10 - Gaining consumer acceptance of low-fat foods

Abstract

This chapter discusses the factors either promoting or obstructing the lowering of fat content in the diet, with the focus on low-fat products. There are several ways of trying to lower the fat intake in the diets. The first is to avoid those foods that contain high amounts of fat and replace them with other foods that contain less or no fat at all; the second to favor those foods that are naturally low in fat, such as vegetables and fruit, assuming that the foods they replace contained more fat. Both of these approaches require considerable changes in the diet and food habits. The third option is to choose low-fat or non-fat alternatives of those products that are typically high in fat content. This means less pressure on changing diet-related practices and habits, but there are several factors that may hinder the acceptance of low-fat products. Lowering fat content in a product influences the sensory quality of the product and thus the hedonic pleasure derived from low-fat products might be lower than from their regular fat counterparts. The perceived healthiness of low-fat products might vary also among product categories. Although developing low-fat options has been one of the major trends in recent years, there are very few studies that have examined their significance in lowering the overall fat or energy content in the diet.