The mediating role of subjective health complaints on willingness to use selected functional foods

There is an increasing demand for functional foods in the market because such foods can either enhance physiological function or reduce disease risks. The present study draws on a research to develop a model that is believed to shed light on the extent to which modern health worries (MHWs), negative affect (NA), and healthy lifestyles (HL) are relevant to consumers’ willingness to use functional foods in Taiwan through the mediator of consumers’ subjective health complaints (SHCs). As expected, the results indicated that consumers’ SHCs play a mediating role in the relationship between NA and attitudes toward functional foods and in the relationship between HL and attitudes toward functional foods. Moreover, though people’s MHWs do not lead directly to SHCs, they do have a direct impact on their attitudes toward functional foods, resulting in further influencing their willingness to use such foods. Some suggestions for the public, the government authorities, and the marketers of functional foods are also provided in this study.