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Functional Foods, Consumer Attitudes and Personalized Nutrition
3-17Views:496The 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. -
Consumer Perception of a Healthy Nutrition – The Results of an Exploratory Study
57-66Views:734Healthy 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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Role and Importance of Healthy Eating
49-63Views:1883Healthy nutrition and a regular exercise are two important pillars of healthy lifestyle. Several researches point out that significant part of the population has incomplete knowledge regarding these topics. The Hungarian population is characterized by unhealthy eating habits and low level of regular exercise, which together result in a high obesity rate and poor health status among the Hungarians. Besides these, another unfavourable fact is the sedentary lifestyle: adults spend more than 5 hours a day in sitting position on average. The Hungarians’ daily physical activity is only 70% of the recommendations, and we only spend 10 minutes a day doing sports. Vegetables and fruits are important ingredients of a healthy and balanced diet, the consumption rate of which is quite low in several European countries including Hungary. In our article we present the main characteristics and contexts of healthy nutrition and physical activity. In addition, we analyze a nutrition research activity which can be an important basis for integrative strategies. Based on secondary research, we present research results that demonstrate the protective effects of vegetable and fruit consumption connected to various diseases. Furthermore, we present the unfavorable tendencies of vegetable and fruit consumption of the European and Hungarian population, and we make suggestions in order to improve the unfavourable circumstances and indicators. We also focus on the socio-ecological model of the nutrition guideline, the levels of which significantly affect our habits related to nutrition and physical activity.
JEL code: I12
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The Role of Food Labels in Consumer’s Food Choices
39-53Views:114One of the most important pillars of a healthy lifestyle is healthy nutritional value, in which FOP nutrition labels can support consumers in making the right decision. Nutrition-related diseases of civilization are a worldwide problem. A healthy diet is essential for overall well-being and the prevention of many chronic diseases. Special attention must be paid to the use of FOP nutrition values in order to prevention and healthy decision-making. It is important that people can interpret the nutritional quality of foods as simply as possible. The packaging has to provide realistic and accurate infromation about the product. This study describes four types of FOP nutrition labels used in the European Union: Nordic Keyhole, Nutri-Score, Traffic-Lights, NutrInform Battery.
JEL-Code: M31 -
Investigation of Healthy Nutrition in Post-Adolescents Complemented with a Sociological Aspects
45-58Views:367In our rapidly evolving world, a healthy lifestyle has got more and more attention. The prevention and gradual development can never be begun early enough. In our research, we examined the healthy, moderate eating habits of post-adolescents complemented with sociological aspects. We performed primary and secondary data collection. We used methods like descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation analysis, factor analysis, and cluster analysis. In terms of sociologic factors, we examined some dimensions of detachment, which confirmed that university citizens are one group of post-adolescents. The healthy eating habits were analysed by food groups and social factors. During the cluster analysis, we separated 5 clusters and evaluated them by the factors. Based on the factor and cluster analyses, we found that university students consider healthy eating to be an important social value.
JEL Codes: A13, I12 -
The Role of Sweet Corn Quality in a Healthy Diet
39-48Views:85The importance of sweet corn as a healthy food is constantly increasing worldwide. The research and comparative analysis of super sweet sweet corn hybrids suitable for fresh consumption and canning is of particular importance in the food industry. In our studies, we compared the carotenoid content of three supersweet sweet corn hybrids to collect data for its healthy conditions. A novel result in our tests that sweet corn contains the highest amount of lutein and contains zeaxanthin. We found that the amount of zeaxanthin and lutein is determined by its genotype. We found that carotenoids are influenced by the environmental conditions. The concentration of lutein, zeaxanthin, β-cryptoxanthin, β-carotene did not decrease with the growth of the crop, which confirms the importance of sweet corn hybrid selection for healthy nutrition. In our studies, the amount of lutein and zeaxanthin was higher than the amount of beta cryptoxanthin and beta carotene. Carotene consumption has many positive effects on the human body, it can reduce the incidence of cancer, vascular diseases, or wolf blindness resulting from a lack of vitamin A.
JEL Codes: I1, L15 -
A Netnographic Study of Health-Conscious Food Consumption in the Digital Era
19-38Views:681Health-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 Dietary Practice of Students at the University of Debrecen
39-50Views:778Nowadays, the importance of food in the preservation and restoration of health has become more and more important, as the number of people suffering from diabetes, cardiovascular disease and various food allergies is increasing. In many cases, there is a problem with what is the recommended range of foods, and what is (the meaning of) a healthy and health-conscious diet. The focus of our study is on the nutritional habits of young university students, as the health consciousness of this age group plays a prominent role at both domestic and international level. The primary purpose of the research is to map the daily dietary habits university students in Debrecen to the recommendations of the nutritional pyramid of dietary nutrition and good nutrition created by dietitians. The basis of our primary study was the observational procedure by creating a food diary and fill it with the randomly chosen students, during which we could observe the quality and quantity of food consumed by them during their daily meals. On the basis of the results, the dietitians expected and actual food consumption in the case of the target group were able to compared, on the basis of which it can be concluded that the eating habits of the university students of Debrecen fall short of the healthy eating recommendation.
JEL Codes: A13, P56
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Levels of Behaviour Change in the Course of Body Mass Management – Food Consumption and Physical Activity
19-28Views:131Based on the secondary data, it can be stated that more than half of the Hungarian population are obese, therefore, the actuality of this topic is approved. As a result of this research, the distribution of the examined sample has been executed by the phases of the Transtheoretical model. Thus, the situation in the precontemplation phase is better concerning the transfer to more regular physical activity (one-third of the sample) than the change for food consumption considered as healthier. Similar results were received in the phase of maintenance as well: one-fourth of the sample answered that they did more regular physical activity with the minimal risk of fallback, and one-fifth of them thought that their healthier food consumption could be maintained. The fewest people are in the preparation phase of the transfer to healthier food nutrition, while in the case of more regular physical activity the rate is also lower in the phase of preparation compared to the contemplation, action and maintenance stages. A reason for that can be that the questioned see the change within one month, or they do not have the necessary determination to execute the change within such a short deadline, or to prepare themselves to the change. Considering the gender, in the first and last phases (precontemplation and maintenance) men are in greater proportion on both examined fields. In our opinion, the reason for it is that men are more determined considering their values and attitudes of their own body mass management. We think that the low number of people in the precontemplation phase is quite promising, especially in the case of more regular physical activity, since the people on the higher levels have the potential to develop healthier nutrition and physical activity, to enhance the motivation of contemplators, preparators and doers, and the support of maintainers can be a realistic step to reach the health political aims.
JEL code: Q13
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Characteristics of Eating Habits and Nutritional Status among the Hungarian Population – Literature Review
45-55Views:666Obesity 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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Specific Features of Health Awareness for 11-17-Year-Old Hungarian Students After the Millennium Based on Hbsc Research Data – Literature Review
33-44Views:674The 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 in relation to plant-based diet
3-20Views:660Today, non-communicable, chronic diseases have become the number one causes of death worldwide. But while the problem is receding in developed, more civilized countries, the so called civilization diseases have shifted towards less developed societies, thus spreading throughout the world. One of the main sources of the problem is unhealthy nutrition, so compiling the right diet can reduce the spread and severity of chronic diseases. Within the framework of this article, we deal with plant-based nutrition and its characteristics. Our aim was to get to know the motivations and opinions of those who consider themselves (to be) vegetarian, and to a lesser extent those of the omnivorous groups in relation to plant-based (vegetarian) diets. One of our main findings was that vegetarians follow a plant-based diet primarily for physical and mental health, with almost two-thirds strictly adhering to their diet and the price level of which they do not consider more expensive than the omnivorous diet. Another important result was that the majority of those who followed the plant-based diet declared their diet to be healthy and themselves to be health-conscious. Based on the results, it can be stated that the followers of the plant-based diet are very satisfied with their own diet.
JEL codes: I10, I12 -
Investigating the Factors of a Healthy Lifestyle Among Amateur Sportsmen
61-70Views:314Worldwide, there is a growing demand for health-conscious lifestyles and, according to Gfk’s surveys, this trend is becoming increasingly prevalent in Hungary. In this study, middle-aged hobby sportmen were asked about their attitudes towards a health-conscious lifestyle with particular emphasis on eating and consuming functional foods. This research is based on in-depth interviews with four amateur athletes on the topics above. When preparing the interviews, great emphasis was put on the spontaneous responses and reactions of the subjects. According to our results, amateur athletes who take part in a training session several times a week, pay special attention to healthy eating and the appropriate exercise activities, which are complementary to training. They eat and maintain the functional foods required for a given workout, and they have serious professional knowledge. However, their main sources of information are typically not personal consultations with professionals but information available on the Internet.
JEL Codes: I12, M31
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Beliefs and Misbeliefs About Plant-Based Diet Relying on the Results of an Online Research
65-77Views:553A main current trend is healthy lifestyle and the consumption of fruit and vegetables. The assessment of healthiness of plant-based diet is not so obvious either among the population or food experts. In an online survey the knowledge, beliefs and misbeliefs about plant-based diet were analysed among members and non-members of online social media lifestyles groups. All in all, it can be stated that there are no significant relationships and differences between knowledge, attitude and perception of members and non-members. Social media users are aware of the different types of plant-based diet (vegetarian, vegan) and the positive and negative psychological effects. The associations connected to plant-based diet are the following: healthy, environmentally friendly and expensive. Only a small segment of Hungarian people follow plant-based diet. At the same the diverse and everyday consumption of fruit and vegetables is essential because of health and sustainability issues. Due to conscious nutrition and more plant-based diet, people can contribute to the protection of their own health and the Earth.
JEL Classification: M31
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The Young People's Health from the Aspect of the Quality of Life and Consumer Behaviour
87-95Views:94The 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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Growing Demand for Functional Foods – The Customer Perception of the Domestic Cereal Market
23-37Views:108Current 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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Examination of the Young Athletes’ Eating Habits
79-88Views:533Nowadays, 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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Analysis of Poultry Consumption and Purcase Habits in Connection with Socio-demographic Factors
57-69Views:279The consumption of poultry is an important source of nutrition, so it is a basic need for everyday food conception. To supply the population is not only a sensitive social question, but also a question of national health. The aim of this study is to reveal the connection between the preference of poultry and the basic socio-demographic factors and highlight the circumstances of purchasing this type of meat. In order to understand the preference of poultry, a large sample quantitative (N=1 023 respondents) study was conducted. The preference of poultry depends on the age and residence of consumers. People over 50 and below 34 living in larger cities have the most favorable preference towards poultry. In order to understand the circumstances of purchasing poultry and other meat products, an observation (N=134) was conducted. Customers typically buy fresh meat in super- and hypermarkets or at butcher’s and they request the product from salespeople. Shoppers prefer to buy poultry than pork or beef. Considering poultry people usually buy pigeon-breast either filet or boned. People pay an average amount of 3 700 HUF for meat, however, the standard deviation is high. The mode are 2 000, 4 000 and 6 000 HUF. In general, the process of purchasing lasts for 10 minutes. Customers usually buy poultry because of hedonism and healthy eating style that is why companies have to sell the advantages and not only the product on the market.
JEL code: M31