Attitudes behind consumers' willingness to use functional foods

So-called functional foods are a new category of products that promise consumers improvements in targeted physiological functions. The objective of this study was to quantify the attitudes behind consumers' (n = H 58) willingness to use these products. Functional food-related statements formed seven factors describing consumers' attitudes towards functional foods. These factors were as follows: perceived reward from using functional foods, confidence in functional foods, necessity for functional foods, functional foods as medicines, absence of nutritional risks in functional foods, functional foods as part of a healthy diet and the health effects of functional foods vs. their taste. These attitude subscales differentiated between consumers (n = 1158) in their reported willingness to use functional foods. The best predictor for willingness to use functional foods was the perceived reward. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.