Consumer evaluation, use and health relevance of health claims in the European Union

Abstract

Foods with health claims are intended to have positive impacts on specific health conditions, yet we lack evidence of whether health claims appeal to, and are used by the target market for whom they may have specific health relevance. Using a large-scale online survey in 10 European countries (n = 5337), our study explores consumers’ views and use of health claims while accounting for health claim diversity and country differences. The objectives of the study are to provide an overview of consumers’ evaluations on familiarity, understandability and credibility for a list of 17 authorised health claims in the European Union; to profile health claim user segments; and to describe the relationship between specific health claim use and health relevance. Our results show that the interaction between active ingredients and claimed health benefits may influence health claims’ ratings, while heterogeneity within the 10 European countries was rather limited. Socio-demographic characteristics only described the health claim user segments to a small extent, and the link between health claim use and health relevance was inconsistent. Our study shows some evidence that the presence of high blood cholesterol in an individual or their household members is associated with the use of health claims referring to plant sterols and stanol esters featuring cholesterol-lowering effects. Nevertheless, only certain health claims have reached, or have been used by the targeted user group. Better targeted communication efforts are thus needed to make health claims effective in supporting informed food choice among population groups for whom they might be relevant.