A preliminary study of consumers’ perceptions of differences on health claims

• Published in: New diet therapy Vol. 38; no. 3; pp. 13 - 20
• Main Authors: Tanemura, Nanae, Chiba, Tsuyoshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: The Japanese Clinical Nutrition Association 2022; 一般社団法人 日本臨床栄養協会
• Subjects: benefits of food; consumers; Health claims; perception; qualitative descriptive research
• ISSN: 0910-7258; 2434-7159
• DOI: 10.32270/jcna.38.3_13

  This study aims to better understand consumers’ perceptions of health claims with abstract or specific expression among general consumers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six general consumers. The data were analyzed based on the research steps of the phenomenological approach. Two factors in the selection of abstract expressions for health claims were detected: “matching needs due to broad scope” and “high acceptance.” It was found that difficult words such as "visceral fat" lowered consumer acceptance. Furthermore, since knowledge is necessary to imagine any function, specific expressions were sometimes preferred to facilitate the “ease of benefit” inference. The tendency of general consumers to expect unexpected functions from abstract expressions was suggested; thus, it was considered important to devise optimal expressions and to validate them through consumer science research repeatedly.