Exploring salient dimensions in a free sorting task: A cross-country study within the elderly population

Free sorting tasks have been widely applied on different age segments to study the categorization of foods. However the method has received little attention in the investigation of older adults’ perception. Given the importance of understanding elderly perceptions in order to develop acceptable products, the main objective of this study was to investigate the factors that were able to affect the categorization of samples within different age segments of the healthy elderly consumers. Furthermore, in order to support the obtained configurations, the applicability of a free sorting task within different age segments of elderly population was investigated. The role of familiarity was considered to better understand the process of food categorization. A free sorting and a liking task were applied on French and Italian elderly to study perception and preference of familiar (peas) and less familiar (sweetcorn) vegetables. Similarities between the categorization maps, the preference maps and the sensory maps from vegetable samples were assessed through the RV coefficient and map visual inspection. Familiarity with the product was the main factor affecting the categorization among elderly. Categorization maps from a familiar vegetable were found to be suitable to obtain information on sensory and hedonic dimensions, while maps obtained from a less familiar vegetable mainly depicted sensory variability. The free sorting task was found to be a suitable method to use with healthy older adults, that allowed the detection of differences in the categorization of stimuli even among the more aged representatives of the elderly population

Increasing Vegetable Intakes: An Updated Systematic Review of Published Interventions

Vegetable consumption is important for a variety of health reasons, yet intakes are typically lower than recommended. Interventions to improve fruit and vegetable consumption are available, but these interventions are typically more successful for fruit consumption, while vegetable intakes remain low. This chapter details the interventions currently available that focus specifically on improving vegetable intakes. A systematic review of the published literature was conducted in 2015, and this has been updated for this chapter. Databases - PubMed, PsychInfo and Medline were searched over all years of records until January 2017 using pre-specified terms. Our searches identified 119 studies, detailing 206 interventions. Interventions aimed to use or change hedonic factors, such as taste, liking and familiarity (n=103), use or change environmental factors (n=54), use or change cognitive factors (n=28), or a combination of strategies (n=21). Increased vegetable acceptance, selection and/or consumption were reported to some degree in 186 (90%) interventions. Greatest success appears to be achieved in interventions that improve education, change the environment or use multiple approaches, but long-term success and cost-effectiveness are rarely considered. A focus on long-term benefits and sustained behaviour change is required

Familiarity and liking of vegetables: Is it important for vegetable consumption?

The results presented in this paper are part of the early findings from a large European study, VeggiEAT involving the UK, Denmark, France and Italy with the aim of improving vegetable consumption in young people and older people. The results presented here are from UK young people (aged 12–14) focusing on familiarity and liking of vegetables and looking at their vegetable consumption and awareness of what constitutes a healthy diet. The study adds to the literature on vegetable familiarity, liking and consumption in this age group. Early exposure of young children to a variety of vegetables is very important and parents/carers and school nurses need to understand the importance of this in terms of the foods offered and available early within a child`s life and the potential influence of this on vegetable consumption over their lifetime

Increasing vegetable consumption out-of-home: VeggiEAT and Veg+projects

© 2020 The Authors. Nutrition Bulletin published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Nutrition Foundation Adequate vegetable consumption is fundamental to a healthy, balanced diet; however, global compliance with recommendations to increase consumption is poor. There is a growing interest in the sustainability of current dietary patterns in light of expected climate change and an expanding global population where part of the response is increasing vegetable intake. Two international projects, VeggiEAT and Veg+, explored the determinants of vegetable liking and consumption in different age groups and countries and the effect of a nudging strategy on vegetable consumption in an out-of-home setting. The projects found that the importance given by consumers to natural or healthy ingredients, social norms, female gender and positive attitudes towards nudging all influenced vegetable consumption. Some sensory factors, such as bitterness and sourness, had a negative loading, while others, such as sweetness, had a positive effect on liking for vegetables. ‘Dish of the day’, as a nudging strategy in a workplace canteen setting, increased vegetable dish selection for some of the sample (adolescent females) but not for males or older people. Globally, there is a strong need to promote the consumption of vegetables as a public health issue but also to improve their availability and uptake, especially within out-of-home foodservice

When are “Dish of the Day” nudges most effective to increase vegetable selection?

Previous research has suggested that featuring vegetable-rich dishes as “Dish of the day” (DoD) could be an operationally feasible and straightforward strategy to promote healthier food choices in restaurants. However, the available evidence regarding the effect of DoD on food choices is limited, and little is known about the conditions of its effectiveness in the field. This study investigates the effect of introducing DoD options in a real self-service restaurant setting on the selection of vegetable-rich options. The objectives are to (1) replicate and measure the DoD effect in this situation; and (2) investigate the moderating role of two features of the choice set: (i) the type of option set as DoD and (ii) the number of alternatives options to choose from. In a living lab experiment, 294 consumers came for lunch to a self-service restaurant and chose between a target vegetable-based dish (vg1) and respectively one, or two, alternatives: a meat-based dish (nvg) and another vegetable dish (vg2). Five choice task conditions were tested, in a between-subjects design: three conditions examined dish choices when two options were available (vg1 versus nvg): no DoD (T1-0); vg1 as DoD (T1a); or nvg as DoD (T1b). Two further conditions used three options (vg1 versus nvg versus vg2): no nudge (T2-0), or vg1 as DoD (T2a). In neutral conditions T1-0 and T2-0 respectively, 34.4% and 23.3% of consumers chose vg1. The DoD effect was observed in all conditions: choices in favour of vg1 increased by 25.2% when in was DoD by 25.2% in T1a vs. T1-0 and by 30% in T2a vs T2-0; while 7.6% more consumers chose nvg in T1b vs T1-0. Regarding the conditions of DoD effectiveness, the size of the DoD effect was larger for the initially less popular dish vg1 (T1a) compared with nvg (T1b). Introducing more options also increased the relative effect of DoD in favour of vg1, from 73% (T1a) to 129% (T2a). There were no effects of the condition on consumer satisfaction with the dish chosen, nor on the amount of food wasted. This research gives insight into the elements of the choice task to consider when setting up nudges, and could help choice architect to better design efficient and acceptable nudges in foodservice settings

Liking and consumption of vegetables with more appealing and less appealing sensory properties: Associations with attitudes, food neophobia and food choice motivations in European adolescents

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd Vegetable consumption in adolescents is reported to be low, at least in part, due to the unappealing sensory properties of vegetables, such as bitter tastes. However, not all vegetables have unappealing sensory properties, and strategies to improve vegetable consumption may benefit from wider consideration. This work aimed to understand the individual characteristics in adolescents from four European countries associated with the regular consumption and liking of vegetables with more appealing and less appealing sensory properties. Adolescents from Denmark (N = 178), the UK (N = 155), France (N = 206) and Italy (N = 197) completed self-report questionnaires to assess all variables. We found higher self-reported consumption and liking of vegetables with more appealing than less appealing sensory properties. Regular consumption of both types of vegetable was associated with healthier eating habits and a higher liking for each vegetable type. Liking for vegetables with more appealing sensory properties was higher in individuals with lower food neophobia, healthier eating habits, higher interest in consuming foods for sensory reasons and higher liking for vegetables with less appealing properties. Liking for vegetables with less appealing sensory properties was higher in individuals with lower food neophobia, higher concern for the consumption of natural foods, and higher liking for vegetables with more appealing properties. Some gender and country-specific differences were also found. Our findings suggest that strategies to increase vegetable consumption in adolescents should focus on increasing healthy eating in general, increasing vegetable liking, and may benefit from reducing food neophobia and enhancing the positive sensory and natural aspects of vegetables

Comparison of three nudge interventions (priming, default option, and perceived variety) to promote vegetable consumption in a self-service buffet setting.

BACKGROUND: Dietary choices in out-of-home eating are key for individual as well as for public health. These dietary choices are caused by a wide array of determinants, one of which is automatic decision-making. Nudging is attracting considerable interest due to its understanding and application of heuristic biases among consumers. The aim of this study is to test and compare three nudges in promoting vegetable consumption among test persons in a food lab-based experiment. METHODS: The initial sample consisted of 88 participants recruited in Copenhagen, Denmark. Each study participant was randomly assigned to one of the three experiments: priming, default and perceived variety. The priming arm of the experiment consisted of creating a leafy environment with green plants and an odour of herbs. In the default arm of the experiment, the salad was pre-portioned into a bowl containing 200g of vegetables. The third experiment divided the pre-mixed salad into each of its components, to increase the visual variety of vegetables, yet not providing an actual increase in items. Each individual was partaking twice thus serving as her/his own control, randomly assigned to start with control or experimental setting. RESULTS: The default experiment successfully increased the energy intake from vegetables among the study participants (124 kcal vs. 90 kcal in control, p<0.01). Both the priming condition and perceived variety reduced the total energy intake among the study participants (169 kcal, p<0.01 and 124 kcal, p<0.01, respectively), mainly through a decrease in the meat-based meal component. CONCLUSIONS: Considerable progress has been made with regard to understanding the use of nudging in promoting a healthier meal composition, including increasing vegetable intake. This study suggests that the nature of a nudge-based intervention can have different effects, whether it is increasing intake of healthy components, or limiting intake of unhealthy meal components. This work has demonstrated that consumer behaviour can be influenced without restricting or providing incentives for behaviour change. The present findings have promising application to the foodservice sector

Increasing vegetable intakes: rationale and systematic review of published interventions

Purpose While the health benefits of a high fruit and vegetable consumption are well known and considerable work has attempted to improve intakes, increasing evidence also recognises a distinction between fruit and vegetables, both in their impacts on health and in consumption patterns. Increasing work suggests health benefits from a high consumption specifically of vegetables, yet intakes remain low, and barriers to increasing intakes are prevalent making intervention difficult. A systematic review was undertaken to identify from the published literature all studies reporting an intervention to increase intakes of vegetables as a distinct food group. Methods Databases—PubMed, PsychInfo and Medline—were searched over all years of records until April 2015 using pre-specified terms. Results Our searches identified 77 studies, detailing 140 interventions, of which 133 (81 %) interventions were conducted in children. Interventions aimed to use or change hedonic factors, such as taste, liking and familiarity (n = 72), use or change environmental factors (n = 39), use or change cognitive factors (n = 19), or a combination of strategies (n = 10). Increased vegetable acceptance, selection and/or consumption were reported to some degree in 116 (83 %) interventions, but the majority of effects seem small and inconsistent. Conclusions Greater percent success is currently found from environmental, educational and multi-component interventions, but publication bias is likely, and long-term effects and cost-effectiveness are rarely considered. A focus on long-term benefits and sustained behaviour change is required. Certain population groups are also noticeably absent from the current list of tried interventions

Nudging vegetable consumption: An investigation of defaults as a choice architecture tool for foodservice

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