Testing Emotional Eating Style in Relation to Willingness to Pay for Nutritional Claims

Relationship between Emotional Eating, Consumption of Hyperpalatable Energy-Dense Foods, and Indicators of Nutritional Status: A Systematic Review

People's health is closely linked to their diet. Diet can be defined as the set of foods that are consumed in a day, and it is susceptible to being altered by various factors, such as physiological, environmental, psychological, and social. These, in turn, can be affected by an inadequate diet and/or a dysregulation of emotions. Emotions are an immediate response by the organism informing it of the degree of favorability of a certain stimulus or situation. Moods are similar to emotions but more intense and prolonged. Some studies indicate that the consumption of hyperpalatable energy-dense foods may be related to emotional eating. Emotional eating is characterized by the excessive consumption of hyperpalatable energy-dense foods, rich in sugars and fats, in response to negative emotions. But several reports also indicate that emotional eating may be associated with the presence of positive emotions, so further analysis of the available information is necessary. Consuming higher amounts of hyperpalatable energy-dense foods can lead to the accumulation of energy in the body that results in an increase in body weight, as well as other associated diseases. Obesity is the world's leading diet-related health problem. The objective of this work was to carry out a systematic review of the available literature using the Cochrane methodology, in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines, to evaluate the relationship between emotional eating, the consumption of hyperpalatable energy-dense foods, and indicators of nutritional status. An exhaustive search in different databases yielded 9431 scientific articles, 45 of which met the inclusion criteria. This review underscores the fact that knowing and understanding the reasons why people consume hyperpalatable energy-dense foods and the possible connection with their emotional eating can provide key data for improving and personalizing patients' nutritional treatment. This in turn can encourage compliance with treatment plans to improve people's health and quality of life using an interdisciplinary approach.

The influence of COVID-19-related stress on food motivation

The COVID-19 pandemic and public health measures to reduce its transmission have increased stress. Stress is associated with alterations in eating behavior which may be partly driven by effects on food-related motivation. To investigate effects of COVID-related stress on food motivation, we recruited adults (N = 429; 272 F, 157 M) to complete an online survey via Amazon MTurk in May 2020. Current COVID-related stress, retrospective pre-COVID stress, and motivation in relation to individualized preferred foods from five categories (sweet snacks, fruit, savory snacks, vegetables, and fast food) were assessed. Food motivation measures included willingness to wait, willingness to expend low effort [finger taps], willingness to expend high effort [jumping jacks], and willingness to pay for hypothetical delivery of the food item. Food motivation for each food type was assessed using a novel instrument designed for brief assessment of multiple aspects of food motivation across multiple food types. Participants were willing to pay the most for fast food followed by sweet snacks, and willing to wait longer for sweet snacks relative to other food types. While fast food and sweets also generated the most willingness to expend high and low effort, willingness to expend low effort for fruit was similar to that for fast food and sweets, and willingness to expend high effort for fruit was comparable to that for fast food. Participants were least willing to pay or expend low effort for vegetables. Higher COVID-related stress levels were associated with willingness to expend more effort and pay more for food items. These data collected during the pandemic demonstrate that highly processed and sweet foods have high motivating value across multiple measures of motivation, and COVID-related stress increases food motivation across food categories. Interventions to mitigate stress and target the link between stress and overeating may help to limit the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on obesity.

Personal and Psychological Traits Influencing the Willingness to Pay for Food with Nutritional Claims: A Comparison between Vice and Virtue Food Products

Several studies have demonstrated the usefulness of nutritional claims (NCs) to help consumers make more informed food decisions. However, fewer studies have investigated the effect of personal and psychological consumer characteristics on their food purchase decision. Hence, the main aim of this study is to examine the impact of body image, emotional eating style, anxiety traits, and body mass index on consumer preferences for multiple NCs on the front of the package (FOP) of hedonic (potato chips) and utilitarian (toasted bread) products carrying the same NCs. Therefore, a real choice experiment (RCE) has been used and the willingness-to-pay-space model was estimated to analyse the interaction between personal and psychological characteristics and consumer preferences. The main finding suggests differences in purchase behaviour between potato chips and toasted bread. In particular, consumers are willing to pay more for toasted bread with one NC than potato chips with one NC. Moreover, personal and psychological consumer characteristics influence the purchase behaviour regarding food products with nutritional claims. However, only the anxiety trait appears to explain the differences between the selection of both types of food products. In line with this new evidence, we proposed some behavioural, political, and managerial implications.

Consumers' Trade-Off between Nutrition and Health Claims under Regulation 1924/2006: Insights from a Choice Experiment Analysis

The aim of this paper is to investigate consumers’ preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for functional mozzarella cheese whose health benefits (reduced fat and enrichment in omega-3) are communicated by using nutrition claims (article 8) and health claims (articles 13 and 14) of the EU Regulation 1924/2006. In order to achieve the stated objective a choice survey was developed and administered to a sample of Italian respondents. The product attributes and attribute levels included in the choice experiment were obtained from in-depth interviews conducted with stakeholders working on the development of this new product in the Italian region of Puglia. Results show that many participants were not aware of functional food. Marketing segmentation performed via latent class analysis indicates that the development of this hypothetical product should be based on the addition of naturally enriched omega-3. In terms of health communication under Regulation 1924/2006, heterogeneity of preferences of the nine identified segments reveals that respondents have a clear preference for products from the Puglia region, for the combined nutrition claim over single nutrition claims and for the reduction of disease health claim (article 14) over the health claim (article 13). In monetary terms, willingness to pay for health claims is higher than nutrition claims.

Spanish Consumer Purchase Behaviour and Stated Preferences for Yoghurts with Nutritional and Health Claims

Nutritional and health claims are a useful tool for promoting healthier food choices and prevent non-communicable disease[s] (NCDs). Exhaustive literature that has investigated consumer evaluation of the presence of nutritional and/or health claim(s) during the decision-making process suggests that consumers’ sensitivity towards nutritional claims (NCs) and health claims (HCs) are still fragmented and should be further investigated. Our objective is to study the relationship between choice behaviour, attitudes and socio-demographic characteristics in order to evaluate the effectiveness of consumer characteristics in predicting Spanish consumers’ choice of products with NCs and HCs. A discrete choice experiment for yoghurt was conducted on a sample of 218 Spanish consumers, stratified by age, gender, education level, and income. Applying a latent class approach has enabled us to identify a niche of individuals, sensitive of NCs and HCs and to characterize them with respect to the rest of population. Results suggest that consumers positively valued most claims, however, the valuation was heterogeneous, and three consumer segments were identified: ‘health-claims oriented’, ‘nutritional- and health-claim oriented’ and ‘indifferent’. The results supply insights for the development of more targeted promotion campaigns, as well as for further actions in food marketing.

Who Buys Products with Nutrition and Health Claims? A Purchase Simulation with Eye Tracking on the Influence of Consumers' Nutrition Knowledge and Health Motivation

Nutrition and health claims are seen as a way of promoting healthy aspects of food. However, the results of previous studies have been contradictory regarding the effect of these claims on purchase. This study aims to achieve a better understanding of how the consumer characteristics ‘nutrition knowledge’ and ‘health motivation’ influence the purchase of products with nutrition and health claims and what role gaze behavior plays. We included gaze behavior in our analysis, as visual attention on the claims is a precondition to its influence on the purchase decision. In a close-to-realistic shopping situation, consumers could choose from three-dimensional orange juice packages labeled with nutrition, health, and taste claims. In total, the sample consisted of 156 consumers. The data were analyzed with a structural equation model (SEM), linking the purchase decision for products with claims to gaze data recorded with a mobile eye tracker and consumer and product-related variables collected via the questionnaire. Results showed that the variables in the SEM explained 31% (8%) of the variance observed in the purchase of products with a nutrition (health) claim. The longer a consumer looked at a specific claim, the more likely the consumer would purchase the respective product. The lower the price and the higher the perceived healthiness and tastiness of the product further heightened its likelihood of being purchased. Interestingly, consumers with higher nutrition knowledge and/or higher health motivation looked longer at the nutrition and health claims; however, these consumer characteristics did not show an effect on the purchase decision. Implications for policy makers and marketers are given.