European consumers’ perceived importance of qualifying and disqualifying nutrients in food choices

Providing nutrition information through food labels is increasingly important in helping consumers making better informed food choices. Major questions are whether consumers perceive specific nutrients as valuable in food choices, and whether their perception differs for qualifying and disqualifying nutrients. Consumers placing high importance on nutrition are expected to use nutritional labels more. This paper reports on the perceived importance of qualifying nutrients (fibre, vitamins/minerals) and disqualifying nutrients (energy, fat, saturated fat, salt, sugars), and possible differences between consumer groups. A pan-European consumer survey (n = 4828) was conducted with samples representative for age, gender and region in Belgium, France, Italy, Norway, Poland and Spain. Overall, consumers perceive the nutritional value of foods as important when selecting foods, and even more important for qualifying than for disqualifying nutrients. Statistically significant but small differences are observed between countries. A higher perceived importance is reported by women, older respondents, dieters and more health conscious respondents. The effects of children in the household, education and BMI are very small. For age and gender compared to health consciousness, group differences are more significant regarding disqualifying nutrients than qualifying nutrients. Small effect sizes are found for dieting on the perceived importance of qualifying nutrients. Implications for nutrition policy makers and food industries are discussed.

► European consumers place a high importance on the nutritional value of foods.
► Qualifying nutrients are perceived as more important than disqualifying nutrients.
► Perceived importance of disqualifying nutrients varies more across consumer groups.
► Perceived importance of nutrients is higher for females, older, dieting and health-conscious consumers.
► Communication about both disqualifying and qualifying nutrients is proposed.