Regular consumption of whole-grain products has been found to reduce heart disease and type-2 diabetes.

The attitudes towards health information in food products vary in different countries.Finns are eager to buy whole-grain products packaged with promises of health benefits.

An EU research project co-ordinated by the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) has examined the interpretation of health messages in four European countries.

The study examined how health information linked to whole-grain products affects consumers’ impressions and purchase intentions. It concluded that consumers’ attitudes and choices are influenced by cultural factors, differing tastes and consumption habits.

The study was carried out in Finland, Germany, Italy and the UK. Strong health claims concerning the prevention of diseases, for example, attract Finnish and German consumers more than Italians or Britons. Italians do not consider whole-grain products to be as healthy as the other countries’ consumers do.

Apart from differing tastes, the differences may, for example, be that Finns believe food-industry messages more than Italians. Indeed, the use of health messages in marketing is more common in Finland than it is in Italy.

Participating in the survey were approximately 2,400 consumers over the age of 35 who claimed to be at least partially responsible for their family’s grocery shopping.

A 2007 HealthGrain study focused on Finland, Italy and the UK, which found that Finns were the only ones to consider white-grain products unhealthy and that Italians had the most positive attitude towards white grains.

It is often claimed that the chief reason behind the low consumption of whole-grain products is the consumers’ unawareness of their health benefits. The HealthGrain project’s results do not support this notion. In the UK and Italy, consumers did consider whole-grain products to be healthy, but did not necessarily feel that switching to them would bring them any added value because they also considered white-grain products to be healthy.

HELSINKI TIMES
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