When zero is greater than one: Consumer misinterpretations of nutrition labels

Health Psychology

Volumn 33, Issue 12, 2014, Pages 1579-1587

  Graham, Dan J ^a   Mohr, Gina S ^a  

^a Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences   (United States)

Author keywords

Context effects; Labeling; Nutrition; Public policy

Indexed keywords

ADULT; ARTICLE; CONSUMER; EVALUATION STUDY; FEMALE; FRONT OF PACKAGE NUTRITION LABEL; HUMAN; MALE; NUTRITIONAL VALUE; PACKAGING; PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT; PURCHASING; RATING SCALE; ATTITUDE TO HEALTH; CONSUMER ATTITUDE; DECISION MAKING; FOOD PACKAGING; FOOD PREFERENCE; HEALTH FOOD; ORGANIZATION; PSYCHOLOGY; STANDARDS; UNITED STATES;

ADULT; CHOICE BEHAVIOR; CONSUMER BEHAVIOR; FEMALE; FOOD LABELING; FOOD PREFERENCES; HEALTH FOOD; HEALTH KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES, PRACTICE; HUMANS; INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE (U.S.); MALE; UNITED STATES;

EID: 84925848247     PISSN: 02786133     EISSN: 19307810     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1037/hea0000080     Document Type: Article

References (26)

1. Aikman, S. N., Min, K. E., & Graham, D. (2006). Food attitudes, eating behavior, and the information underlying food attitudes. Appetite, 47, 111-114. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2006.02.004
2. Associated Press. (2011). Salads are nice, but burgers are what really sell. Retrieved January 15, 2014, from http://yourlife.usatoday.com/fitnessfood/ diet-nutrition/story/2011-10-03/Salads-are-nice-but-burgers-arewhat-really-sell/50641698/1
3. Bettman, J. R., Luce, M. F., & Payne, J. W. (1998). Constructive consumer choice processes. Journal of Consumer Research, 25, 187-217. doi: 10.1086/209535
4. Choinière, C., & Lando, A. (2008). Health and diet survey. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. Retrieved April 26, 2010 from http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodScienceResearch/ ConsumerBehaviorResearch/ucm193895.htm
5. Cowburn, G., & Stockley, L. (2005). Consumer understanding and use of nutrition labelling: A systematic review. Public Health Nutrition, 8, 21-28. doi:10.1079/PHN2005666
6. Dall, T. M., Fulgoni III, V. L., Zhang, Y., Reimers, K. J., Packard, P. T., & Astwood, J. D. (2009). Potential health benefits and medical cost savings from calorie, sodium, and saturated fat reductions in the American diet. American Journal of Health Promotion, 23, 412-422. doi: 10.4278/ajhp.080930-QUAN-226
7. Gould, S. J. (1990). Health consciousness and health behavior: The application of a new Health Consciousness scale. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 6, 228-237.
8. Graham, D. J., & Jeffery, R. W. (2011). Location, location, location: Eye-tracking evidence that consumers preferentially view prominently positioned nutrition information. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 111, 1704-1711. doi:10.1016/j.jada.2011.08.005
9. Graham, D. J., & Jeffery, R. W. (2012). Predictors of nutrition label viewing during food purchase decision making: An eye tracking investigation. Public Health Nutrition, 15, 189 -197. doi:10.1017/ S1368980011001303
10. Hayes, A. F., & Preacher, K. J. (2013). Statistical mediation analysis with a multicatetgorical indepdendent variable [White Paper]. Retrieved January 14, 2014, from http://www.afhayes.com/
11. Hsee, C. K., & Leclerc, F. (1998). Will products look more attractive when presented separately or together? Journal of Consumer Research, 25, 175-186. doi:10.1086/209534
12. LetsMove. (2013). Eat Healthy: Nutrition Information, Empower Consumers. Retrieved August 24, 2013, from http://www.letsmove.gov/ eathealthy
13. Malik, V. S., Popkin, B. M., Bray, G. A., Després, J. P., & Hu, F. B. (2010). Sugar-sweetened beverages, obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular disease risk. Circulation, 121, 1356-1364. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.109.876185
14. Malik, V. S., Willett, W. C., & Hu, F. B. (2013). Global obesity: Trends, risk factors, and policy implications. Nature Reviews Endocrinology, 9, 13-27. doi:10.1038/nrendo.2012.199
15. Mason, W., & Suri, S. (2012). Conducting behavioral research on Amazon's mechanical Turk. Behavior Research Methods, 44, 1-23. doi: 10.3758/s13428-011-0124-6
16. Mohr, G. S., Lichtenstein, D. R., & Janiszewski, C. (2012). The effect of marketer-suggested serving size on consumer responses: The unintended consequences of consumer attention to calorie information. Journal of Marketing, 76, 59-75. doi:10.1509/jm.10.0073
17. Moorman, C., & Matulich, E. (1993). A model of consumers' preventive health behaviors: The role of health motivation and health ability. Journal of Consumer Research, 20, 208-228. doi:10.1086/209344
18. Nielsen Company. (2012). Battle of the bulge and nutrition labels: Healthy eating trends around the world. Retrieved September 21, 2013, from http://www.nielsen.com/content/corporate/us/en/insights/reports-downlo ads/2012/healthy-eating-trends-around-theworld.html
19. Nutrition Labeling and Education Act. (1990). Pub. L. No. 101-535, 104 Stat. 2355.
20. Palmeira, M. M. (2011). The zero-comparison effect. Journal of Consumer Research, 38, 16-26. doi:10.1086/657998
21. Paolacci, G., Chandler, J., & Ipeirotis, P. G. (2010). Running experiments on Amazon Mechanical Turk. Judgment and Decision Making, 5, 411- 419.
22. Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2004). SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments & Computers, 36, 717-731. doi:10.3758/ BF03206553
23. Spiller, S. A., Fitzsimons, G. J., Lynch, J. G., Jr., & McClelland, G. H. (2013). Spotlights, floodlights, and the magic number zero: Simple effects tests in moderated regression. Journal of Marketing Research, 50, 277-288. doi:10.1509/jmr.12.0420
24. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2009). Background Information on Point of Purchase Labeling. Retrieved August 24, 2013, from http:// www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/LabelingNutrition/ ucm187320.htm
25. Wartella, E. A., Lichtenstein, A. H., Yaktine, A., & Nathan, R. (2011). Front-of-package nutrition rating systems and symbols: Promoting healthier choices. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
26. White House Task Force on Child Obesity. (2010). Solving the problem of childhood obesity within a generation. Retrieved October 25, 2010 from http://www.letsmove.gov/white-house-task-force-childhood-obesityreport-president