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Analyzing Consumer Attitudes Towards Health-protecting Food
39-55Views:620The main goal of our research was to analyze the role of health-protecting food in our daily nutrition. In our secondary research, we analyzed the generalities and characteristics of health and health behavior with the help of relevant domestic and foreign literature. We analyzed the domestic tendencies of health in details. We examined the most important characteristics of functional foods and investigated the factors of personalized nutrition. Based on a literature review, in our primary research we conducted an online questionnaire survey with 231 respondents. Our survey cannot be considered representative, however, the proportion of genders in our sample population is almost the same as the Hungarian population’s. In the questionnaire survey, we examined the frequency of consumption of health-protecting food. After that, we analyzed respondents’ perceptions of the actual health effects of health-protecting food. We have measured consumer attitudes towards health-protecting food. We analyzed the perception of potential health risks and problems from the consumer perspective. We measured the impact of various health factors on shopping. Besides, we have explored our intention to participate in personalized nutrition-related programs. Based on our research, most of the analyzed health-protecting food is consumed once or twice a week. It can be stated that the respondents considered the examined food categories less scientifically proven. We could identify the preventive behaviors of respondents for various health problems. However, there is also uncertainty in the decision of respondents in what is the right way to prevent the diseases. In this uncertain situation, only experts can provide real help to them.
JEL Classification: Q16, Q12, Q13, O32
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Health or Taste? Consumer Dilemmas with Functional Foods – Literature Review
17-29Views:571The current study of our two-part paper series is dealing with one of the most important attitude influences on functional food consumer behaviour. Namely, it focuses on “health effects vs. taste” attitude factor of functional food products, which describes the possible conflict between a pleasant taste and the health benefit of the product. This factor is analysed on the basis of two aspects of factors influencing food choice: internal (food) effects (e.g. sensory aspects) and external (non-food) effects (e.g. psychological, social, cultural factors). The most important internal (or intrinsic) characteristic is the taste of the food product. A remarkable finding of this study is that good taste is a crucial, self-relevant characteristic of any food product and bad taste would not be accepted in functional food products either. Consumers are hardly willing to compromise on the taste of functional food products for potential health benefits. Another aspect in the case of functional food products is that intrinsic product characteristics are given by the combination of the health-enhancing ingredient with the type of carrier product used. Studies have shown that functional ingredients that weaken the taste of such food products reduce their acceptance. There is a consensus in the literature that a natural match between added ingredient and carrier product increases the overall acceptance of functional food products. External (or extrinsic) characteristics, e.g. psychological and lifestyle factors, and socio-cultural differences provide further aspects of the potential conflict of “health effects vs. taste”. From a psychological point of view, one may assume that an individual who chooses a functional food is committed to the products’ benefits and may be willing to accept some unpleasant taste in order to achieve the desired health benefit. It has to be noted, however, that although the importance of a given health benefit may lead to the acceptance of an unpleasant taste, this acceptance is not necessarily supported by each of the health benefits. Lifestyle variables also influence the acceptance of functional foods, e.g. wellness-oriented consumers appear to be more willing to trade the taste for health benefits. However, the segment of consumers who are ready to sacrifice the taste for potential health benefits cannot be identified by using classical demographic characteristics as segmentation variables. The “health effects vs. taste” conflict is influenced by cultural differences, too. E.g. the priority of taste can be observed in whole Europe; in contrast, the preference for nutritional benefits is rather typical in the Asian countries. The final conclusion of our study is similar to that of the literature. Good taste and healthiness are not necessarily to be traded-off against each other. Hoping for consumer willingness to compromise on the taste for health is highly speculative and risky, so the functional food industry must develop good taste solutions. In addition to sensory perception of the food, the expectations have also been found to have an impact on the acceptance of functional food products. Consumers’ expectations are highly influenced by marketing communications. In case of functional food products marketing communication is strongly based on health-related information and this information influences not only the perception of healthiness but the liking of foods, too. Hence, additional values of functional food products (health+convenience+pleasure) have to be communicated as hedonic values, emphasizing especially the role of pleasure.
JEL codes: D11, M31
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Changes in Health Behaviour Factors in Response to COVID-19
17-30Views:442The coronavirus pandemic caused profound changes in many aspects of people's lives, especially in the area of health behaviour. The restrictions caused by the pandemic have had negative effects on both the physical and mental health of society, while also transforming the way individuals exercise. The aim of our research was to analyse the changes in health behaviour of Hungarian adults, including their sporting habits as well as their mental health, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We also focused on comparing the experiences of a population that regularly participates in sport and a population that rarely or never participates in sport. Results of the survey showed that individuals who regularly participate in sport activities rated their general physical health significantly better than those living a more sedentary life. More than half of the sample stated that they did not experience any particular change in their physical health, but the second highest percentage of respondents reported that their health had been affected negatively by the pandemic period. Results also showed that almost half of respondents said that their sporting habits had not changed as a result of the pandemic, while many reported that their sporting frequency had decreased. Finally, we also analysed the changes in sporting habits with regard to the place of residence, finding that those individuals living in an apartment complex building were most likely to choose a different type of exercise from the one they had previously practised, while a higher proportion of individuals living in a suburban area, or with access to garden reported that they had started to doing sports.Our research provided partial confirmation that the pandemic had a negative effect on people's health behaviour, but given the high levels of exercise in the target group,it is not surprising that many did not experience any change in sporting habits or physical health.
JEL Code: I12
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Specific Features of Health Awareness for 11-17-Year-Old Hungarian Students After the Millennium Based on Hbsc Research Data – Literature Review
33-44Views:995The aim of this study is to present the health behaviour of 11-17-year-old Hungarian students. In connection with this topic we analyzed international and Hungarian articles based on primer researches and the results of a Hungarian survey as part of an international research, namely „The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children” (HBSC). The aim of the research is to monitor health related habits and health status of 11-17-year-old students, to track temporal and international trends of survey results, and to explore factors influencing health indicators. In this study we present the results of health promoting (nutrition, physical activity) and health compromising behaviours (smoking, alcohol consumption) and their characteristic changes based on five recent surveys (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018). During this study, we made a document analysis based on the previous Hungarian research results. The results showed a prosperous scheme, which predicts a slow but steady positive change, however there is still a long way to go. The biggest problem in the way of life of these children is the lack of conscious behaviour. Most of these children are not aware of the consequences of their lifestyle on their health.
JEL Codes: I12 -
Examination of Consumer Preferences of the Sweet Taste
21-30Views:105The aim of this study was to explore the sugar, sweetener, confectionery consumption habits of the Hungarian population. The online questionnaire survey was conducted in June 2024 with a sample of 1,000 individuals. Quota sampling ensured representativeness of the adult population by age, gender, region, and settlement type. In addition to consumption habits, the questionnaire also addressed consumer knowledge and demographic characteristics. Findings reveal that most respondents continue to consume sugar primarily due to taste and habit, while the main reasons for avoiding sugar are the desire to reduce empty calorie intake and health-related concerns. The use of sweeteners is mostly linked to weight control, diabetes, and health consciousness, though taste is a less influential factor in their use. Confectionery consumption is widespread, with 99.1% of respondents consuming such products to some extent. Among “free-from” sweets, sugar-free options are the most sought-after, particularly among women, urban dwellers, and individuals with chronic health conditions. Compared to 2022, confectionery consumption has increased, and weight control has become the leading motivation for using sweeteners. While consumer decisions remain primarily driven by taste and habit, health awareness is gaining importance—reflected in the growing interest in sugar-free products.
JEL Codes: D11, D12, M31 -
Impact of Personal Values on the Change of Health Behaviour and the Conscious Food Purchase
57-71Views:556Major aim of the examination is to reveal relationships between personal values, the switch to the health conscious nutrition method, and the food consumer behaviour based on the value list by Kahle (LOV). In order to attain this goal a nationwide representative survey was conducted in Hungary with the participation of 1000 persons. According to the results the most important value for the population is safety that is followed by the need for fun and enjoyment in life. During the analysis of the value list a factor structure – different from the standard – was revealed that formed the base of the segmentation. Four consumer segments were identified, the Value oriented, the Moderately value driven, the Safety seeker, and the Disappointed segments.
The Value oriented segment can be considered as the primary target group of health protecting foods as members of this group moved to the direction of more health conscious consumption and in parallel of more health conscious food purchase to the greatest extent (18.5%). The second group showing significant changes is the Safety seekers that suggests that the extent of the value orientation significantly affects the behavior, i.e. food purchase and food consumption independently of its content. The value content provides information to the development of the content elements of the marketing strategy and the marketing message for the producers of health protecting foods. -
Relationship between Health Behaviour of Parents and Children
35-52Views:622In recent years our daily lives have been characterised by lifestyle diseases, sedentary lifestyle, high level of physical inactivity, global pandemic. Because of this reason health becomes as an important value in our everyday life. It can be said that health status is a dynamic status which is affected by various aspects. The development of health behaviour involves individual decision-making and choices, the social and built environment, as well as various socialization contexts. The family model and the socio-economic status of the family play a crucial role in shaping children's attitudes towards health culture, exerting a significant influence on the formation of children's habits such as physical activity and proper nutrition. In childhood, there is partial control, with parents making decisions about living conditions, nutrition, and most aspects of the child's life. It is also important to note, that adolescents constitute a demographic where primary prevention can achieve the most long-term successes. Because of this reason, at the centre of our research is the examination of parental patterns and their reflection in the health behaviour of young adults, including eating-, sleeping-, and harmful habits as well as covid pandemic's effect on the eating habits of the families.
JEL Code: I12 -
Parental Health Conciousness and Examination of Eating Preferences in Reflection of Childhood Obesity
27-38Views:783One of the 21st century’s well-known megatrend is the healthy lifestyle and eating which is the basis of this research. We have already known some aspects of this topic, but the parental health consciousness and the examination of eating preferences is not as well known as it has to be, so this makes this study relevant. The goal of this exploratory research was to get to know more about the parental health consciousness, their eating preferences and attitudes, so Hungarian parents were asked who have children under 14 years old to tell more about their habits and lifestyle. In the primer research an online questionnaire was used which reaches 206 people so we could make some consequences about the lifestyle and the preferences of the families in Hungary. The main parts of this research were: the importance of health and the healthy lifestyle, the form of the parental research about the topic, which sources they find the most relevant and authentic, the parental eating habits, family health, the responsibility of the parents. During the statistical analysis some segments of people could be separated whose different attitudes and preferences were shown very clearly. It reveals of the results for example that the groups have different eating habits and researching systems.
JEL Codes: I12, M31
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Opportunities and Obstacles in the Healthy Food Consumption Area
65-76Views:431The issue of healthy food consumption is an extremely hot topic in today’s fast-paced world. One of today’s ruler trends are the health awareness and health market expansion. The role of the health of consumers is appreciated. People spend more and more to preserve their health. The consequence of conscious consumption is that individuals can keep their physical and mental activity for a longer time remaining their life and accordingly they can be involved in the economic growth. Our central hypotheses were that the financial situation, the level of consciousness and „identity” have a decisive influence on women who assume a healthy eating habit in Hungary. We also presumed a link between health consciousness and financial attitudes, as well as a positive relationship between health consciousness and behavioral intent and normative beliefs. Our results confirm: the income status and the degree of awareness mostly influence the existence of a healthy diet.
JEL codes: E21, H31, H51
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Investigation of Active Sport Consumption around the Students of Faculty of Economics, University of Debrecen
57-65Views:394Physical activity and maintaining health are becoming increasingly important to people around the world today. The growth of physical activity in the last ten years can be detected both at the domestic and European Union level. People today spend more and more time on active and passive sports activities. This is especially true for the younger generation, who are increasingly engaging in active physical activity in their spare time, with the main goals of maintaining and maintaining health, achieving a balanced lifestyle, developing well-being and relieving stress. To achieve all this, in addition to physical activity, increased attention must be paid to nutrition as well. During our research, we examined the active sports consumption habits of university students. Various statistical methods were used to process the data, such as mean, median, mode, standard deviation, distribution, Chi2 independence test, principal component analysis, factor analysis, and variance analysis. It can be stated that it is important for students to maintain their physical health. An active, health-conscious lifestyle plays a significant role in maintaining physical and mental health, which was supported by our results.
JEL-Codes: I10, I12, I19 -
The Young People's Health from the Aspect of the Quality of Life and Consumer Behaviour
87-95Views:312The examination of the quality of life on societal and individual level is emphasized increasingly in the social researches. The quality of life has subjective and objective components as well and we can get the complete view of the consumers’ perceived wellbeing by the measurement of these components. The objective of this article is to explore how the young people have the evaluation mechanism to their perceived quality of life and how they evaluate their health. According to the aim of this research, first we gain insight into the literature of the topic and after then we analyse the results of the empirical research. Unfortunately in respect of the evaluation to health our hypotheses were justifiable. The health does not have of high priority value for the members of 14-18 years old pupils. According to our research results we conclude that health and healthy lifestyle as an approach can be strengthened within the public and higher educational sectors. But it must become clear, that dissemination of knowledge, information is not sufficient, as without actively involving those of concerned, the problem can not be solved.
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Consumer Perception of a Healthy Nutrition – The Results of an Exploratory Study
57-66Views:1083Healthy nutrition is becoming increasingly important in the age of endemic non-communicable diseases such as obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol and various cancers. Moreover, due to modern eating habits, more and more people are experiencing food allergies, sensitivity or intolerance to gluten, lactose, milk protein, soy, or egg, just to mention a few. Healthy eating as prevention has become a possible solution for these problems worldwide. Furthermore, an increasing number of people simply want to pay attention to what they consume. The primary objective of this research is to showcase the attitude of consumers in Debrecen (Hungary) towards a healthy nutrition, as well as to explore the factors that influence it. This paper also aims to reveal consumers’ views on the degree to which a healthy diet can be achieved in their daily lives. Focus group interview was chosen as the method of primary data collection, in which consumers living in Debrecen, with different behaviors towards health (health preventive and health risk) took part. The acquired results from the two groups clearly reflect how consumers with dissimilar attitudes towards healthy nutrition reach differing opinions on the same issues.
JEL Classification: I12, M31
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A Netnographic Study of Health-Conscious Food Consumption in the Digital Era
19-38Views:1009Health-conscious lifestyles and the consumption of foods which are considered healthy are becoming increasingly important globally and domestically. Thanks to digitisation, the consumer has a wide range of new and innovative ways to obtain useful information. Social media and its elements have reformed access to information over the past decade. The main objective of our research was to assess the impact of digitisation on healthy food consumption. In this article, we analysed particular social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram and Youtube) with a netnographic observation and examined the role of influencers in health-conscious food consumption. During secondary research, we clarified basic definitions and analysed recent and near-term trends. In the primary research, the netnographic survey was conducted in two sessions (September and October 2018 and December 2019). The aim was to broaden the research while comparing the results of the two observation sessions. Only Hungarian language sites were used for our observations. We analysed the Facebook pages and groups related to healthy eating. For the terms related to the topic under study (e.g., “healthy lifestyle” and “conscious eating”), we identified the same pages in most cases. So a given page has appeared for more than one search term. The creators of the groups typically include 4-5 keywords in the title at a time. We have analysed the number of hashtags with and without accents associated with health-conscious, free-from and plant-based nutrition. The majority of the analysed hashtags showed a tendency for their accented variants to grow more than non-accented ones in the past year. In addition, we systematized the Hungarian influencers with Youtube channel in the research topic. Based on the results, it can be stated that relatively few influencers operate a channel with a higher number of subscribers in the fields of healthy eating and healthy lifestyle. To sum up, the mention of healthy lifestyle in social media is complex and it is not tightened to health-conscious food consumption.
JEL Classification: M31
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Investigating the Coffee Consumption Habits
59-70Views:2172Coffee consumption is a widespread activity nowadays all around the world. It is a very popular beverage, with many variants as are known. Caffeine can cause many effects in our bodies. These include health benefits and adverse effects. According to 2018 data, the annual per capita coffee consumption in Hungary was 3.1 kilograms, making it the 24th largest coffee consumption country in the world. The aim of the research was to reveal the coffee consumption habits at the domestic level, based on the results of a questionnaire survey based on secondary data collection. In our research, we have also placed great emphasis on examining the beneficial and harmful health effects of coffee consumption. Our further goal is to explore whether domestic consumers are aware of the health effects of coffee consumption. Our hypothesis, defined in connection with our research, was, “Those people who frequently consume coffee are unaware of the health effects of coffee”. As a first step in our research we made a secondary data collection and our second step was the primary data collection. The basis of our primary research was the questionnaire we prepared, which was shared online. The size of the examined sample is 1 664 people. The sample population does not statistically represent the population of Hungary, therefore we do not consider the survey to be representative, the results are only exploratory. Based on our research, we found out that although most of the people who consume coffee often are aware of the beneficial and harmful health effects of coffee, this is mainly true for women, but less so for men. Men are more likely to know only the harmful effects. Our results have shown that those who are aware of all the health-affecting properties of coffee are not more conscious of the amount of coffee consumed than those who are unaware of only the good, bad, or both of the properties.
JEL Codes: A13, P56
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Analysis of the Values of Sustainable Development and the Health Conscious Lifestyle Among Secondary School Students
41-62Views:410Health, together with the social- and natural environment has become the most important and core value recently. The current research would like to explore the presence of sustainable development related values and the elements of health consciousness among the consumption behaviour of secondary school students. The aim of the first part is to provide an overview of conscious consumption, sustainable development and the literal researches connected to this particular generation. In the second part of the work, we present the results of a research made between April 2015 and 2016 involving 1 002 students of 13 institutions. During the selection, we kept in mind to choose institutions of all different profiles (human, sport, art, general) and different types (grammar school, vocational high school, technical school). During creating the questionnaire, the basis of the questions and statements since was the consumption trends that can be found in the literature sources as well. We analysed the data with the help of frequency indicators together with factor- and cluster analyses. During the primary examinations, we identified five factors that were created along with the values of the following behaviours: trend-following individualistic, health- and environmental conscious, authentic patriot, altruistic-ethical and business ethical. With the help of them, we could name four well-divided groups after the cluster analysis, where the values of the created factors can be realised at different rates. The groups were the Trend-avoiding Conscious, the Responsibility-blamers, the Passive “freshmen” and the Conscious individualists. The first group can be related to the trends of voluntary simplicity, whereas the fourth segment shows a strong similarity to the values of the LOHAS consumer group. These groups – and their different socio-demographic features – raise the attention to the fact that knowledge, messages and examples-to-follow are worth conveying with a differentiated marketing communicational strategy. This secondary school generation undertakes their connection to the particular sustainable and health conscious values, and – at least in a theoretical field – the majority of the students admit their responsibility in shaping the environment and their own health. In the case of conscious consumption, the peculiarities of this generation (digital, “Always on” generation) demand a quite new communicational approach in transporting messages and possibilities of act.
JEL codes: A13, D70, I12, Q56
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International Market Segmentation of European Countries Based on Sports and Health Consumption
33-49Views:412Differences in development of European countries can be seen in many areas. Differences in household expenditure, income inequality and life expectancy have already been revealed by a number of previous studies. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the international variations in household health, sports and recreation spending. In our research, therefore, European countries were segmented on the basis of, among other things, household health, sports and recreation expenditures, pointing out that the level of these expenditures is related to other dimensions of development. As a result of our research, the authors managed to separate four clusters of European countries in terms of sports consumption and three clusters in terms of health consumption, with useful lessons for economic and social policy or profit-oriented companies considering international expansion in the health, sports and recreation markets.
JEL Classification: I12, I14, I15, M30, Z20
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Functional Foods, Consumer Attitudes and Personalized Nutrition
3-17Views:868The dramatic spread of the so called diseases of civilization have occurred in the last decade worldwide. Deaths caused by them have long been of the highest rate among all causes of deaths. In parallel with the spread of the diseases of civilization, population of developed countries is increasingly ageing that increases the number of inactives and those who rely on health treatment. The outlined factors pose new challenges to the food industry: it requires the development new foods that slow down the spread of the diseases of civilization that hit the humankind through their health care effect, and at the same time provide longer life in health for the ageing societies. In the decade after decoding the human genome an extremely rapid development occurred in the techniques of genomics, and in the disciplines applying genomics methods. Researches in genomics focus on how the human genome interacts with the environmental factors for determining the gene expression. Nutrition as one of the most important environmental factors has an obvious impact on the health but we have not known yet exactly what this impact is and what its mechanism is. The so called nutrigenomics – that is a new discipline – aims to reveal the relationships that are not yet known. The personalized nutrition is a conception that adapts the diet, the foods, and the nutrients to the unique needs of the specific person.
The authors examined the relationships between the functional foods, consumer attitudes and personalized nutrition in the framework of a nation-wide representative consumer survey of 500 people. According to the results majority of the consumers (73.8%) believes that her/him nutrition (diet) follows a normal structure and all that she/he needs enters her/his body automatically. Knowing the critical health state of the population it can be stated that the high agreement portion is based on misbelieves. This is also indicated by the fact that 57.4% of consumers only eats foods that tastes good, even when it is supposedly less healthy. In the next half year almost 50% of the Hungarian population do not intend to switch to a nutrition considered healthier by themselves. Further 22% of the respondents already feel some urge to change their behavior, they compare the costs and the potential benefits of change. Only 5.0% of the interviewees switched to a nutrition considered healthier by themselves in the last six months, and the rate of those who maintain the positive change is 17.4%.
In the current situation there is no other option than raising awareness of the population for foods that provide excess nutrition benefits. These are the functional foods that hold important position in the education to healthy nutrition of the population. However, it is does matter in which strategy they are used by the enterprises. This applies for the development of both new technologies and new functional foods where involvement of consumers is inevitable today.
The so called perception screening theory answers the solution of the anomalies between the scientific objectivity and the consumer perception. We tried to apply the perception screening theory in a new discipline, entirely unknown to the consumers. The nutrition genomics and its major application area, the personalized nutrition are novel concepts to the population to such an extent that preferences and attitudes related to them have not occurred yet. This is why it could be interesting which most important psychological processes are the ones that can lead to the adoption of the new technology, and the development of the positive consumer attitudes. According to the results Hungarian consumers are mistrustful against the new technology and they are uncertain – despite its obvious advantages. The not so positive attitude is likely caused by more factors together. Traditional thinking, reluctance to the new play a role in it as well as the lack of information and misbelieves related to the genetic tests. The technology is novel to the consumers to such an extent that we found significant differences between the consumer segments only in some cases, i.e. consumer preferences cannot be classified, they are highly scattered. Finally, the authors developed an optimized practical model by which the successful launch of a new functional food and its hindering factors can be securely forecasted. -
Examination of the Young Athletes’ Eating Habits
79-88Views:795Nowadays, movement and maintaining health are becoming more and more prominent in both public life and the scientific world. In connection with this, we can meet many scientific developments and new recommendations. In the present research, we examined young athletes, primarily in terms of their eating habits, as the compilation of a proper diet contributes greatly to the ability of athletes to achieve the best possible results. The aim of the secondary search was to get acquainted with the young athletes’ health-consciousness behavior and eating habits. The primary search consisted of an online-, and paper based questionnaire as well. As far as data analysis is concerned, we only considered data given by the targeted segment of the respondents, which falls between the age of 15 and 35. For statistical analysis we used descriptive statistics and crosstabs procedure. The results revealed that the majority of the athletes eat 3-5 times a day both in preparation and competiton period. Furthermore, the overwhelming majority of athletes find conscious eating important, however, they did not find either the consumption of different health protecive or disease preventive food important. They also do not follow the latest trends in connection with sportfood.
JEL Classification: M31, H12, Z2
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Sports Activity vs. Consumption of Dietary Supplements
35-48Views:1173Previous research on consumption of dietary supplements and consumer motivations has shown that there are different motivations behind their widespread consumption in recreational and competitive sports. This research examined the consumption of the main nutritional supplements, the relationship between different forms of sports and dietary supplement consumption, as well as their relationship with age. The questionnaire survey was conducted by telephone among those who mainly exercised recreational sports activities and a total of 236 valid responses were obtained. The sample is gender-balanced and overrepresents younger segments by age groups. The majority of recreational athletes interviewed in the research are among the potentially stable consumers. Only 10% does not consume and does not plan to use supplements. The interview recorded the main types of supplements (vitamins and minerals; amino acids, proteins; essential fats, etc.) as well as the preferred forms of sports (device-free and device-intensive aerobics and cardio; fitness and team sports). As for the purpose of consuming dietary supplements it can be said that the main motivator is the preservation of health, followed by the improvement of physical well-being, cartilage protection, muscle gain, and then performance enhancement. Among other things, the research revealed differences in consumption motivations for dietary supplements by age group, the relationship between sports type and dietary supplement consumption. Health preservation as motivation spans different age categories, however, cartilage protection and improvement of physical well-being are more typical for the 25+ and 35+ age groups, while supplements consumed to increase muscle mass and performance shift to the younger side of the sample. Different patterns appear for each type of sport, only the outstanding rate of consumption of vitamin preparations is the same. Device-free aerobic and cardio 91%, device-intensive aerobic and cardio 88% and fitness sports 85% are the proportions of people who often consume vitamin preparations several times a day, once a day or several times a week. The results suggest that the primary driver of the use of dietary supplements is the preservation of health, but product knowledge is an important consideration, as excessive intake of these supplements can even lead to damage to health.
JEL Codes: I12, M31, Z2 -
Analysis of the Health – Environment – Nutrition Nexus: A Review
3-24Views:1176The fastest improvement of the wealth and quality of life was witnessed in last decades by the humanity globally. Economic and social development, however, influenced the state and processes of the natural environment at the same time significantly. Food supply is one of the major interfaces between the society and the natural resources, as we highlight in our literature review; approximately one-third of the resource use and pollution is originated in nutritional needs. Also, health effects of western diet are remarkable. Consequently, debate on ‘healthy diet’ and ‘environmentally friendly’ food supply chain became complementary and reinforcing topics recently, at least in the scientific communication.
JEL Codes: F64, I12, O13, Q4, Q5
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Growing Demand for Functional Foods – The Customer Perception of the Domestic Cereal Market
23-37Views:251Current scientific research raises questions as to how and why food-market consumer demands have changed over time, in relation to increasing health awareness. As a hypothesis, we assume that today’s customers are more health-conscious and open-minded about healthy food and health-related marketing messages both in Hungary and world-wide. Consequently, customers tend to look for the potential benefits of functional foods. We describe present-day lifestyle trends and the changing habits of nutrition as well as introduce the science of nutrimarketing and functional foods, along with their relevant claims. In our field research, we examine customers’ attitudes and mind-sets regarding the domestic cereal market between 2013 and 2016 with the aid of the Neticle system, an innovative online media-monitoring and analysis programme. Examining and understanding these trending needs could open new opportunities for companies to satisfy their customers with applicable product developments.
JEL codes: I12, I15, M31
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Characteristics of Eating Habits and Nutritional Status among the Hungarian Population – Literature Review
45-55Views:1027Obesity is a growing public health problem worldwide: recent research activities have shown that the significance of obesity regarding public health is as much as smoking, which imposes a huge burden on the healthcare system. WHO ranked obesity among the world’s ten most significant health problems. Obesity has an increasing prevalence among both adults and children in our country, which is accompanied by the unhealthy eating habits and low level of physical activity and sports of Hungarian people. In our research, we analyze the national literature which represents the nutritional characteristics and their changes of the Hungarian population, the main issues of healthy eating, the different recommendations as well as the status of the Hungarian population related to obesity and overweight. In our article we introduce the relevant research regarding eating habits in other countries based on the international literature. Besides these, we present best practices that could influence the health behaviour of the population by focusing on lifestyle factors, especially regular exercise and healthy diet.
JEL code: I12
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Consumption patterns and trends in pork meat and pork products
81-97Views:454In connection of the trend towards health and environmental consciousness, consumption habits are changing, especially for meat products. Health, moral and ethical concerns about the consumption of meat products have brought pork and its products back into focus, and as has been the case in the past, highlight their 'unhealthiness'. The aim of this paper is to summarise current pork consumption patterns, describe the factors influencing them and provide direction through an analysis of domestic and international trends. Through an analysis of consumption statistics, we will show how pork consumption has changed in recent years in different European countries and in Hungary. In addition to consumption data, we will also look at the purchasing patterns that shape the consumption, the evolution of online, offline purchasing, and the trends that most influence the product chain. In addition to the analysis of household consumption will be presented and the main target groups for pork consumption will be identified. The characteristics of the marketing mix for pork are then identified, i.e. the typical product categories, branding, the threat of substitutes, price relations at national and international level, and finally the typical distribution channels are also analysed. After the analysis, our study has found that pork is a tasty meat that can be prepared in a variety of ways and is an essential ingredient in European and Hungarian cuisine. Changes in consumer habits have had a significant impact on the consumption of pork, both from an environmental point of view, ethical considerations, animal welfare issues, health consciousness trends and even religious requirements.
JEL Code: M31 -
Production, Trade and Consumption of Functional Foods in Hungary
3-6Views:472Functional food is a specific food which fulfills the original aim of being a nutrient and an energy-carrier, but promotes better health and well-being. During the last decades new and healthier foods were designed to reduce the risk of chronic illnesses and conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, some cancers and obesity. However, functional foods are traditional foods expected to be consumed in the diet, but modified in such a way that promotes better health. In Hungary about 16% of the consumers are interested in buying functional foods for health improvements. Dairy products are most often the target products for reducing the risk of osteoporosis in the elderly and increasing gut function. In recent years the market of plant products, especially of fruits and vegetables was rapidly growing due to their high antioxidant capacity. Enhancement metabolism of polyphenols, and flavonoids formed in fruits and vegetables during traditional breeding and processing is not clarified yet and little is known about the effects of the extensive or intensive breeding and of the most economic harvesting time. The functional food science deals with the scientific substantiation of the influences of specific food components (biological active materials) as well as production and formulation of foods and food ingredients. Some of those components are obtained from natural sources, some others are artificial products of the organic synthesis in the industry. The term „functional foods” has never achieved an official definition, but most experts would agree on its benificially target functions in the body beyond adequate nutritional effects. Moderate consumption of vitamines and antioxidants in the diet carried in functional foods are belived to decrease the risk of chronic diseases. According to some market surveys the market of these designed foods is very large and rapidly expanding because of a growing interest among body-builders and other sportsmen with higher physical activities.
JEL code: D12
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Interpretation of Health-conscious Food Consumption Behavior on the Basis of LOHAS Concept
39-46Views:512In our study, the information search behavior of sustainability committed consumer group is analyzed. Furthermore, consumer opinions about nutrition labels on food packaging are highlighted. According to the international literature, LOHAS (Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability) group is the most committed consumer segment to sustainability.
Exploration of Hungarian sustainability committed consumer groups’ opinion about food labels is supported by the closing part of a research chain which was started in 2010. This, last research was carried out in 2012, where, with the aid of quota sampling, Trend followers’ and Unconcerned’s judgment on food labels was investigated. The quota and the two mentioned groups were formed on the basis of a national representative research, which was performed in 2011. Information search behavior was evaluated according to the structure of Grunert-Wills’ information search model. In this study we focus on our research results, which connect to the last two steps (understanding, interferences and use) of the mentioned model.
Goal of this research is to investigate in a practical aspect of information search behavior of domestic sustainability committed consumer group (“Trend followers”) in connection with food labels proving health effects of foodstuffs. Four hypotheses were defined to reach our goal:
H1: Among health information on food packaging, labels stating energy value, are getting a higher influencing role in food purchasing process, where conscious consumer groups have a deeper knowledge about the objective meaning of food labels.
H2: Consumer knowledge about objective meaning of food labels is getting a highlighted role in formation of brand loyalty.
H3: Trust has an essential role in consumer acceptation of food labels, where common qualifier activity of different organizations (state, profit and nonprofit area) come into the front.
H4: Correct understanding of food labels has a positive influencing effect on acceptation of higher prices and on real use of food labels during food purchasing.
One- and multivariate analysis and cross table analysis were calculated to investigate our assumptions. In the closing part of our study, three practical recommendations are defined, which relate to follows: optimization of communication strategy of food industries, way of introduction of new food labels and need of objective guidance of consumers about food information.
