title: Product samples stimulate choice of unfamiliar healthful food products.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to assess whether the availability of a product sample of an unfamiliar low-fat or fruit and vegetable products stimulates choice for this product among food neophobic young adults. The study had a 2 (experimental vs. control group) by 4 (low-fat bread spread, low-fat cheese, fruit juice, fruit and vegetable juice) between subjects design with a pre-and post-experiment questionnaire. The study was conducted in restaurant rooms of several educational institutions in the Netherlands among a convenience sample of 197 food neophobic young adults aged 17-25 years. A small bite or sip-sized sample of the target product was provided as an intervention. The effect measure was choice of either an unfamiliar healthful food product or a traditional food product. Offering a sample of an unfamiliar healthful food product resulted in 51% of the participants in the experimental group choosing this product vs. 36.4% in the control group. Providing food product samples seems to be a promising strategy in healthy diet promotion programs for food neophobic young adults to increase first-time trial of unfamiliar low-fat and fruit and vegetable products.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion, NUTRIM School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism, Maastricht University Medical Centre+, MD Maastricht, The Netherlands. Bilbo.Schickenberg@maastrichtuniversity.nl
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schickenberg
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: van Assema
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brug
authors.forename: N K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: de Vries
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D058870:Food, Organic; D005638:Fruit; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014675:Vegetables; D055815:Young Adult