More than 2000 years ago, Hippocrates said, “Let food be thy medicine.” This concept underlies the definition of “functional foods” used by the International Food Information Council (IFIC): any food or food component that may provide a health benefit beyond basic nutrition.
IFIC is keeping a finger on the pulse of consumer attitudes toward functional foods with its most recent quantitative survey, conducted in March 2002. Cogent Research of Cambridge, Massachusetts, conducted telephone surveys with 1,004 randomly selected U.S. adults. Those surveys provided data that build on the quantitative data collected in 1998 and 2000.
Continuing the trend since 1998, almost all consumers (94 percent) agree that certain foods have health benefits that go beyond basic nutrition and may reduce the risk of disease or other health concerns. Consumers express little familiarity with terms commonly used to describe this concept, including “functional foods” (62 percent like it, whereas 27 percent dislike it). Even less well liked is “nutraceuticals” (only 34 percent like it; 49 percent dislike it). Still, 85 percent of Americans are either “very interested” or “somewhat interested” in learning more about functional foods. This level of interest has been consistently strong since 1998.
As in 1998 and 2000, a majority of consumers believe they have a “great amount” of control over their own health (68 percent). They overwhelmingly believe that food and nutrition play “a great role” in maintaining or improving overall health (71 percent), and the proportion is even greater than the proportion of individuals who believe that exercise (63 percent) or family health history (41 percent) is a key determinant of health. Although more than half (54 percent) of the respondents are reducing the amounts of certain foods or food components in their diets, 35 percent (compared to 36 percent in 2000 and 28 percent in 1998) are adding foods or beverages for their health benefits, particularly vegetables, fruits, and water.
The top 10 foods that consumers identify as having a health benefit beyond basic nutrition include broccoli (9 percent), fish or fish oil (9 percent), green leafy vegetables (9 percent), oranges or orange juice (9 percent), carrots (8 percent), garlic (7 percent), fiber (6 percent), milk (6 percent), oats/oat bran/oatmeal (6 percent), and tomatoes (6 percent). The foods in the top five have remained constant since 1998 and are consistently associated with America’s top health concerns: cardiovascular disease and its factors, including heart disease/heart attack, high blood pressure, stroke, and high cholesterol, which remain the top collective concern of Americans (41 percent). Cancer continues to concern almost a third (30 percent) of consumers. Other health concerns that consumers mention include weight (17 percent), diabetes (17 percent), and nutrition/diet (12 percent). Overall, 44 percent of consumers associate foods or food components with a reduced risk of cancer, often naming fruits and vegetables. A slightly larger number of consumers (53 percent) associate foods with heart health, including fish or fish oil, garlic, and fiber.
Almost two-thirds (63 percent) of Americans say they are eating at least one food to receive a functional health benefit. Although these results are not significantly different from those from the survey conducted in 2000 (59 percent), they do represent a significant increase from the results obtained in the survey conducted in 1998 (53 percent).
When asked about specific associations between food and health, awareness of the connection between calcium and osteoporosis remains high, as was the case in 2000 (79 percent). Fewer Americans are aware of the association between antioxidants and cancer (54 percent), and fewer still know about the heart health benefits of soy protein (35 percent). Those who had heard of these associations were asked how much they had heard: 64 percent had heard “a lot” about the calcium-osteoporosis relationship, whereas only 34 percent had heard “a lot” about antioxidants-cancer and 23 percent had heard “a lot” about soy protein-heart disease relationship. Therefore, in addition to fewer consumers actually hearing about the last two relationships, those consumers are also hearing only “a little” about them.
The relatively recent determinations of relationships between soy protein and heart disease and between antioxidants and cancer may help to explain why belief in the efficacies of these relationships is lower than that for the efficacy of the calcium-osteoporosis relationship. Compared to the results for 2000, fewer consumers (59 percent) believe in the efficacy of the soy protein/heart disease relationship. Slightly more believe in the efficacy of the antioxidant-cancer relationship (66 percent).
It’s a different story for calcium-osteoporosis relationship, with 91 percent of consumers believing in the efficacy of the relationship. The differences in the levels of belief in the effectiveness of these relationships lie first in the length of exposure to the information—the health benefits of calcium have been discussed in detail for many years. Also, a wide range of communicators—from health professionals to journalists to government officials—have extolled the health benefits of calcium against osteoporosis. In addition, Americans are less familiar with food sources of soy protein and antioxidants, and some consumers who did not like the taste of early soy products are unaware of new ones. Additionally, lower levels of belief in the efficacy of an association may be related to hearing relatively less about the association.
For functional foods to deliver their potential public health benefits, consumers need a clear understanding of and a strong level of confidence in the scientific criteria that are used to document health effects and claims. When communicating about functional foods, it is important to translate quality science into understandable and usable messages that meet consumer needs. The following are specific communication strategies: (1) Cite the need for credible, scientific criteria as the basis for messages about functional foods and the development of new food products. (2) Accentuate the “good news” about food. (3) Place new research findings into context with the overall body of scientific evidence. (4) Discuss the benefits of particular components within the context of familiar foods and overall eating patterns. (5) Do not overstate potential benefits, and ensure that any claims made on- or off-label are based on reasonable and responsible information.
The best advice for helping consumers to reap the health benefits of foods is to eat moderate portions of foods from the various groups in the Food Guide Pyramid, as well as increase the variety of foods consumed from each of these groups. After all, “variety is the spice of life!”
