Functional food, uncertainty and consumers' choices: A lab experiment with enriched yoghurts for lowering cholesterol

Stéphan Marette (), Jutta Roosen (), Sandrine Blanchemanche and Eve Feinblatt-Mélèze

Food Policy, 2010, vol. 35, issue 5, pages 419-428

Abstract: A lab experiment was conducted in France to evaluate the impact of health information on consumers' choices for functional food. Successive messages revealing benefits and uncertainties of consuming yoghurts with added plant sterols for reducing cholesterol were delivered. Results show a significant and positive influence of the message linked to the cholesterol reduction on willingness to pay, even for participants without cholesterol. However participants expressed little interest in information about potential risks and scientific uncertainties, since their impacts on willingness to pay are not always statistically significant. An econometric estimation shows a significant link between the change in willingness to pay and the perception by participants regarding the scientific validity linked to the sterols.

Keywords: Experimental; economics; Health; information; Food; Nutrition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations View citations in EconPapers (2) Track citations by RSS feed

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6VCB ... 9a61d180bae83c8757ef
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:35:y:2010:i:5:p:419-428

Access Statistics for this article

Food Policy is edited by J. Kydd

More articles in Food Policy from Elsevier
Series data maintained by Wendy Shamier ().