Market is ready for fat-modified foods, suggests study
The study, published in Food quality and Preference, investigated European consumer willingness to purchase fat-modified foods, reporting that individuals who either have – or perceive themselves to be at risk of – conditions associated with metabolic syndrome are more likely to accept and purchase healthier fat-modified foods tailored towards prevention or treatment.
The authors, led by Professor Michael Gibney from University College Dublin, Ireland, added that the food product concepts most readily-accepted among European consumers, as both standard and genetically modified (GM) vehicles, to deliver healthy-fat benefits were fish and cheese.
“Our results indicate that if standard and GM fat-modified food products can be shown to ameliorate the risks presented by conditions associated with metabolic syndrome, there is a ready market for such foods,” said Gibney and his colleagues.
Fatty risks
The researchers noted that concern has been expressed regarding current and projected levels of overweight, obesity and impaired cardiovascular health in Europe and the accompanying social and financial costs.
“Much interest has focused on a cluster of pre-disease conditions known as the ‘metabolic syndrome’, the prevention or treatment of which may help prevent or mitigate chronic diseases, such as Type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease,” said Gibney and his colleagues.
They explained that the main approaches taken to combat metabolic syndrome are based on behavioural changes – such as increased physical activity and alterations to the diet.
“As increased physical activity may not always represent a practical or appealing strategy for overweight and obese individuals, the availability of food products that can help prevent or minimise the effects of the syndrome (e.g. through altered fatty acid profile) is clearly important,” they added.
As part of the recent European Union-funded LIPGENE project – aimed at developing interventions to prevent and treat the metabolic syndrome – the team of researchers conducted research into consumer attitudes towards potential interventions against metabolic syndrome, including agri-food technologies such as foods products with altered fatty acid profiles.
Study details
The team used a representative sample of 5967 consumers in six countries (France, Great Britain, Portugal, Germany, Poland, and Italy). Of these consumers, 2025 were considered as ‘reporters’ who indicated having at least one of: high cholesterol; high blood pressure; central obesity; and/or high blood sugar.
‘Reporters’ indicated more often than non-reporters that they would be likely to eat fat-modified fish, red meat, poultry, and cheese as standard concepts, and also indicated that and fat-modified fish, red meat, poultry, cheese, and butter would be acceptable as GM concepts.
Gibney and his team noted that participants who indicated acceptance of fat-modified product concepts also tended to have indicated higher understandings of the risks of metabolic syndrome-related conditions than those who rejected the concepts.
“The greater readiness to accept fat-modified food product concepts on the part of ‘reporters’, and of individuals with heightened perceptions of personal risk from metabolic syndrome-related conditions is consistent with the logic of the Health Belief Model (HBM), with perceived susceptibility to illness exerting a positive influence upon the adoption of healthier behaviours,” they explained.
Source: Food Quality and Preference
Published online ahead of print, doi: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2011.08.002
“Perceived risk of metabolic syndrome and attitudes towards fat-modified food concepts among European consumers”
Authors: G.M. O’Brien, B.J. Stewart-Knox, A. McKinley, M.D. Vaz de Almeida, M.J. Gibney
