title: Food and wellbeing. Towards a consumer-based approach.
abstract: Interest in understanding how foods affect consumers' perceived wellbeing has grown in the last decade due to the increasing need to modify dietary patterns. Considering that wellbeing is a broad concept that lacks of a unique definition, in order to use and measure this concept it is necessary to explore how consumers understand it, particularly in the context of food consumption. The aim of the present work was to investigate consumers' perception of wellbeing in a food-related context using an exploratory qualitative approach. A study was carried out with 120 Uruguayan participants using three qualitative techniques: word association, open-ended questions and free listing. Wellbeing in a food-related context was strongly associated with physical health. The expected effects of foods on wellbeing were mainly related to non-communicable diseases such as high cholesterol levels, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases. However, hedonic and emotional aspects of food consumption were also salient for consumers perceived wellbeing. The information gathered in this study can contribute to the development of scales for measuring consumer perceived wellbeing when consuming foods.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos, Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República, Uruguay. Electronic address: gares@fq.edu.uy.
authors.forename: Gastón
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ares
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos, Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República, Uruguay.
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Saldamando
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos, Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República, Uruguay.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giménez
authors.affiliation: Embrapa Food Technology, Av. das Américas, 29501, CEP 23.020-470 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rosires
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Deliza
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D004435:Eating / Q000523:psychology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D013649:Taste; D014583:Uruguay; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Consumer studies; Free listing; Qualitative studies; Wellness; Word association