Abstract
In the global attempt to combat rising obesity rates, the introduction of health warning messages on food products is discussed as one possible approach. However, the perception of graphical health warning messages in the food context and the possible impact that they may have, in particular at the neuronal level, have hardly been studied. Therefore, the aim of this explorative study was to examine consumers’ reactions (measured as neuronal activity and subjective reporting) of two different types of graphical health warning messages on sweets compared to sweets without warning messages. One type used the red road traffic stop sign as graphical information (“Stop”), while the other one used shocking pictures (“Shock”), an approach similar to the images on cigarette packages. The neural response of 78 participants was examined with the neuroimaging technique functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Different hemodynamic responses in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), the frontopolar cortex (FOC), and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) were observed, regions which are associated with reward evaluation, social behavior consequences, and self-control. Further, the health warning messages were actively and emotionally remembered by the participants. These findings point to an interesting health information strategy, which should be explored and discussed further.
Highlights
The number of overweight people worldwide has been rising continuously
The neural response of 78 participants was examined with the neuroimaging technique functional near-infrared spectroscopy
We observed different hemodynamic responses regarding the main effects of the experimental conditions, the two different graphical health warning messages compared to the control condition, and the subgroups of the sample based on their physical constitution (BMI)
Summary
The number of overweight people worldwide has been rising continuously. In 2016, 39% of adults were considered overweight and 13% even obese [1]. In 2017, 53% of all adults in Germany were overweight, 16% of them obese [2]. This is associated with an increased risk of developing non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, caries, and cardiovascular diseases [3]. Far-reaching negative consequences for society and health systems might follow [4]. In the global attempt to combat overweight, the introduction of health warning messages on food products is currently under discussion [5]
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