The influence of product attributes, consumer attitudes and characteristics on the acceptance of: (1) Novel bread and milk, and dietary supplements and (2) fish and novel meats as dietary vehicles of long chain omega 3 fatty acids

Testing the Impact of Familiarity with Health Benefits Information on Dietary Supplement Choice in Pregnancy: An Online Choice Experiment

To help meet the increased requirements for critical nutrients during and around pregnancy, supplementation with essential nutrients is recommended. This study aims to determine how the previous awareness of nutrient health benefits and/or the provision of this information influences the importance placed on nutrients (folate, iodine, omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamin D) when choosing between dietary supplement products for pregnancy. Discrete choice experiment data were collected as part of a cross-sectional online survey administered to 857 pregnant women living in Australia. Four segments of women were identified that differ in their preference criteria when choosing among dietary supplement products for pregnancy. When choosing between products, the reinforcement of perceived health benefits (i.e., showing information on health benefits to those already aware of the benefits) was most effective at increasing the importance of folate (in all segments) and iodine (in two segments, 63% of the sample). Neither prior awareness of health benefits alone nor information provided at the point-of-purchase without prior awareness were enough to increase the importance of folate. Our findings suggest a need for simultaneous strategies that (1) provide information on health benefits before purchase and (2) ensure that information on health benefits is available at the point-of-purchase.

Harmful Compounds and Willingness to Buy for Reduced-Additives Salami. An Outlook on Italian Consumers

The consumption pattern of salami has been subjected to relatively widespread attention by academician, but few studies concerning the health implications of salami consumption have been published. Since additives and product origins represent important attributes for salami, the objective of this paper is twofold: (i) to explore the role of two additives, salt and nitrates, in addition to the Italian origin, in relation to consumer attitudes and preferences towards salami, (ii) to segment consumer behaviour by assessing their willingness-to-buy salami, in order to verify whether different purchasing patterns can be identified within the different social groups. The analysis was conducted on two different levels. The first was developed through a conjoint analysis, while the second implemented a frequency analysis based on a bivariate analysis. Results show the price as one of the most important variables in identifying the quality level of salami, in addition, certain socio-economic segments of consumers show a significant propensity to pay an additional price for salami with a low salt content and is nitrate-free.

Qualified Health Claim Language affects Purchase Intentions for Green Tea Products in the United States

Qualified health claims (QHC) describe diet-disease relationships and summarize the quality and strength of evidence for a claim. Companies assert that QHCs increase sales and take legal action to ensure claims reflect their interests. Yet, there is no empirical evidence that QHCs influence consumers. Using green tea as a case study, this study investigated the effects of QHCs on purchase intentions among adults 55 years and older living in the US. An online survey using a between-subjects design examined QHCs about the relationship between green tea and the reduced risk of breast and/or prostate cancer or yukichi fruit juice and the reduced risk of gastrocoridalis, a fictitious relationship. QHCs written by a green tea company generated greater perceptions of evidence for the relationship, greater confidence in green tea and cancer, and increased purchase intentions for green tea than other QHCs. Factors that mitigated the claim's effects on purchase intentions are: Race/ethnicity; age; importance of health claims; supplement use; health; worry about health/becoming sick with cancer; worry that led to dietary change; green tea consumption; and familiarity with the green tea-cancer. Consumers who made health-related dietary change in the past year and consider health claims important indicated greater purchase intentions than others.

Gazing into the crystal ball: future considerations for ensuring sustained growth of the functional food and nutraceutical marketplace

Over the last decade the concept of functional foods and nutraceuticals (FFN) has gained support from various stakeholders including the food industry, scientific and academic community, government institutions or regulators, producers and consumers. However, as one begins to evaluate the global FFN industry, several issues emerge including (i) a lack of consensus across jurisdictions for acknowledging safe and efficacious FFN, (ii) challenges regarding the classification of novel food-derived bioactives as FFN or drugs, and (iii) a disconnect between nutrient requirements and dosages of FFN required to facilitate health benefits. The objectives of the present review are to discuss the role of existing stakeholders within the FFN marketplace and identify performance indicators for growth within the FFN sector. In addition, the following report provides feasible resolutions to present and future challenges facing the global FFN industry to ensure sustained long-term growth.

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA): an ancient nutrient for the modern human brain

Modern humans have evolved with a staple source of preformed docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in the diet. An important turning point in human evolution was the discovery of high-quality, easily digested nutrients from coastal seafood and inland freshwater sources. Multi-generational exploitation of seafood by shore-based dwellers coincided with the rapid expansion of grey matter in the cerebral cortex, which characterizes the modern human brain. The DHA molecule has unique structural properties that appear to provide optimal conditions for a wide range of cell membrane functions. This has particular implications for grey matter, which is membrane-rich tissue. An important metabolic role for DHA has recently been identified as the precursor for resolvins and protectins. The rudimentary source of DHA is marine algae; therefore it is found concentrated in fish and marine oils. Unlike the photosynthetic cells in algae and higher plants, mammalian cells lack the specific enzymes required for the de novo synthesis of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), the precursor for all omega-3 fatty acid syntheses. Endogenous synthesis of DHA from ALA in humans is much lower and more limited than previously assumed. The excessive consumption of omega-6 fatty acids in the modern Western diet further displaces DHA from membrane phospholipids. An emerging body of research is exploring a unique role for DHA in neurodevelopment and the prevention of neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. DHA is increasingly being added back into the food supply as fish oil or algal oil supplementation.

Expanding the docosahexaenoic acid food web for sustainable production: engineering lower plant pathways into higher plants

BACKGROUND

Algae are becoming an increasingly important component of land plant metabolic engineering projects. Land plants and algae have similar enough genetics to allow relatively straightforward gene transfer and they also share enough metabolic similarities that algal enzymes often function in a plant cell environment. Understanding metabolic systems in algae can provide insights into homologous systems in land plants. As examples, algal models are currently being used by several groups to better understand starch and lipid metabolism and catabolism, fields which have relevance in land plants. Importantly, land plants and algae also have enough metabolic divergence that algal genes can often provide new metabolic traits to plants. Furthermore, many algal genomes have now been sequenced, with many more in progress, and this easy access to genome-wide information has revealed that algal genomes are often relatively simple when compared with plants.

SCOPE

One example of the importance of algal, and in particular microalgal, resources to land plant research is the metabolic engineering of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids into oilseed crops which typically uses microalgal genes to extend existing natural plant biosynthetic pathways. This review describes both recent progress and remaining challenges in this field.