Consumer Perception Survey on the Health Functional Foods for Weight Control

Until recently, consumer perception of cannabis was largely framed by its stigma surrounding drug use. Today, in an era of medical and recreational cannabis legalization, an increasing commercialization of cannabis-based products are being purported as functional foods. It is important for a wider audience of researchers, health care professionals, regulators and industry stakeholders to enhance their awareness of the human endocannabinoid system as a physiological regulator, the safety issues of product and process methods and adherence to qualitycontrolled training programs for assuring the public of safe practices.

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Functional foods: consumer perception in the Federal District, Brazil

O Mundo da Saúde ◽

10.15343/0104-7809.202145099109 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 45 ◽

pp. 099-109

Author(s):

Nádia Carolina da Rocha Neves ◽

Vânia Ferreira Roque-Specht ◽

Eduardo Monteiro de Castro Gomes

Keyword(s):

Functional Foods ◽

Federal District ◽

Consumer Perception

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An Epidemiological Study Report on the Antioxidant and Phenolic Content of Selected Mediterranean Functional Foods, Their Consumption Association with the Body Mass Index, and Consumers Purchasing Behavior in a Sample of Healthy Greek Adults

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app11177818 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (17) ◽

pp. 7818

Author(s):

Aikaterini Kandyliari ◽

Ioannis-Nektarios Elmaliklis ◽

Olga Kontopoulou ◽

Marianna Tsafkopoulou ◽

Georgios Komninos ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Body Mass Index ◽

Food Consumption ◽

Functional Food ◽

Weight Control ◽

Functional Foods ◽

Phenolic Content ◽

Purchasing Behavior ◽

Red Peppers ◽

Positive Effect ◽

Greek Adults

Functional food consumption is shown to have a positive effect on anthropometric parameters and human health promotion. In addition, consumers seem to be more interested in food choices, that may have a positive effect on their health. The current study aimed to identify the antioxidant and phenolic content of naturally functional foods from the Mediterranean diet and to investigate consumer behavior towards their consumption in terms of their weight control, as well as their purchasing behavior and knowledge of functional foods. For this purpose, blueberries, cranberries, pomegranate, grapefruit, red peppers, almonds and mountain tea were analyzed for their phenolic content and antioxidant capacity, using the Folin-Ciocalteau and Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power assays, respectively. Furthermore, nine hundred forty-nine healthy Greek adults participated in an epidemiological study, by completing a validated food frequency questionnaire, for the consumption of the above investigated functional foods. Five hundred and fifty participants also completed an online questionnaire investigating factors that consumers evaluate when purchasing functional foods. Study results showed that the analyzed functional foods were high in antioxidants and phenolic compounds, especially the mountain tea. The increased consumption of cranberries, pomegranate, grapefruit, red peppers and mountain tea was significantly correlated with a decreased Body Mass Index, suggesting a possible positive role, in weight control. Participants seemed to be aware of the beneficial role of these specific investigated Mediterranean functional foods to human health. They evaluated the price, taste and nutritional value, as critical factors to buy these food products. A combination of factors seems to lead them to purchase and consume these functional foods. Future epidemiological and clinical studies should be conducted in order to further evaluate consumer preferences and bioactivity mechanisms related to Mediterranean functional food consumption.

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Study on purchase and intake patterns of individuals consuming dietary formula for weight control or health/functional foods

The Korean Journal of Nutrition ◽

10.4163/kjn.2012.45.6.541 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 45 (6) ◽

pp. 541 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Hye Suk Won ◽

Hyo Jin Lee ◽

Jin Sook Kwak ◽

Joohee Kim ◽

Mi Kyung Kim ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Weight Control ◽

Functional Foods

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Study of Consumer Acceptance by Means of Questionnaire Survey Towards Newly Developed Yogurts with Functional Ingredients

Current Nutrition & Food Science ◽

10.2174/1573401313666171004150928 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 15 (3) ◽

pp. 243-256

Author(s):

Raquel de Pinho Ferreira Guiné

Keyword(s):

Weight Control ◽

Functional Foods ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

The Body ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Functional Ingredients ◽

The Past ◽

Health Promoting ◽

Probabilistic Sample ◽

Behavioural Aspects

Background: Presently, consumers are becoming very much aware of the benefits of allying the concepts of pleasant food with health promoting properties. Hence, the market for healthier foods, functional foods or even nutraceuticals has risen in the past decades. Objective: This work was designed to assess the consumers’ possible acceptance of newly developed yogurts with functional ingredients. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was undertaken on a non-probabilistic sample of 347 participants. The data were collected from October to December 2015 in the Central Region of Portugal. The questionnaires were applied by direct interview after verbally informed consent only to participants aged 18 or over. Results: The results obtained showed that more than 90% of the participants liked yogurts and consumed yogurts regularly (∼73%), either in the solid or liquid forms. The participants consumed functional yogurts, specifically for regulation of intestinal transit (∼46%) and for weight control (∼44%). When asked about the new yogurts with functional and detox properties, the participants indicated that they might be potential consumers of yogurts with the ability to eliminate toxins from the body (∼69%). In spite of recognizing the importance of adding ingredients with certain functionalities, like parsley, watercress or celery, the consumers manifested some doubts that those ingredients might combine well in yogurts. A regression model was deduced relating the possible consumption of detox yogurts with some behavioural aspects like physical exercise, consumption of functional foods and detox products. Conclusion: This work showed that selling yogurts with detox properties might be a good strategy because there might be a market for that type of product. However, without trying the samples and verifying the real taste of the products, the possible consumers have some doubts about the incorporation of certain ingredients, even though recognizing their roles as important.

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EU Health Claims Regulation and the Marketing of Functional Foods: A Regulatory Void?

European Journal of Risk Regulation ◽

10.1017/s1867299x00002488 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 3 (4) ◽

pp. 577-580 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Herman Lelieveldt ◽

Cris Boonen

Keyword(s):

Protective Effect ◽

Functional Food ◽

Weight Control ◽

Functional Foods ◽

National Level ◽

Health Claims ◽

Regulatory Regime ◽

Eu Member States ◽

The Eu

This report evaluates the current regulatory regime for health claims in the EU on the basis of a case study of the marketing of Optimel Control, a yoghurt drink which was marketed in several EU member states as a functional food aimed at suppressing appetite and maintaining weight control. Our case study of the marketing of Optimel Control in the Netherlands reveals that the use of non-textual marketing claims was much more important than the use of textual health claims. Because the current EU regulatory regime emphasizes the evaluation of the wording of health claims, but lacks an evaluation of non-textual claims we conclude that there is a regulatory void that producers can use to market their products in ways that suggest more health effects than scientifi cally warranted. As a result the protective effect of the current EU regulatory regime on health claims is less strong than what legislators may have intended. While it might seem most logical to simply expand EFSA's remit by also letting it look at non-textual claims, we argue that a better solution to close this gap is through a stricter monitoring of unfair commercial practices at national level.

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