Exploring Protein Dietary Guidance Statements

Abstract

Consumers may benefit from quick signals on or nearby food product to nudge them toward choosing healthier diets, such as Dietary Guidance Statements (DGSs) from the US Food and Drug Administration. It is unclear how DGSs on foods, including animal or plant proteins, impact purchase motivation, believability, or willingness to pay more. Six DGS claims were tested across 5 protein types (pork tenderloin, beef top sirloin fillet, chicken breast, turkey breast, and plant-based meat) using an online prediction market test survey format among 1002 nationally representative US-based household primary grocery shoppers aged 18 to 64 years. The most motivating and believable DGS across protein types was the Dietary Guidelines DGS: The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends eating 5½ oz of protein food per day as part of a nutritious dietary pattern. <protein type> is a lean meat that provides 3 oz of protein food per serving (based on a 2000-calorie diet). More than one-third felt that this Dietary Guidelines DGS was the most motivating and believable because it was informative; imparted feelings of the protein type being healthy; contained statistics, facts, or numbers; and mentioned the US Dietary Guidelines for Americans. More than 50% of participants were willing to pay at least 5% or more for the protein type specified in the Dietary Guidelines DGS across all protein types. Uniform adoption of DGSs across protein food groups allows for equal representation of how a variety of proteins can contribute to a nutritious dietary pattern.