Friction," "Compliance," "Surface," "Volume," "Temperature," and "Naturalness." These dimensions include four factors that previous studies have regarded as fundamental, as well as two new factors: "Volume" and "Naturalness." Additionally, we showed that "Affective evaluation" is more closely related to the "Friction" component (slipperiness and dryness) than to other tactile perceptual features. Our study demonstrates that using vocabulary could be an effective method for selecting material samples to explore tactile perceptual space.

Consumers' Risk Perception of Household Cleaning and Washing Products

A large share of accidental and nonaccidental poisonings are caused by household cleaning and washing products, such as drain cleaner or laundry detergent. The main goal of this article was to investigate consumers' risk perception and misconceptions of a variety of cleaning and washing products in order to inform future risk communication efforts. For this, a sorting task including 33 commonly available household cleaning and washing products was implemented. A total of 60 female consumers were asked to place the cleaning and washing products on a reference line 3 m in length with the poles "dangerous" and "not dangerous." The gathered data were analyzed qualitatively and by means of multidimensional scaling, cluster analysis, and linear regression. The dimensionality of the sorting data suggests that both analytically (i.e., written and graphical hazard notes and perceived effectiveness) and intuitively driven risk judgments (i.e., eco vs. regular products) were applied by the participants. Furthermore, results suggest the presence of misconceptions, particularly related to consumers' perceptions of eco cleaning products, which were generally regarded as safer than their regular counterparts. Future risk communication should aim at dispelling these misconceptions and promoting accurate risk perceptions of particular household cleaning and washing products.

Genuine and Natural: The Opinion of Teen Consumers

Food packaging frequently reports the terms natural, 100% natural or similar. Often these indications induce consumers to purchase those products that are considered healthier and fresher. The overall goal of this study was to assess what teen consumers perceive to be genuine and natural foods. A questionnaire was distributed to the students of some high schools (lyceum, technical and professional institutes). It was completed by 349 females and 314 males, with an average age of 17.6 years. Respondents are quite interested in the information on recipes, diet, beauty and food safety; websites were important information retrieval tools. Genuine food is defined mainly as fruits and vegetables, home-made and salubrious, with less or without fat and that is good for health. Meanwhile, natural is demarcated primarily by the absence of additives and manipulation or treatments (negative impact). Also fruits and vegetables and organic production are associated to natural. The existence of a natural food preference is well described and the presence on food label may cause a wrong perception of healthfulness.

Bioengineering microbial communities: Their potential to help, hinder and disgust

The bioengineering of individual microbial organisms or microbial communities has great potential in agriculture, bioremediation and industry. Understanding community level drivers can improve community level functions to enhance desired outcomes in complex environments, whereas individual microbes can be reduced to a programmable biological unit for specific output goals. While understanding the bioengineering potential of both approaches leads to a wide range of potential uses, public acceptance of such technology may be the greatest hindrance to its application. Public perceptions and expectations of “naturalness,” as well as notions of disgust and dread, may delay the development of such technologies to their full benefit. We discuss these bioengineering approaches and draw on the psychological literature to suggest strategies that scientists can use to allay public concerns over the implementation of this technology.

The Challenges of Eliminating or Substituting Antimicrobial Preservatives in Foods

Consumers' criteria for evaluating food safety have evolved recently from considering the food's potential to cause immediate physical harm to considering the potential long-term effects that consumption of artificial ingredients, including antimicrobial preservatives, would have on health. As bacteriostatic and bactericidal agents to prevent microbial spoilage, antimicrobials not only extend shelf life, but they also enhance the product's safety. Antimicrobials and their levels that may be used in foods are specified by regulatory agencies. This review addresses the safety of antimicrobials and the potential consequences of removing those that are chemically synthesized or replacing them with antimicrobials from so-called natural sources. Such changes can affect the microbiological safety and spoilage of food as well as reduce shelf life, increase wastage, and increase the occurrence of foodborne illnesses.

Transforming Beef By-products into Valuable Ingredients: Which Spell/Recipe to Use?

Satisfying the increasing global demand for protein results in challenges from a supply perspective. Increased use of animal proteins, through greater use of meat by-products, could form part of the solution, subject to consumer acceptance. This research investigates consumer evaluations of food products that incorporate ingredients derived from offals that have been produced through a range of food processing technologies. Using focus groups incorporating product stimuli representing various combinations of offals, processing, and carrier products, the research finds that the physical state and perceived naturalness of the ingredients influences acceptance. It also highlights the impact of life experiences, linked to demographic characteristics, on interpretations and evaluations of products and processes. Ideational influences, i.e., knowledge of the nature or origin of the substance, are reasons for rejecting some concepts, with misalignment between nature of processing and the product resulting in rejection of others. Lack of perceived necessity also results in rejection. Alignment of ingredients with existing culinary practices and routines, communication of potential sensory, or other benefits as well as naturalness are factors likely to promote acceptance, and generate repeat purchase, in some consumer segments. Trust in oversight that the products are safe is a prerequisite for acceptance in all cases. These findings have implications for pathways to increase sustainability of beef production and consumption through increased use of beef by-products.

Naturally good: Front-of-package claims as message cues

Excess bodyweight is a significant public health problem in the United States, increasing the risk of adverse health conditions including hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer. Americans are consuming more calories than their bodies need each day and making purchasing decisions using heuristic cues, rather than caloric information. A recent trend in food and beverage labeling is the placement of a natural claim on a product's package. Unfortunately, the United States has not established clear requirements for natural claims and manufacturers are using this term liberally. Using models of information processing as a framework, the goal of this study was to predict the effects of natural claims on message processing and evaluations. It was predicted that natural claims would be perceived as heuristics for healthfulness. A 6 (product) x 2 (claim) experimental design was carried out. Support for the prediction that natural labeled products are evaluated as more healthful was found. Despite the fact that natural products contained the same number of calories as their regular counterparts, participants estimated that natural products contained 18% fewer calories. Implications of these findings for food labeling and public health are discussed.

Physicians' Perceptions of Radiation Dose Quantity Depend on the Language in Which It Is Expressed

PURPOSE

Radiation dose information is increasingly requested by nonradiology providers, but there are no standard methods for communicating dose. The aim of this study was to compare physicians' perceptions of the amount of radiation associated with similar dose quantities expressed using different dose terms to evaluate the impact of word choice on physicians' understanding of radiation dose.

METHODS

Internal medicine and pediatric residents were surveyed online for 42 days. After obtaining demographics and training levels, respondents were asked to rank five different radiation dose quantities, each corresponding to one of the five ACR relative radiation levels (RRLs) expressed using different dose terms. Respondents ranked the choices from least to greatest (ie, from 1 to 5) or indicated if all five were equal. For the final question, the same dose quantity was expressed five different ways.

RESULTS

Fifty-one medicine and 45 pediatric residents responded (a 44% response rate). Mean differences in rankings were as follows: for chest x-rays, 0.109 (95% confidence interval [CI], -0.018 to 0.236); for cross-country flights, 0.462 (95% CI, 0.338 to 0.585); for natural background radiation, -0.672 (95% CI, -0.793 to -0.551); for cancer risk, -0.294 (95% CI, -0.409 to -0.178); and for ACR RRL, 0.239 (95% CI, 0.148 to 0.329). Statistically significant differences were found in the distributions of rankings (P < .001) and percentage of correct rankings across each radiation dose term (P < .001), with the ACR RRL having the highest percentage of correct rankings (61.2%).

CONCLUSIONS

Adult and pediatric physicians consistently over- or underestimated radiation dose quantities using different terms to express radiation dose. These results suggest that radiation dose information should be communicated using standard terminology such as the ACR RRL scale to foster consistency and improve the accuracy of physicians' radiation risk perceptions.

The Healthier the Tastier? USA-India Comparison Studies on Consumer Perception of a Nutritious Agricultural Product at Different Food Processing Levels

Present research compares food beliefs associated with a naturally nutritious agricultural product (namely pulses) in Western and Eastern cultures (namely the US and India). Specifically, this paper focuses on the perception of healthiness and tastefulness of the food and their relationship. Two studies tested the effect of processing level, cultural differences, and branding strategies. In contrast to the well-established inverse relationship between healthiness and tastefulness beliefs observed in the West with industrial food products, the results of both studies revealed a positive association between health and taste for pulses in both West and East. Study 1 shows that this positive association is stronger with lower processing, suggesting the role of naturalness as bridge between health and taste. Focusing on cultural differences, results show that while both West and East hold positive association of health and taste for pulses, this association is stronger for East. However, the role of processing level is significantly stronger in West. Study 2 looks at branding strategies for pulse products with different processing levels in West and East. Results confirm the findings of study 1 on positive association of taste and healthiness and cross-cultural differences. Moreover, study 2 shows that cultural difference between West and East changes the effect of branding strategies on food-related belief and attitude toward food. For American consumers, a future-oriented branding is associated with an enhanced positive healthiness–taste association, whereas a brand image emphasizing tradition leads to increased perception of the taste of product but not necessarily on the healthiness. Current paper has theoretical and practical implications in public policy, health, and marketing.

Thinking you can catch mental illness: how beliefs about membership attainment and category structure influence interactions with mental health category members

We explored beliefs about mental disorder categories that influence potential interactions with category members. Specifically, we investigated beliefs related to how membership in a mental disorder category is obtained (communicability and causal origin) as well as beliefs related to the underlying reality of disorder categories (essentialism and controllability). In Experiment 1, participants' interaction-willingness decisions were predicted by their beliefs that a mental disorder category was (1) communicable, (2) psychologically caused, (3) environmentally caused, and (4) possessed all-or-none membership. With fictitious mental disorders, people were less willing to interact with people described as having a communicable mental disorder than with those described as possessing any of the other factors of interest, highlighting the independent influence of these contagion beliefs (Experiment 2). We further explored beliefs about the communicability of mental disorders in Experiment 3 by asking participants to generate descriptions of how mental disorders are transferred between people. Our findings suggest the importance of understanding contagion beliefs in discovering why people distance themselves from people diagnosed with mental disorders. More generally, our findings help in understanding how our basic category knowledge is used to guide interactions with category members, illustrating how knowledge is translated into action.

What do people think about running barefoot/with minimalist footwear? A thematic analysis

OBJECTIVES

Barefoot running describes when individuals run without footwear. Minimalist running utilizes shoes aimed to mimic being barefoot. Although these forms of running have become increasingly popular, we still know little about how recreational runners perceive them.

DESIGN

In-depth interviews with eight recreational runners were used to gather information about their running experiences with a focus on barefoot and minimalist running.

METHODS

Interviews were analysed using a latent level thematic analysis to identify and interpret themes within the data.

RESULTS

Although participants considered barefoot running to be 'natural', they also considered it to be extreme. Minimalist running did not produce such aversive reactions. 'Support' reassured against concerns and was seen as central in protecting vulnerable body parts and reducing impact forces, but lacked a common or clear definition. A preference for practical over academic knowledge was found. Anecdotal information was generally trusted, as were running stores with gait assessment, but not health professionals.

CONCLUSION

People often have inconsistent ideas about barefoot and minimalist running, which are often formed by potentially biased sources, which may lead people to make poor decisions about barefoot and minimalist running. It is important to provide high-quality information to enable better decisions to be made about barefoot and minimalist running.

STATEMENT OF CONTRIBUTION

What is already known on this subject? There is no known work on the psychology behind barefoot and minimalist running. We believe our study is the first qualitative study to have investigated views of this increasingly popular form of running. What does this study add? The results suggest that although barefoot running is considered 'natural', it is also considered 'extreme'. Minimalist running, however, did not receive such aversive reactions. 'Support' was a common concern among runners. Although 'support' reassured against concerns and was seen as central in protecting vulnerable body parts and reducing impact forces, it lacked a common or clear definition. A preference for practical over academic knowledge was found. Anecdotal information was generally trusted, as were running stores with gait assessment, but not health professionals.

"The Dose Makes the Poison": Informing Consumers About the Scientific Risk Assessment of Food Additives

Intensive risk assessment is required before the approval of food additives. During this process, based on the toxicological principle of "the dose makes the poison,ˮ maximum usage doses are assessed. However, most consumers are not aware of these efforts to ensure the safety of food additives and are therefore sceptical, even though food additives bring certain benefits to consumers. This study investigated the effect of a short video, which explains the scientific risk assessment and regulation of food additives, on consumers' perceptions and acceptance of food additives. The primary goal of this study was to inform consumers and enable them to construct their own risk-benefit assessment and make informed decisions about food additives. The secondary goal was to investigate whether people have different perceptions of food additives of artificial (i.e., aspartame) or natural origin (i.e., steviolglycoside). To attain these research goals, an online experiment was conducted on 185 Swiss consumers. Participants were randomly assigned to either the experimental group, which was shown a video about the scientific risk assessment of food additives, or the control group, which was shown a video about a topic irrelevant to the study. After watching the video, the respondents knew significantly more, expressed more positive thoughts and feelings, had less risk perception, and more acceptance than prior to watching the video. Thus, it appears that informing consumers about complex food safety topics, such as the scientific risk assessment of food additives, is possible, and using a carefully developed information video is a successful strategy for informing consumers.

Resveratrol and health from a consumer perspective: perception, attitude, and adoption of a new functional ingredient

Resveratrol is an ingredient widely researched, with growing evidence of health-promoting effects. However, the reactions of supplement or food consumers to resveratrol has not been researched, and the ingredient is yet unknown to most consumers. We used respective literature and our own resveratrol consumer studies with Danish and U.S. consumers to look at current findings and future research directions for three questions. (1) Which factors determine consumer interest in a yet unknown functional ingredient such as resveratrol? (2) How should resveratrol be marketed as a new functional ingredient to be understood and favorably perceived? (3) What could be the effects of adoption of an ingredient such as resveratrol on the healthy lifestyle of a consumer? Literature and first results indicate that personal relevance and familiarity are crucial factors; however, consumers show little interest in resveratrol and lack relevant knowledge, especially in Denmark. Favorable attitudes were explained by health outcome expectations, use of complementary and alternative medicine, and interest in the indulgence dimension of food. Nonscientifically phrased communication led to more favorable attitudes in Danish consumers; scientifically phrased communication, though, made U.S. consumers more likely to retain favorable attitudes in the presence of contradictory evidence. We discuss future research directions in different cultural backgrounds and market contexts and for different foods.

The Influence of Safety, Efficacy, and Medical Condition Severity on Natural versus Synthetic Drug Preference

Research indicates that there is a preference for natural v. synthetic products, but the influence of this preference on drug choice in the medical domain is largely unknown. We present 5 studies in which participants were asked to consider a hypothetical situation in which they had a medical issue requiring pharmacological therapy. Participants ( N = 1223) were asked to select a natural, plant-derived, or synthetic drug. In studies 1a and 1b, approximately 79% of participants selected the natural v. synthetic drug, even though the safety and efficacy of the drugs were identical. Furthermore, participants rated the natural drug as safer than the synthetic drug, and as that difference increased, the odds of choosing the natural over synthetic drug increased. In studies 2 and 3, approximately 20% of participants selected the natural drug even when they were informed that it was less safe (study 2) or less effective (study 3) than the synthetic drug. Finally, in study 4, approximately 65% of participants chose a natural over synthetic drug regardless of the severity of a specific medical condition (mild v. severe hypertension), and this choice was predicted by perceived safety and efficacy differences. Overall, these data indicate that there is a bias for natural over synthetic drugs. This bias could have implications for drug choice and usage.

Biased perception about gene technology: How perceived naturalness and affect distort benefit perception

In two experiments, the participants showed biased responses when asked to evaluate the benefits of gene technology. They evaluated the importance of additional yields in corn fields due to a newly introduced variety, which would increase a farmer's revenues. In one condition, the newly introduced variety was described as a product of traditional breeding; in the other, it was identified as genetically modified (GM). The two experiments' findings showed that the same benefits were perceived as less important for a farmer when these were the result of GM crops compared with traditionally bred crops. Mediation analyses suggest that perceived naturalness and the affect associated with the technology per se influence the interpretation of the new information. The lack of perceived naturalness of gene technology seems to be the reason for the participants' perceived lower benefits of a new corn variety in the gene technology condition compared with the perceptions of the participants assigned to the traditional breeding condition. The strategy to increase the acceptance of gene technology by introducing plant varieties that better address consumer and producer needs may not work because people discount its associated benefits.

Resveratrol food supplements: a survey on the role of individual consumer characteristics in predicting the attitudes and adoption intentions of US American and Danish respondents

BACKGROUND

Consumers increasingly choose food supplements in addition to their diet. Research on supplement users finds they are likely to be female, older and well-educated; Furthermore, supplement users are often characterised as being especially health-oriented, an observation which is termed the 'inverse supplement hypothesis'. However, results are dependent on the substance in question. Little is known so far about botanicals in general, and more specifically, little is known about resveratrol. The psychographic variables of food supplement users are yet relatively underexplored. By comparing US and Danish respondents, we aimed to identify whether sociodemographic variables, health status, health beliefs and behaviour and interest in food aspects specifically relevant to resveratrol (e.g., naturalness, indulgence, and Mediterranean food) explain favourable attitudes and adoption intentions toward resveratrol supplements.

METHODS

A survey sent to a representative online panel in the United States and Denmark was analysed using linear regression.

RESULTS

We find that sociodemographic variables contribute little to explaining favourable attitudes toward and adoption intentions of resveratrol supplements, except for the negative association with higher education in the United States. The inverse supplement hypothesis was not confirmed. Belief in the favourable health effects of resveratrol and usage of complementary and alternative medicine positively affect attitudes and adoption intention. An interest in the indulgence dimension of food explains positive attitudes in the United States and adoption intentions in both countries.

CONCLUSIONS

The results indicate that potential consumers of resveratrol supplements are identified by their usage of complementary and alternative medicine, rather than by sociodemographic variables. They are not characterised by especially healthy behaviours, which contradicts the inverse supplement hypothesis. Instead, potential consumers of resveratrol supplements may be characterised by their focus on the indulgence dimension of food.

Children's and parents' health perception of different soft drinks

Beverages are among the first independent product choices that school-aged children will make and unhealthy choices can be a threat to children's health. The present study investigated which beverage attributes shape adults' and children's health perceptions. For this purpose, 100 children (fifty-two boys; mean age 8·8 (sd 1·1) years) and their parents were invited to independently perform a beverage-sorting task. Participants were asked to place twenty commonly consumed soft drinks in a line ranging from ‘unhealthy’ to ‘healthy’. The sorting data were analysed using multidimensional scaling with property fitting and hierarchical clustering. Sugar content (βparents= − 0·78, βchildren= − 0·68; P< 0·001), artificial sweeteners (βparents= − 0·68, βchildren= − 0·66; P< 0·001), fruit content (βparents= 0·33, βchildren= 0·36; P< 0·05) and caffeine content (βparents= − 0·45, βchildren= − 0·46; P< 0·01) were found to be the predictors of parents' and children's health perceptions. Parents' and children's estimates were strongly related (rs 0·70 (sd 0·15)); both groups classified the beverages into similar clusters. However, compared with their parents, children perceived beverages such as fruit juices and grapefruit soda to be healthier. In conclusion, parents' and children's health perceptions were strongly related based on the same relevant attributes for evaluation. However, fruit content was considered a more important criterion by children, which might lead to differences in the health perception between children and their parents. Low fruit content and the belief of beverages being ‘natural’ could positively bias perceptions. Therefore, certain soft drinks such as squashes or fruit lemonades are problematic, and the consumer's awareness of their low nutritional quality should be raised.

Psychological aspects of the rejection of recycled water: Contamination, purification and disgust

There is a worldwide and increasing shortage of potable fresh water. Modern water reclamation technologies can alleviate much of the problem by converting wastewater directly into drinking water, but there is public resistance to these approaches that has its basis largely in psychology. A psychological problem is encapsulated in the saying of those opposing recycled water: “toilet to tap.” We report the results of two surveys, one on a sample of over 2,000 Americans from five metropolitan areas and the second on a smaller sample of American undergraduates, both assessing attitudes to water and water purification. Approximately 13% of our adult American sample definitely refuses to try recycled water, while 49% are willing to try it, with 38% uncertain. Both disgust and contamination sensitivity predict resistance to consumption of recycled water. For a minority of individuals, no overt treatment of wastewater will make it acceptable for drinking (“spiritual contagion”), even if the resultant water is purer than drinking or bottled water. Tap water is reliably rated as significantly more desirable than wastewater that has undergone substantially greater purification than occurs with normal tap water. Framing and contagion are two basic psychological processes that influence recycled water rejection.

Neuroprotective and cognitive enhancing effects of a multi-targeted food intervention in an animal model of neurodegeneration and depression

Rising neurodegenerative and depressive disease prevalence combined with the lack of effective pharmaceutical treatments and dangerous side effects, has created an urgent need for the development of effective therapies. Considering that these disorders are multifactorial in origin, treatments designed to interfere at different mechanistic levels may be more effective than the traditional single-targeted pharmacological concepts. To that end, an experimental diet composed of zinc, melatonin, curcumin, piperine, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5, n-3), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6, n-3), uridine, and choline was formulated. This diet was tested on the olfactory bulbectomized rat (OBX), an established animal model of depression and cognitive decline. The ingredients of the diet have been individually shown to attenuate glutamate excitoxicity, exert potent anti-oxidant/anti-inflammatory properties, and improve synaptogenesis; processes that all have been implicated in neurodegenerative diseases and in the cognitive deficits following OBX in rodents. Dietary treatment started 2 weeks before OBX surgery, continuing for 6 weeks in total. The diet attenuated OBX-induced cognitive and behavioral deficits, except long-term spatial memory. Ameliorating effects of the diet extended to the control animals. Furthermore, the experimental diet reduced hippocampal atrophy and decreased the peripheral immune activation in the OBX rats. The ameliorating effects of the diet on the OBX-induced changes were comparable to those of the NMDA receptor antagonist, memantine, a drug used for the management of Alzheimer's disease. This proof-of-concept study suggests that a diet, which simultaneously targets multiple disease etiologies, can prevent/impede the development of a neurodegenerative and depressive disorders and the concomitant cognitive deficits.

Trends in the utilization of food additives

The frequent media reports on food additives weakened consumers’ trust in food producers and food control authorities as well. Furthermore, consumers’ uncertainty is also raised by the fact that they obtain their information from inadequate, mistrustful sources and, therefore, consumers might avoid the consumption of certain foodstuffs. While food producers may react by replacing artificial components by natural ones, they try to emphasize the favourable characteristics of their products. The authors describe the main trends and efforts related to food additives. On the basis of the overview it can be concluded that – besides taking into consideration consumers’ needs – product development and research directions are promising. Food producers’ efforts may help to restore consumer confidence and trust and they may help them to have informed choice. Orv. Hetil., 154(46), 1813–1819.

New methods for assessing the fascinating nature of nature experiences

In recent years, numerous environmental psychology studies have demonstrated that contact with nature as opposed to urban settings can improve an individual’s mood, can lead to increased levels of vitality, and can offer an opportunity to recover from stress. According to Attention Restoration Theory (ART) the restorative potential of natural environments is situated in the fact that nature can replenish depleted attentional resources. This replenishment takes place, in part, because nature is deemed to be a source of fascination, with fascination being described as having an “attentional”, an “affective” and an “effort” dimension. However, the claim that fascination with nature involves these three dimensions is to a large extent based on intuition or derived from introspection-based measurement methods, such as self-reports. In three studies, we aimed to more objectively assess whether these three dimensions indeed applied to experiences related to natural environments, before any (attentional) depletion has taken place. The instruments that were used were: (a) the affect misattribution procedure (Study 1), (b) the dot probe paradigm (Study 2) and (c) a cognitively effortful task (Study 3). These instrument were respectively aimed at verifying the affective, attentional and effort dimension of fascination. Overall, the results provide objective evidence for the claims made within the ART framework, that natural as opposed to urban settings are affectively positive (cfr., affective dimension) and that people have an attentional bias to natural (rather than urban) environments (cfr., attentional dimension). The results regarding the effort dimension are less straightforward, and suggest that this dimension only becomes important in sufficiently difficult cognitive tasks.