Appetite, 1997, 29, 225–265

Abstracts

Sixth Food Choice Conference

25–27 June, 1997Uppsala, Sweden

Hosted by Centre for Caring Sciences/Uppsala University, Uppsala Food andNutrition Centre and SLU Conference Service.

The abstracts of plenary lectures, parallel session talks and displayed postersare printed in alphabetical order of authors within the broad themes of the

Conference. Presenting authors are italicised.

FOOD AND CULTUREFood for Body and Food for Soul: The Place of Food in Life. PAUL ROZIN.University of Pennsylvania, Dept. of Psychology, 3815 Walnut Street, Philadelphia,PA 19104, U.S.A. (Plenary Lecture).

Culture is perhaps the most powerful shaper of food attitudes and food choice. Some of themodes of interaction between food choice and culture will be described. The place of food inlife in different cultures will be described (France, U.S.A., Flemish Belgium, Japan, and India).Topics will include the importance of food in life, and the relative salience of food as a vehiclethat affects health/nutrition vs produces pleasure. Other topics to be covered will includeculturebased reversals of innate aversions (as for chilli pepper), and the transformation, incultural evolution, of food based systems to other domains of life. The cultural evolution ofthe emotion of disgust will be used to illustrate this point.

Reflections on the Social Construction of Food and Food Choice. ANNEMURCOTT. South Bank University, 103 Borough Road, London, SE1 0AA, UnitedKingdom. (Plenary Lecture).

Dietary change is a concern of many researchers studying food choice. This presentationoffers a contribution to the investigation of dietary change by harking back to 1966 and thepublication of Peter Berger and Thomas Luckman’s exposition of the social construction ofreality. Selected illustrations will be provided to develop the theme that food is not simply abiological but also a social phenomenon. What is defined as food is historically and culturallyvariable i.e. it is socially constructed. Such construction is not static, a once-and-for-allclassification, but is dynamic, a process entailing shifts and alterations both in the itemsclassified and in the classificatory schemes themselves. It is suggested that attention to theprocess and to changes over time allows us to gain some purchase on significant aspects ofdietary change.

0195–6663/97/100225+41 $25.00/0/ap970117 1997 Academic Press Limited

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Commensality as an Entrance to the Research Site: Constructing the In-terview Rapport. CHRISTINE BROMBACH, JANE ELDRICH, MARIA HEIDBRINK andTRINE IVERSEN, Att. T.I., FHE, KVL, Rolighedsvej 30, 1958 Frederiksberg C., Denmark.

We shall discuss the role of commensality in establishing the qualitative interview rapport.The discussion draws on observations from ongoing research project investigating “food ineveryday life” in Denmark, Sweden, Germany and England. Among the merits of collaborative,cross-cultural research is that if focusses awareness on research practices. While the collectionof ethnographic, or qualitative data may be an art, research practices should still be subjectto reflection. Here we pose the question of how the interview rapport is established. At themoment of arrival, interviewer and interviewee are strangers; during the interview a rapportis ideally established. Apart from relying on the interviewer’s native cultural competence inestablishing a rapport, the interviewee herself plays an important role: By offering beveragesetc. the interviewee actively confers the status of a guest on the interviewer. Thus commensalityis important to establishing the interview rapport.

Consumer Information: The making of a Discourse of Nutrition in Denmark1936–1986. GUDRUN CHRISTENSEN, Research Department of Human Nutrition,The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Rolighedsvej 30, 1958 FrederiksbergC, Denmark (g.c@fhe.kvl.dk).

A project will be presented which describes how a rational, scientifically based knowledgeabout nutrition becomes a supplement to and slowly takes over more and more of a knowledgethat was based in women’s experiences and in home economics. The study is a historical studybased upon textual analyses of texts produced by The Agency of Consumer Affairs whichhas been responsible for informing the general public about nutrition since 1936. The termdiscourse stresses the socio-linguistic rules that regulate what can be said (and not be said)and accepted as meaningful in different situations and at different times in history. Theproduction and transformation of scientific facts is seen as a means of regulating whatmay count as true/false, acceptable/unacceptable etc. The project deals with methodologicalquestions of archaeology, genealogy and textual analysis as well as questions of discourse,power and knowledge in relation to the history of a science of nutrition. In the presentationthe design of the study and preliminary results will be discussed.

Meals, Habits and Culture Among Retired Women Living at Home. CHRISTINAFJELLSTROM∗, MARGARETHA NYDAHL∗ and BIRGITTA SIDENVALL†, ∗Departmentof Domestic Sciences, Dag Hammarskjodsvag 21, S-752 37 Upsalla, Sweden and†Dept of Nursing, University College of Health and Caring Sciences, Dobelnsgatan2, S-752 37 Uppsala, Sweden.

Background: Due to demographic changes the proportion of elderly people will increase bytwenty percent by 2025. Consequently there will be more households with elderly and especiallysingle-households with women since life expectancy of females is 83 years compared with 79years for men. Associated with rising age, and single living, several riskfactors may occur.Adequate food habits is a prerequisite to staying healthy and to live independently. Aim: Tostudy household activities and everyday life in elderly women from a cultural perspective. Toevaluate how social planning, local provision shops and household organization affect themeal situation as well as the food and nutrient intake. Material and Methods: The studyincludes women (living alone or with their spouses) between 63 and 86 years of age, in threecommunities in Sweden. Nutrient intake and meal patterns will be studied by 24-h recall,while the cultural perspectives of the meal situation will be studied by ethnological interview.The collection of data started in January 1997. At the conference, preliminary findings willbe presented.

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Mental Borders on the European Open Market? A Case Study of Swedesand their Notions of Domestic and Imported Foods. SOREN JANSSON, Deptof Ethnology, Lusthusporten 10, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.

The paper deals with Swedish consumers’ notions of “Swedish” food. The framework is theEuropean open market, which presupposes that consumers are equally appreciative of foodproducts, regardless of their national origin. The question was evaluated by interviewsconducted in Sweden between 1993 and 1997. This shows a complex picture. As to “taste”and idea of a “traditional Swedish” cuisine has widespread currency. This co-exists withpeople thinking of themselves as non-traditionals; they are “modern” and appreciate “foreign”dishes. “Foreign”, however, does not only refer to imported foods, but primarily to the sortsof spices preferred, and to the amount of vegetables used when preparing a dish. Eating alarge amount of vegetables means having a “foreign” cuisine, never mind the domestic originof the food. Regarding raw products the word “Swedish” has a more specific meaning. Itstands for “pure” and “clean” and indicates supreme quality. Imported foods, though, arenot equally valued. The ranking list defines the Nordic countries as “equally” good, WestEurope as “nearly” as good (but “doubtful” to a significant minority), and East Europe as“questionable”.

Food Culture and National Identity. DORTHE JEPSEN, Institute of Ethnology,Lusthusporten 10, S-106 91, Stockholm, Sweden.

This paper addresses the question of how meeting another culture affects national identity.Interviews with Danes living in Sweden show that everyday habits become cultural char-acteristics when people cross borders. Central themes in food practices appeared to bepreferences in taste, buying, preparing and eating. Swedish food was characterized as “poorer”and more expensive, meaning less food and fat, taste and vitamins, highly influenced by theAmerican fast food culture. This was explained by a lack of interest and food variety inSweden. Another comment was that, due to other activities, eating together is given lowerpriority than in Denmark. Interestingly, food habits were seen as symbols of a “nationalmentality” indicating a fairly casual way of living in Denmark against a more active Swedishlife style. Indications which were confirmed by other habits such as dressing, smoking, drinkingand being social. Thus “translated” cultural habits and mentality seem to be closely interrelated.Therefore the “discovery of our own food habits” may play an important part when developinga sense of national identity.

Consumers’ Attitudes Towards Imported Food Products. BILJANA JURIC∗ andTONY WORSLEY†, ∗Department of Marketing, University of Otago, PO Box 56,Dunedin, New Zealand; †Department of Community Medicine, The University ofAdelaide, Australia.

This paper reports the results of several studies, conducted in 1995, that investigated attitudesof New Zealand consumers towards manufactured, imported food products. Consumers’perception of food product attributes (such as nutritional value, safety, quality, taste, price,value for money, and impact on environment) differed according to the similarity of beliefsystem of the food products’ country of origin and to the country’s level of economicdevelopment. Patriotism, together with consumers’ interest in foreign cultures, income, andsex, appeared as the main predictor of favourable or unfavourable product attribute-countryrelated perceptions. Patriotism also appears to be a useful predictor of general attitudestoward imported and locally made food products and explained a small, but significantportion of purchasing behaviour. While consumers’ values didn’t appear to be directly relatedto the way consumers evaluate foreign food products they were associated with “patrioticfeelings”. The paper discusses in detail findings, methodology, and further research directionsof the impact of country or origin on food product choice.

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Eating and Modern Everday Life. A Comparative Survey of the NordicCountries. UNNI KJÆRNES∗, MARIANNE EKSTROM, ELISABETH FURST, JUKKAGRONOW, LOTTE HOLM and JOHANNA MAKELA, ∗The National Institute for Con-sumer Research, P.O. Box 173, N-1324 Lysaker, Norway.

Modern everyday life may be understood as a challenge to identity. Traditions seem todisappear, accompanied by individualisation processes. Through the case of food we ask: Arewe facing tendencies of disorganisation that are expressed through the meals or do observedchanges represent new ways of structuring our lives? In a comparative survey in Denmark,Finland, Norway, and Sweden the aim is to map one day of eating through Computer AssistedTelephone Interviews (CATI), also including questions on attitudes towards health and risks,food culture and trust. The interviews are made in representative samples in April 1997. Thepresentation will give an outline of the study, its design and the theoretical background. Withdichotomies such as modern/traditional, individualisation/community orientation, public/private, and global/local, we will analyse the impacts of modernity on people’s relationshipto food in the Nordic countries. We assume that these countries vary considerably along someof these dimensions while they are more similar along others. In the presentation it will bediscussed how this comparative variance may contribute to a recognition of important featuresof modernity.

Influences on Food Choice Perceived to be Important by Nationally-Representative Samples of Adults in the European Union. M. LENNARNAS∗,C. FJELLSTROM, W. BECKER, I. GIACHETTI, A. SCHMIDT, A. M. REMEAUT DE WINTERand M. KEARNEY, ∗National Institute of Public Health, S-10352, Stockholm, Sweden.

In a baseline survey in the 15 EU member countries subjects (N=14,331; 15+years) wereasked (face-to-face interviews, close ended question) to select the three most important factorsperceived to influence their food choice. Factors perceived as having “any influence” (i.e.greatest, second greatest or third greatest influence) and “greatest influence” respectively aredescribed with respect to country, age, gender, level of education and employment status. Thefive most important factors influencing consumers’ food choice were “Quality or Freshness”,“Price”, “Taste”, “Trying to eat healthy” and “Family preferences”. Given the consistency inresults from the member states and groups, demographic factors seemed to influence more thanculture (country): “Quality/freshness”, “Price”, “Trying to eat healthy”, “Family preferences”seemed to be most important in women, “Taste” and “Habit” in males. Females, older andmore educated subjects were more likely than other subjects to select “trying to eat healthy”as having a major influence. “Price” seemed most important in unemployed and retiredsubjects. The overall purpose was to get comparable data as the starting point for EU healthypromotion campaigns and programs.

Hidden Pleasure? Theoretical Considerations of Eating. JOHANNA MAKELA,Department of Sociology, P.O. Box 10, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland.

In the modern discourse of eating, notions of pleasure seem to have disappeared. The fieldof eating is often defined with polarities like good and bad, healthy and unhealthy, self-cookedand processed without any hint of pleasure. The aim of this presentation is to solve the riddleof the hidden pleasure. Firstly, I analyse my own data to describe how pleasure could be seenas an unspoken contrast to the disciplinary eating crystallised in the informant’s way ofspeech. The empirical examples are drawn out from my qualitative interview study of Finnishfood habits. The interviewees were middle-aged women with families and full time jobs fromthree different occupational groups in the metropolitan area of Finland. Secondly, I turn tosome theorists of food research like Mary Douglas, Claude Levi-Strauss, Pierre Bourdieu,and Sheila Lupton in order to enlighten this puzzle of hidden pleasure.

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Our Daily Bread – Finnish Homemakers’ Accounts on Choosing Bread.PAIVI PALOJOKI, Department of Teacher Education, Section of Home Economics P.O.Box 31 (Sturenkatu 2a), 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland.

Making food choices is central to our daily practices. Yet, too often, these practices areregarded as commonplace and thus unworthy of scientific studies. Actually, very little isknown about factors affecting our daily food choices in our own household context. Thisstudy pioneers new views into households, within which different conscious and unconsciousmeanings and context-specific reasons related to food can be found. This study aims tounderstand the reasons behind the choice of bread, as accounted by Finnish homemakers. Aqualitative food diary was developed and used to gather homemakers’ accounts in a semi-structured, retrospective interview. Accounts were considered as an approximation of realfood-related choices in households. The interactive nature of everyday activities characterizesbread choices at home: the need to make compromises between contradictory needs (e.g.healthiness and availability) and individual taste preferences (e.g. own vs. family members’preferences) makes bread choices complex. The results also imply that cultural traditionsregarding bread are strong: bread evokes reminiscences from childhood. Furthermore, tra-ditional bakery products have survived well in contemporary competition on food markets.

Foodways as a Mode of Historical Inquiry: The Case of African AmericanCulture after the “Great Migration” to Chicago, 1915–1945. TRACY N. POE,1725 Brummel St., Evanston IL 60202, U.S.A.

This paper is about how the role of food choice in rural African American People’s migrationto an urban environment can be used to advance historians’ understanding of the migrationexperience. The paper will explore how members of the migrating generation used food ritualsto transmit cultural values to their successors, reconstructed dietary patterns according torural food ideals, and negotiated problems with the availability of important foods. I willdiscuss how migrants perceived continuity and change in foodways as a factor in thedevelopment of urban African American culture. This paper shines a spotlight on a little-studied aspect of the development of that culture which, although widely acknowledged, isnot accessible through traditional modes of historical inquiry. This paper will consider howthe study of foodways reveals the dynamics of acculturation and identify maintenance ininnovative ways which present research opportunities for historians. This discussion haspotential to open up some of the key issues regarding historical inquiry into the culture ofrural-to-urban migrants around the world.

Modern Recommendations Meet Rural Traditions—Work, Food and LifeStyle of 21 North Karelian Lumberjacks. RITVA PRATTALA, National Public HealthInstitute, Mannerheimintie 166, 00300 Helsinki, Finland.

The aim of the study was to describe life style and its dimensions—eating, smoking, drinking,exercising—in relation to working and living conditions among lumberjacks. Twenty one40–50-year-old lumberjacks from a rural village in North Karelia participated in semistructuredinterviews in 1991. The lumberjacks came from poor rural families. They did not consider allhealth recommendations to be suitable for them. Healthy diet, physical exercise, avoidingcigarettes and alcohol were mentioned as dimensions of a healthy life style but also goodfamily life, regular work and regularity in daily activities were considered relevant. The mensubscribed to the dietary recommendations that healthy food is low in fat and includesvegetables, but they thought that a hard working man does not live on vegetables. The menappreciated home grown and made foods and peaceful outdoor activities—fishing, hunting,picking berries. Their ideas of healthy life style reflect encounters of modern health re-commendations and traditional rural working class culture.

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Anthropologists’ Approaches to Study of Food Choices: Early Research onSociocultural Factors Affecting Human Food Behaviors. CHRISTINE S. WILSON,Ecology of Food and Nutrition, P.O. Box 3178 Annapolis, MD 21403-0178 U.S.A.

From the 19th century anthropologists studied food behaviors and choices as components ofsocieties’ cultures and environments, interwoven with magic, science and religion (Malinowski,1926), as Frazer did with European rites (1900). Cushing showed the central role of maizeamong Southwest Zuni Indians (1897). Boas’ studies of potlach among NW Coast Kwakiutl(1897) and Mead’s early Pacific researches are well known, as is Levi-Strauss’ work on Amazonmyth, and A. I. Richards’ on the Bantu (1932) and Rhodesian Bemba (1939). Early Britishstudies of native diets by the Firths (Malaya, 1939, 1943) and the Fortes of the AfricanTallensi (1936) are part of this tradition, and Mary Douglas is known to many social scientistsfor work on food. A U.S. WWII Committee on Food Habits (National Research Council,Guthe and M. Mead) produced notable research (Bennett, Passin, 1943; Cussler and DeGive,1952). Less well known are Honigmann (1961), Gast (1968) and Quin (1959), the latterdetailing food-getting and feeding habits of two African tribes. Later others joined, Rappaport,R. Lee, Simoons (a geographer), now there are all of you, and many more. This review willillustrate our history.

FOOD CHOICE AND IDENTITYGender, Domestic Roles and Food Choice in a Changing World: The Effectsof Changes in Family/Household Structure and Employment Patterns. DEBBIEKEMMER, Department of Sociology, University of Edinburgh, 18 Buccleuch Place,Edinburgh, U.K.

Although food choice and food related activities are largely located in the household and areoften associated with familial relationships they cannot be divorced from other, more publicactivities of household members, most notably employment. Domestic roles and ideologyaffect gender-related employment patterns, and men’s and women’s participation in paidemployment affects domestic ideology and roles, and, ultimately, food choice. The Britishliterature on food choice and food preparation in the home acknowledges the effects of paidemployment on domestic roles but the impact of recent, rapid and far reaching changes inboth employment patterns and family/household structures have not been adequately explored.This paper discusses the most valuable findings of some of the research on food choice inBritain in the context of present day patterns of employment and trends in family andhousehold structure and suggests some new approaches to food choice research.

This research is funded under the Economic and Social Research Council “The Nation’sDiet” Research Programme.

Meat Avoidance Patterns and Reasons Among British Students. M. LOURDESS. SANTOS and DAVID A. BOOTH, School of Psychology, Birmingham B15 2TT, U.K.

University of Birmingham undergraduates (N=678) were asked about their current habits ofeating animal products and vegetarian foods and reasons for any avoidance. More womenthan men reported avoiding beef, lamb and pork and consuming vegetarian foods. Men andwomen about equally often chose chicken/turkey, fish, seafood/shellfish, eggs and dairyproducts. Both sexes ate offal relatively seldom. Factor analysis of eating frequencies yielded:Offal; Beef and its products; Pork products; Fish and chicken/turkey; Vegetarian with eggsand dairy, or only Vegetarian for men; there was also a factor for the eating of meat notincluding beef products. This could relate to current fear of BSE—indeed, a common reasonamong beef avoiders. For lamb and pork avoidance, most often women stated dislike whilemen were vegetarian. Against dairy products, women did not differ in their major reason foravoiding chicken/turkey (vegetarian self-concept), or fish, seafood/shellfish and eggs (dislike).

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Restrained Eating Among Vegetarians: Does a Vegetarian Eating Style MaskConcerns about Weight? YOLANDA MARTINS, PATRICIA PLINER and ROISINO’CONNOR, Department of Psychology, Erindale College, University of Toronto, 3359Mississauga Road, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L5L 1C6.

The present study explored the relationships among dietary style (ranging from meat eatingto veganism), cognitive restraint, and feminist values. Two hundred and twenty-seven par-ticipants (158 females, 68 males, and 1 not indicated) with varying dietary styles, completedthe restraint subscale of the TFEQ and Attitudes toward Feminism Scale. It was hypothesizedthat among those individuals with high feminist values (particularly women), cognitive restraintwould be associated with vegetarian dietary styles. This expectation was based on theidea that among individuals with high feminist values, dieting behavior would be deemedinappropriate resulting in the adoption of socially acceptable dietary styles. Results indicatedthat among women who are high in feminist values, those with high cognitive restraint aremore likely to exhibit a vegetarian dietary style than those with low cognitive restraint,whereas for those low in feminist values, those with high and low cognitive restraint areequally likely to exhibit vegetarian and non-vegetarian dietary styles. A similar pattern ofresults was obtained among male participants. Implications of the results are discussed interms of restrained eating theory and vegetarian dietary styles.

Ideas of Meals and Diet: A Qualitative Study among Working Class Men andMiddle Class Women in Finland. GUN ROOS, RITVA PRATTALA and JOHANNAMAKELA, National Public Health Institute, Mannerheimintie 166, 00300 Helsinki,Finland.

In this paper, Finnish working class men’s and middle class women’s ideas of meals and dietare compared. Data are drawn from an interdisciplinary project “Sociocultural variation inmeal patterns in Finland and Kentucky”. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 8male lumberjacks and construction workers and 6 female clerical workers. The men describeda proper meal as hot and cooked, and the women in addition mentioned salad. According toboth the men and women a healthy diet is low in fat and includes vegetables. However, themen were not all convinced about healthy foods being good for them; some fell into thestereotype of a hard working man needing hearty food whereas others were health consciousand ate healthy foods. The women had accepted dietary recommendations and frequentlytalked about health and food. They also expressed concern about the diet of other familymembers. By comparing working class men and middle class women, a better understandingmay be gained regarding the effect of gender and socioeconomic factors on food-relatedbehavior and how nutrition guidelines are accepted by different groups.

INFLUENCE ON FOOD CHOICEUncoupling Sweetness and Energy in Habitual Consumers of “Diet” Drinks:Effects on Short Term Appetite. KATHERINE M. APPLETON, MARK T. CONNERand JOHN E. BLUNDELL, Dept. of Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT,U.K.

Sweet taste and energy are often combined in natural food products but can be experimentallyuncoupled and shown to have separate effects on appetite control. Persistent uncoupling canbe achieved by the use of “diet” drinks. Appetite control was compared in high and lowconsumers. Using a repeated measures design, participants drank either water (W), anartificially-sweetened drink (AS) or a naturally-sweetened drink (NS) periodically throughoutthe day. Appetite was subsequently measured using ad-libitum meal intakes and hungerprofiles. Energy intakes taken cumulatively in female low consumers were significantly greaterfollowing AS (2147 kcal) compared to W (1827 kcal) and NS (1728 kcal). In female high

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consumers, intake was equivalent following W (2663 kcal), AS (2561 kcal) and NS (2261 kcal).Males showed no significant differences either between consumer group or condition. Theseresults (females) demonstrate the additive (and substitutive) effects of sweetness (and energy)in low consumers of “diet” drinks, but not in high consumers. This suggests an adaptationto sweetness after continued uncoupling of sweetness and energy in the diet.

Are Individually Elicited Beliefs Better Predictors of Cheese Choices thanModal Beliefs? ANNE ARVOLA, LIISA LAHTEENMAKI and HELY TUORILA, De-partment of Food Technology, University of Helsinki P.O. Box 27 (Viiki B), FIN-00014Helsinki, Finland.

The conventional approach using “modal beliefs” in predicting behavioral intentions accordingto the theory of reasoned action has been challenged, and individual measurements have beensuggested instead. Modal beliefs are a common set of beliefs which are assumed to apply forall respondents, whereas individual beliefs are idiosyncratic for each individual. The aim ofour study was to compare the predictive power of individual and modal beliefs. We predictedintentions to purchase four cheeses (2 unfamiliar, 2 familiar) in two different conditions(purchasing for oneself and for guests). Half of the 92 participants described freely andevaluated their own beliefs, and the other half evaluated a given set of modal beliefs. Thebelief data were collected in structured interviews, during which samples of the target cheeseswere displayed. The results partially support the idea about the superiority of individualbeliefs, as they were clearly better predictors for the purchase intentions of familiar cheeses.In the case of unfamiliar cheeses, modal beliefs gave better results. Perhaps, consumers havefewer individual beliefs about unfamiliar cheeses of which they have less experience.

The study is part of EU funded project AIR2 CT94-1315.

Consumer Perception of Mealiness in Dessert Apples Across a Span of EUCountries. Z. BHANJI1, S. JAEGER1, I. WAKELING1, V. DE SMEDT2 and C. GOMEZ3,1Institute of Food Research, Earley Gate, Reading, RG6 6BZ, U.K.; 2Department of Agro-Engineering and Economics, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Kardinaal Mercierlaan 92,3001 Heverlee, Belgium; 3IATA−CSIC, Jaime Roig. 11, 46010 Valencia Spain.

This work was carried out as part of an EU project entitled “Mealiness in fruits. Consumerperception and means for detection” (FAIR CT95-0302), aiming at establishing a multilingualvocabulary for consumer descriptors of mealiness using the Repertory Grid Method (RGM).RGM trials were conducted in four EU countries; Britain (English), Spain (Spanish), Belgium(Flemish, French) and Denmark (Danish). The varieties used were Cox, Jonagold andBoskoop, each variety at three different mealiness levels. The consumers were instructed toelicitate flavour and texture attributes, resulting in an idiosyncratic list of constructs for eachconsumer. For each sample consumers were then asked to rate attributes for intensity. Thedata was subjected to Generalized Procrustes Analysis, allowing identification of consumerattributes used to describe the apple varieties in terms of flavour and texture. Further, it willexplore differences between attributes used to characterise mealiness by consumers in thedifferent EU countries.

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Beliefs that Influence the Choice of Milk and Bread for Breakfast amongSchool Children in a Swedish Community. CHRISTINA BERG, INGER JONSSONand MARK CONNER∗, Department of Home Economics, University of Goteborg, Box12204, 402 42 Gbg, Sweden; ∗Department of Psychology, University of Leeds, U.K.

The aim of the present study was to examine the choice of milk and bread and its relationshipto attitudes and beliefs among 11–15 year-old school children in a community in Sweden. Allpupils in 5th, 7th and 9th grade in the Molndal (N=1730) community were asked to answer aquestionnaire during school hours. After two weeks they were asked to fill in a 7-day recordof food consumed. The results show that those who consumed the milk or bread had moresympathetic opinions about its taste and effect on health than those who did not. A high fatintake and a weight gain was valued more negative among those who drank low fat milkcompared to those who drank milk with more fat. Those who ate high-fibre bread evaluatedhealth, fibre intake, and variety of breakfast food as more positive than those who did noteat high-fibre bread. In conclusion, among this group of Swedish 11–15-year-olds, favourablechoice of milk and bread was associated with health aspects and weight concerns as well assensory aspects.

Roles of Physiological Signals from the Digestive Tract in Food Choices thatLimit Intake. D. A. BOOTH, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham,Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, U.K.

Food intake can be suppressed by high levels of gastric stretch or of stimulation of the wallof the small intestine by nutrients. However, people who have not eaten recently can readilydiscriminate modest distension of the stomach by balloon from the effects of ingesting food.It seems that normal satiety depends on combining gastric distension with intestinal nutrient.The satisfying combination depends on the foods eaten: children and adults can be associativelyconditioned into a satiated response to the conjunction of a food flavour and a partly filleddigestive tract, by that configural stimulus being followed in the past by mildly aversiveduodenal stimulation. This learning mechanism provides the basis for the control of foodchoices, and hence cumulative intake, by the cognitive integration of physiological signals,culinary cues and social percepts. Strong visceral stimulation acts as a limiting function whenthe usual intake-control mechanisms have been disrupted, e.g. by access to high energy-densityfoodstuffs or after repeatedly going on a diet and breaking it, as in binge eating.

Supportive Evidence from Neural Network Analyses for the ProbabilisticBelief Multiplied by Outcome Evaluation Heuristic of the Theory of ReasonedAction. MICHAEL J. CORNEY, RICHARD SHEPHERD and MICHAEL J. WRIGHT, Dept.of Management Studies, University of Surrey, GU2 5XH, U.K.

Two backpropagation neural networks were modelled on the Theory of Reasoned Action(TRA) attitude model. The purpose, was to examine a key aspect of the TRA, which statesthat the attitude toward a behaviour, can and will be, in part, determined by the strength ofsalient probabilistic beliefs, multiplied by corresponding outcome evaluations. Testing for thepresence of the multiplication method, was based on comparison of regression analyses ofthe predictive capacity of the summed activation of the networks’ processing units andparticipants’ belief and evaluation scores as predictors and beliefs multiplied by evaluationsthe criterion variable. There is a significant correlation between b and e and b∗e (approximately0.65) and if the networks’ hidden layer activation was to match or exceed this it would implyuse of the multiplication method. As the results revealed that the networks’ summed hiddenunit activation, was a significantly better predictor than the beliefs and evaluations, thisshowed therefore that the networks had learned and were using the multiplication method,thus providing novel evidence for this aspect of the theory.

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Origins and Expression of Food-Specific Satiety States. L. A. DIBSDALL andD. A. BOOTH, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, B15 2TT, U.K.

Fullness, hunger and amounts of food that the assessor wishes to eat were predicted for usualtimes of access to food after consumption of breakfast cereal with milk. The recipes variedin macronutrient contents and form, e.g. emulsified fat, bound fat and fat as oil. Cereal andmilk that looked and/or felt creamy or oily was not expected by eaters to be as satiating inmid-morning as cereal sensed to be sugary or high in fibre, although sensed fat was expectedto be as good as sensed carbohydrate at suppressing hunger by lunchtime. When expectedsatiety was compared with actual satiety towards the middle of the morning, a “surprise satiety”from postingestional action of cream was detected, followed by unexpected hunger—perhapsreflecting rapid absorption. When the creamy porridge was eaten a second time, the satiatingeffects that eaters expected before mid-morning were reduced—a lack of realism resultingpresumably from the late hunger. Thus, expected satiety should not be conceptualised as atime-independent property of a food, nor as a timed attribute of a macronutrient independentof its physical form. (This project is funded by the U.K. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheriesand Food.)

Factors Affecting Lunchtime Meal Choices in Schools and Workplace Res-taurants. ANITA EVES, MICHAEL CORNEY, MICHAEL KIPPS, CAROL NOBLE1 andMARGARET LUMBERS, Department of Management Studies, University of Surrey,Guildford, Surrey, GU2 5XH, U.K. and 1Dept. of Applied Technology and Computing,Roehampton Institute, London SW15 3SN, U.K.

Lunchtime meals (outside the home) have been shown to contribute significantly to the fatintakes of those consuming them (MAFF, 1996, National Food Survey—1995). The factorsaffecting lunchtime meal choices in primary and secondary school canteens, and workplacerestaurants, were determined using a modification of the “stacking box” method describedby Ahlstrom et al. (Food Quality and Preference, 2, 166–5). Colour photographs of meal itemswere prepared for each outlet. Interviewees (124, 9–10 year olds; 185, 14–15 year olds; 170adults) were asked to assemble the meal that they would choose if offered that range of items,and to indicate the reasons for their choices. Results indicate that the factor that overridesall others, including health beliefs, in determining meal choices is liking (all ages). Otherreasons differed with age. Primary school children sought familiar foods, whilst teenagersselected “snacks” that could be eaten away from the canteen. Adults tended to choose“conventional” meals as this was often their main meal of the day. This work was funded bythe Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Cognitive Integration of Gustatory Mixtures in Fruit Drink Choice. R. P. J.FREEMAN and D. A. BOOTH, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, B152TT, U.K.

Consumers differ in preferred balance of sweetness and sourness in an orange-flavoured stilldrink. The balancing may be in gustatory afferent channels, semantic channels of “sweet”and “sour”, or deeper processes such as sensation(s) of an orangey taste. These different typesof mental process can be diagnosed by individualised multidimensional discrimination analysis(cognitive technology) of ratings of choice, realism, sweetness and sourness on tasting orangedrinks varied in contents of sucrose, fructose, citric acid and malic acid. As expected, sugarsgenerally acted separately from acids, and sweet and sour concepts were distinct. However,cross-talk between sensory channels was occasionally evident between the malic (hydroxy)acid and the sugars. In these test conditions, most assessors rated realism and choice in accordwith sensory or descriptive balance but a few gave evidence of control of the overall evaluationsby the relationship between stimulation and description, perhaps a phenomenal process.(Supported by MAFF in collaboration with CCFRA.)

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Fat Intake of Adolescents: Quantification of Influences from the SocialEnvironment. GERDA FEUNEKES∗, CEES DE GRAAF and WIJA VAN STAVEREN,Wageningen Agricultural University, PO Box 8129, 6700 EV Wageningen. TheNetherlands.

Social influences on fat intake were studied in 122 social networks consisting of a 15 year oldboy or girl, their father, mother, and best friend. Fat intake of all subjects was assessed witha food frequency questionnaire. By means of path analysis, both the subjective norm (Theoryof Reasoned Action), and modelling behaviour of significant others (Social Cognitive Theory),were quantified. The subjective norm concept did not have a direct effect on fat intake ofadolescents, but the subjective norm adversely affected attitudes towards fat (−0.25), suggestingthat adolescents might oppose against pressure of their environment. With respect to modelling,mother’s fat consumption did significantly (0.25) predict the fat intake of adolescents, whereasfather and best friend did not. Social influences in this group appeared small using theseconcepts, which explained at most 6% of variance in fat intake. Social influences were differentfor actual fat intake and perceived fat intake.∗Current address Consumer Science Unit, Unilever Research Laboratory Vlaardingen, PO

Box 114, 3130 AC Vlaardingen, The Netherlands.

Naming, Categorisation and the Development of Food/Drink Preferences.I. M. GREY, F. COLQUHOUN, M. SMITH, P. J. HORNE and C. F. LOWE, School ofPsychology, University College of North Wales, Bangor, U.K.

This research examined the role of naming in the acquisition of food and drink preferences.Two groups of children, aged between 3.5 and 5.5 years of age tasted uniformly coloured butdifferently flavoured foods/drinks and rated them as “nice”, “nasty” or “neutral”. Six differentlycoloured stimuli (foods or drinks) were then introduced and subjects learned to name threecolours as “YAZ” and the remaining three colours as “LUD”. After tasting one member ofeach set (i.e., a “nice” tasting YAZ and a “nasty” tasting LUD) participants were then askedto predict taste properties of the remaining untasted drinks and asked to select which theywould choose to consume. Next, a further six stimuli (the flavours of which subjects hadpreviously rated as neutral in blind preference tests) were introduced and children followedthe same sequence as outlined above. Results show that children in both groups relied on thecommon names to predict taste properties of untasted stimuli and to inform their food/drinkselections. However, the magnitude of these effects were related to ages of the children.

Focus Group: A Qualitative Approach to the Store Brands Phenomenon:Comparison Between Expert and Consumer Beliefs. L. GUERRERO, Y. COL-OMER, M. D. GUARDIA, J. XICOLA and R. CLOTET, IRTA-Fundacio Bosch i Gimpera,E-17121 Monells, Spain.

During the last decade an important increase in the consumption of store brands has beendetected in the European Union. In order to gain a better understanding of this phenomena,two focus groups were carried out using market experts and consumers. The analysis of theFocus Group transcriptions was carried out in two ways: a subjective interpretation made bythe authors and an objective approach using a Correspondence Analysis on the contingencytable of the key words. The distribution of people in the two groups was effective in order toprevent a dominant effect of the experts over the consumers, the participation of all of theindividuals being quite similar. The beliefs of both groups were clearly different, and stronglyproduct-dependent. The image of the supermarket seemed to influence the quality perceptionof their own brand products. Both this image and the type of product appeared to be themain factors explaining the selection and consumption of different store brands, althoughother aspects such as price and the store’s facilities were also important factors in this process.

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Is Sensory-Specific Satiety Involved in the Regulation of Fat Intake? JEAN-XAVIER GUINARD and PATRICE BRUN, Department of Food Science and Technology,University of California, Davis, CA 95616, U.S.A.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the sensory properties associated withfat in foods cause sensory-specific satiety (SSS). Thirty-one young, normal-weight adults rateda number of parameters, including pleasantness of taste, pleasantness of mouthfeel and desireto eat for eight test foods, were then given one of four lunch foods to eat ad libitum, and re-rated the same parameters for the eight test foods 2 and 20 min after the meal. The experimentalsets of 8 test foods and 4 lunch foods were balanced for taste quality (salty vs. sweet) and fatcontent (high-fat vs. non-fat). Lunch foods were omelette or pancake (high-fat/salty), yogurt(high-fat/sweet), mashed potatoes (non-fat/salty) and muffins (non-fat/sweet). SSS was observedfor both saltiness and sweetness (e.g., pleasantness of taste and desire to eat sweet test foodsdecreased significantly after eating a sweet lunch food and similarly for salty foods), but notfor fat content (e.g. pleasantness of mouthfeel and desire to eat fatty foods did not decreasesignificantly after eating a high-fat food and similarly for nonfat foods).

Sensory Determinants of the Thirst-Quenching Character of Beer. JEAN-XAVIER GUINARD1, ANNE SOUCHARD1,2, JEAN-MARC SIEFFERMANN2 and MICHELROGEAUX3, 1Department of Food Science and Technology, University of California,Davis, CA 95616, U.S.A.; 2ENSIA, 1, avenue des Olympiades, 91305 Massy, France;3TEPRAL Danone, 68 route d’Oberhausbergen, 67037 Strasbourg, France.

The purpose of this study was to find which sensory characteristics are significant determinantsof the thirst-quenching character of beer. The sensory attributes and thirst-quenching char-acteristics (“thirst-quenching”, “refreshing”, “drinkability”) of 18 beers were evaluated by apanel of 12 judges. The only significant positive determinants of the ‘thirst-quenching’ characterof the beers in the design were carbonation (r=0.83; p<0.001) and bubble density (r=0.72;p<0.001). Significant negative determinants were foam, overall aroma and flavor, color,viscosity, malty, hoppy, burnt, bitterness, acidic, metallic, astringency and aftertaste. The samecorrelations (both in terms of direction and significance level) were observed between descriptiveattributes and the “refreshing” and “drinkability” factors. A principal component analysis ofthe mean ratings indicated that the variability among the beers was mostly along a thirst-quenching dimension (PCI, 72% of the variance). Procrustes analysis performed on theindividual ratings showed that for 3 of the judges, the interpretation of the thirst-quenchingconcepts differed from that shown by PCA for the overall panel.

Acceptance of Iodized Salt by the German Consumers. ANJA HOHN andULRICH OLTERSDORF, IOS-BFE, Garbenstr. 13, D-70599 Stuttgart, Germany.

Germany is a region of endemic iodine deficiency. A simple and efficient preventive measureis iodized salt. German food law was amended in 1993 to facilitate the use of iodized salt inindustrial food processing. Use of iodized salt in private households has been propagated.The nutrition programmes were evaluated in 1994 and 1995 by interviews of 2500 persons(representative sample of general population) and questionnaires were sent to bakeries (N=300; random selection), butchers (N=300), food processors (N=300), restaurants (N=600)and caterers (N=600) about usage of iodized salt. Accordingly iodized salt is used in everyother German household (53.2%), in 79.6% of bakeries, by 80.7% of butchers, in 70.8% ofrestaurants and by 93.0% of caterers questioned, but only by 47.7% of German foodmanufacturers who indicated mainly economic reasons for the low acceptance of iodized salt.The results have also shown a deficit of information about the importance of iodine. It isrecommended to maintain the efforts to propagate usage of iodized salt.

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The Importance of the Grocery Retail Store in Consumers’ Food Choice.CARINA HOLMBERG, Foundation for Distribution Research, Stockholm School ofEconomics, Box 6501, 113 83 Stockholm, Sweden.

When we try to understand routine decision making, it is important to consider the importanceof factors such as situation and context. Food planning and purchasing, for many households,are frequently occurring problems that seem to be solved by a limited number of repeatedlyoccurring solutions, or sets of facilitating heuristics. The grocery retail store can be used asan external memory and is an important context for studies of consumer decision making.The large effects on volume sold by promotional activities in-store further points to theimportance of regarding the store as influential. It could be discussed whether consumersconsciously use the store as a source of inspiration in decision making, or if they areunconsciously influenced by in-store activities. Holmberg (1996) used participant interviewing,i.e. observing consumers grocery shopping while making conversation to them about theirbehaviour. The study suggests that consumers have many different ways of handling every-day life, and that the store can be important, even if seldom acknowledged, in the daily foodchoice.

Short-term Control of Food Intake: Effect of Intermeal Interval on the Ac-curacy of Caloric Compensation. HOVANNOUHI HOUNIET1, GRETEL M. FINCH2,JANE THOMAS1 and PETER J. ROGERS2, 1Department of Nutrition and Dietetics,King’s College London, W8 7AH, U.K. and 2Institute of Food Research, Reading, RG66BZ, U.K.

Research on the physiological and cognitive bases of satiety has usually measured the effectsof meal size, nutrient composition, intermeal interval and meal timing separately. The presentstudy is the first of a proposed systematic investigation of the interactive effects of thesevariables. Subjects (29 men and 21 women, aged 19–52 years, low to moderate eatingrestraint, mean BMI=23 kg/m2) consumed a milkshake preload or the same milkshake covertlysupplemented with carbohydrate and fat (241 vs. 523 kcal) and then received ad libitum asandwich test meal either 1, 2 or 3.5 hours later. Preload energy content was a within-subjectsfactor and intermeal interval a between-subjects factor. Test meal intake increased withintermeal interval (p=0.004), and was reduced by 103 kcal in partial compensation forthe higher energy content of the supplemented preload (p=0.04). The accuracy of caloriccompensation, however, was unaffected by intermeal interval; indicating that unconditionedresponses to meal energy content can contribute significantly to the short-term control offood intake within the constraints of the typical meal pattern.

The Importance of Sensory Characteristics on Acceptability of Three Low-fat Foods. SYLVIE ISSANCHOU and IRENA MATUSZEWSKA, INRA, Laboratoire deRecherches sur les Aromes, BV 1540, 21034 Dijon Cedex France and Institute ofAnimal Reproduction and Food Research of Polish Academy of Sciences, Departmentof Sensory Analysis of Food, Powsinska 61/63, 02-903 Warsaw, Poland.

Two groups of consumers were invited to participate in 2 laboratory lunches, two weeks apartin a convivial environment. One group (N1=71) received no information about the fat contentof the products whereas the other group (N2=70) received products labelled as “light” or“normal”. During the first meal, they were presented normal and light versions of 3 products(sausages, camembert-type cheese and chocolate cream). For each product, consumers wereinstructed to eat the samples ad libitum and to rate their acceptance. At the end of the firstmeal, they were asked to choose for each product which version they would like to eat forthe second meal. Results were identical for both groups: normal fat versions were preferred,more consumed and more frequently chosen than the low-fat versions. It also appeared that,

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for men, the difference in liking between the 2 versions of sausages and between the 2 versionsof camembert-type cheese were significant only in presence of information. These results willbe compared to the attitudes measured at the end of the experiment.

Interaction of Image and Sensory Expectations in Individuals’ Attitudes tothe Purchase of an Attractive but Unfamiliar Fish. B. JUNG-STALMAN andD. A. BOOTH, Nutritional Psychology Research Group, University of Birmingham,Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, U.K.

Interactions of social, sensory and somatic influences on an individual’s craving for a foodhave been assessed by path analysis of personalised interview data (“cognitive anthropology”,presented at FCC-1). The subsequently developed, more powerful technique of discriminationscaling (“cognitive technology”, presented at FCC-3) was applied in the present project tothe marketability of a fish delicacy. We examined interactions between the perceived orexpected sensory characteristics of sturgeon fillet and prospective British consumers’ conceptsof this unfamiliar fish, such as expensive quality, home or restaurant use, hunger satisfaction,benefits to health and origin from north Italian aquaculture. We also assessed the sensoryand conceptual consequences of feeding some sturgeon on a diet high in polyunsaturates toimprove growth. Our results indicate that the meat-like texture, flavour and appearance ofbaked sturgeon cutlets support an up-market image of this fish, without needing to be explicitabout its health benefits or its suitability to hearty appetites. (This work was supported bythe EC FAIR programme.)

How Information Affects Expectations About Reduced-fat Chocolate andSausage. PAIVI KAHKONEN, PIRJO HAKANPAA and HELY TUORILA∗, Departmentof Food Technology, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 27, FIN-00014 Helsinki,Finland.

Expected and actual sensory and hedonic ratings of a reduced-fat chocolate bar (15.5% fat)and a reduced-fat frankfurter sausage (13% fat) were studied in the presence of threetypes of information presented as photographs. Ninety-one subjects were divided into threeinformation groups: “reduced-fat” (N=29), “rich flavour” (N=31) and “baseline” information(“chocolate bar”, “frankfurter”) (N=31). Expected and actual ratings in the “information”condition were compared to blind ratings of the products collected earlier from the samesubjects. Information “rich flavour” increased expected attribute intensities of chocolate(fattiness, flavour intensity, sweetness, melting rate, softness) but these expectations had noeffect on actual ratings. Low expected fattiness of chocolate in the “reduced-fat” conditionlowered the rated actual fattiness (assimilation effect). “Rich flavour” information aboutsausage increased expected fattiness and juiciness and the effect of information was also seenin actual ratings of juiciness (assimilation). “Reduced-fat” information resulted in low expectedflavour intensity of sausage. None of the three types of information significantly affectedexpected pleasantness of chocolate or sausage while “baseline” and “rich flavour” informationincreased actual pleasantness of sausage.

This study is a part of EU funded project FAIR CT95-0574.

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Serum Leptin in Obese Women: Association with Eating Behavior, FoodIntake and Preference for Sugar and Fat. LEILA KARHUNEN, RAIMO LAP-PALAINEN, RAISA SIPILAINEN, HELY TUORILA, HEIKKI MIETTINEN, STEVENHAFFNER and MATTI UUSITUPA, Department of Clinical Nutrition, University ofKuopio, P.O. Box 1627, FIN-70211 Kuopio, Finland.

Leptin is a product of the ob gene thought to act as a satiety signal in the brain. Theassociation of leptin with eating behavior, food intake, and preference for sugar and fat wastherefore examined in 35 obese women. Food intake in free living conditions was measuredby a four-day food record and eating behavior by Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ)and Self-Rating Scale for Bulimia (BITE). Preferences for sugar and fat were determined bythree hedonic tests. Higher leptin concentrations were associated with lower fat intake (r=0.35, p=0.05) and lower preference for high fat-low sugar mixtures (r=0.37, p=0.04). Leptinwas not associated with sensations of hunger, but was associated with disinhibition of eating(r=0.35, p=0.05) and unusual eating patterns (F(1,33)=4.708, p=0.04). In conclusion, theassociation of leptin with human eating behavior is weak and complex. In obese women, itseffect on eating behavior could be mediated by preference for fat, but not by preference forsweet taste nor by the sensations of hunger. However, higher leptin concentrations could beassociated with periodic inability to control eating thus suggesting a dual role for leptin inhuman eating behavior.

The Effect of Cognitive Cues on Taste Perception. ADRIAAN P. W. KOLE,HENDRIK N. J. SCHIFFERSTEIN and ANNETTE STAFLEU, Wageningen AgriculturalUniversity, Dept. of Marketing & Marketing Research, and TNO Nutrition & FoodResearch Institute, P.O. Box 360, 3700AJ, Zeist, The Netherlands.

Consumer research has shown that incongruency between advertising claims and actualproduct performance can influence affective responses toward products. It is known fromfood research that non-sensory cues may affect taste-judgments. For instance, assimilative- andcontrastive response-shifts have been reported in reaction to disconfirmation of expectations. Inaccordance with psychological schema- and network theory, we propose a working model toexplain how non-taste information about a food product may influence taste-perception.In two experiments familiar (brown, yellow, red) and unfamiliar colours in softdrinks werefactorially combined with familiar (cola, orange, blackcurrant) and unfamiliar flavours.Analytic and overall (hedonic) attributes were judged in (a) taste tests; blind, and with colouredsoftdrinks (b) expectational tests; showing the products without tasting.Different schematic expectational patterns referring to familiar softdrinks were shown. Upontasting, different levels of colour—flavour incongruency for some typical attributes elicitedresponse shifts from blind-score levels towards the expectational pattern (assimilation). Also,incongruency seemed to relate negatively to affective responses for the softdrinks. Thisevidences the model, for the effects of colour on taste percepton.

Nucleus accumbens Dopamine Transmission During Eating. RAIMO LAP-PALAINEN, VIRPI LINDI, LEONID YAVICH and JOUNI SIRVIO, A.I. Virtanen Institute,University of Kuopio P.O. Box 1627, FIN-70211 Kuopio, Finland.

The dopamine projection from the ventral tegmental area to nucleus accumbens is thoughtto be an important link in the neuronal circuitry that mediates reinforcing action of food,alcohol and other psychomotor stimulants. It is not clear whether mesolimbic dopaminergicneurons are activated primarily by food intake. The aim of the present study was to investigatethe changes in the extracellular dopamine level in nucleus accumbens during eating. The levelsof dopamine were studied when type of food, amount of food and food deprivation werevaried. The measurements of dopamine overflow in nucleus accumbens were done by means

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of in vivo voltammetry (chronoamperometry). The experiment was performed on freelymoving male Wistar rats. After obtaining stable baseline the rat was given different types andamounts of food in randomized order. Our data indicates that during eating extracellularlevels of dopamine increase in nucleus accumbens and remain elevated after cessation ofeating. The levels of DA in the nucleus accumbens are not consistently affected by fooddeprivation, and they are neither dependent on the type or the amount of food.

Choosing and Rejecting: an Application in the Domain of Food Choice.PAMELA PAUWELS, PAUL SPARKS and ERNEST FUNG, Institute of Food Research,Reading Laboratory, Reading RG6 6BZ, England.

Shafir (1993) found that in different preference elicitation tasks, one group of people wouldtend to choose the same alternative that another group would tend to reject. He argued thatthese findings are in line with the principle of compatibility. He suggested that in “choosing”task participants would choose the alternative with the most positive attributes, while in a“rejecting” task they reject the alternative with the most negative attributes. When onealternative holds both the most positive and the negative attributes it may tend, dependingon the elicitation method, to be both chosen and rejected. The decision problems used byShafir were rather simple and straightforward. This presentation describes a study designedto replicate Shafir’s findings and extend them to more complex decision problems in thedomain of food choice. In this study we used members of the general public instead of collegestudents. We further tested whether the occurrence of elicitation effects, as described by Shafir,are also influenced by the subject’s level of Need For Cognition. The results and the implicationsfor elicitation effects are discussed.

“Naughty but nice” pressure patterns from dairy cream. N. J. RICHARDSON,D. A. BOOTH and R. P. J. FREEMAN, Agricultural Research Institute, Wellington, NewZealand and School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, B15 2TT, U.K.

Rheology alone may not account for the sensation of creaminess. Homogenisation of thickenedwhole milk intensifies its creaminess at constant viscosity, implicating fat globule geometry.Viscosity, interglobule distance and span of globule sizes were varied independently of eachother in cow’s milk and a model milk. Assessors scored each sample’s distance in mouthfeel fromhigh-fat milk and light cream. Multidimensional discrimination scaling of each individual’s datashowed that tactile stimulation patterns from the globules contributed to the creaminess butin ways that differed considerably between assessors, test milks and comparison milks. Viscositywas usually important but not always. Either or both interglobule distance and globule-sizespan generally made a major contribution to discriminability between test and comparisonproduct. Tactile pattern recognition sets considerable constraints on fat mimetics.

Are the Consumer Preferences Influenced by the Information About Name,Origin and Designation of Dry-cured Ham? SYLVIE ROUSSET-AKRIM, JEAN-FRANCOIS MARTIN, MARIE-CHRISTINE BAYLE and CHRISTIAN TOURAILLE, INRA,Station de Recherches sur la Viande, Theix, 63122 Saint Genes Champanelle, France.

A previous study showed that preferences were dependent on food habits. French and Italianconsumers preferred Bayonne, Italian country style and Parma dry-cured hams while Spanishconsumers preferred Iberian hams (Rousset-Akrim et al., 1996, VPC, 17(6), 361–4). In thepresent experiment, we are interested to know if some information: name, designation andorigin of the product could influence and change hedonic evaluation of consumers. 61 Frenchconsumers were asked about their preference. They came twice to the laboratory. The first,they did not have any information about the dry-cured ham and the second time, they were

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informed of the name (Serrano, Iberian, Parma, Italian country style, Bayonne or Corsican),product designation (dry-cured ham) and the provenance (Spain, Italy or France). Theyreceived simultaneously the 6 samples and assessed the colour, the odour and overallacceptability. The information improved the hedonic evaluation and the discrimination ofhams. As regards overall acceptability given without information, Bayonne, Italian countrystyle and Parma were ranked first, then Parma and Serrano and finally Iberian and Corsican.With information, Bayonne and Parma were ranked first, then Parma and Italian countrystyle, then Serrano and finally Corsican and Iberian. With information, Italian country stylewas not any more ranked among the best hams, and Serrano distinguished from Iberian andCorsican by higher scores but was less appreciated than Italian hams. The scores of the well-known products were more improved than the others.

Development of a Semantic Ratio Scale for Assessing Food Liking/Disliking.HOWARD G. SCHUTZ∗ and ARMAND V. CARDELLO∗∗, ∗University of California, Davis,CA, and ∗∗Natick RD&E Center, Natick, MA, U.S.A.

The most widely used scale for assessing food like/dislike is the 9-pt hedonic scale. Un-fortunately, it suffers from unequal scale intervals, underuse of end categories, and an inabilityto accommodate extreme values. Magnitude estimation avoids these problems and providesratio level data, but does not provide absolute ratings of liking/disliking and is difficult forconsumers to use. We report here on the development of a semantic ratio scale that hasadvantages over both scale types. Forty-four semantic labels were scaled for their hedonicmeaning by 38 subjects using modulus-free magnitude estimation. The geometric meansobtained for each label were used to construct 4 different semantic ratio scales. Reliabilityand sensitivity studies conducted with consumers led to the choice of a single scale that useslabels consistent with the 9-pt hedonic scale. The semantic ratio scale was compared to thehedonic scale and magnitude estimation in several food preference/acceptibility tests. Pearsonr’s among the 3 scales ranged from 0.95 to 0.99. The semantic ratio scale had equal reliabilityto the hedonic scale, but provided greater discrimination at the extremes. The scale was alsojudged by consumers to be simpler to use than magnitude estimation.

An Evaluation of the Effects of Sugar Reduction in Yoghurt on ConsumerPerception. CHRISTOPHER STRUGNELL, University of Ulster, Jordanstown, NorthernIreland, BT37 0QB, U.K.

Sensory perceptions can be effected by other stimuli, and colour has been used to confuseconsumer responses to sweeteners (Strugnell, Appetite, 1997). To further study this phe-nomenon, yoghurt was selected as a suitable food system. Yoghurt base mix normally containsapproximately 5% sugar, to which fruit puree is added (12% w/w). The study investigated theeffects of reducing the sugar in the base mix by 0.5% and 1.0)%. Texture and colourmeasurement were made on the three base mix samples. Significant differences were noted inthe texture profiles but not the colour measurements. Assessors (N=36) were asked to rankthe samples in order of sweetness and texture the result being significant (pΖ0.05). However,when beetroot red was added (a permitted yoghurt colouring) the result was not significant.A similar result was obtained using a red light in the sensory booths with no colouring added.When the fruit puree was added the assessors were again unable to detect any differences.These results indicated that a 1% sugar reduction is possible and such a product could bemarketed as a lower calorie version.

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The Sensory Evaluation of Fat Content is Influenced by Cognitive Variables.JOACHIM WESTENHOEFER, BIRGIT ENSE, GOTZ POGGENSEE, INGE ABHEIDEN,KRISTINE WESTENHOEFER and VOLKER PUDEL, Dept. of Nutrition and Home Eco-nomics, Fachhochschule Hamburg, Lohbruegger Kirchstr. 65, D-21033 Hamburg,Germany and Nutritional Psychology Group, University of Goettingen, Germany.

20 men and 20 women participated in the sensory evaluation of 9 samples of cottage cheesewhich varied in sweetness by adding 0 g, 5 g or 10 g of sugar per 100 g and simultaneously infat content by using low fat cottage cheese (<1% fat in dry mass), and 20% or 40% fat in drymass respectively. The samples were presented in random order to the subjects. Additionally,a tenth sample with medium sugar and fat content was presented which was named by theexperimenter (incidentally) as “light” or “cream”. Subjects rated sweetness, creaminess andliking on a 9-point scale. Each of the rating dimensions was influenced by both sugar and fatcontent. The rating of creaminess of the tenth sample differed significantly between the “light”and the “cream” group. Obviously, beliefs and values regarding fat content influenced thesensory evaluation in addition to the real sensory characteristics of the samples. This mighthelp to explain the difficulties of many patients in accepting a low fat diet.

FEARS ABOUT FOODSEating British Beef with Confidence: a Consideration of Food Scares andRisk Assessment in Britain. PAT CAPLAN, Professor of Anthropology, GoldsmithsCollege, University of London, London, SE14 6NW, U.K.

This paper examines the question of whether risk is differently perceived according to sociallocation, or whether risk perception transcends social distinctions such as gender, class andethnicity. It analyses responses to the first BSE “scare” by a range of informants in an innercity area of London and in a rural area of west Wales who were asked why they stoppedeating beef—if they did—and why they started again: they were also asked more generalquestions about their perceptions of risk in relation to food and health and their views of the“expert” advice available. The paper then goes on to consider developments at both localand national levels during the second BSE scare and shows how campaigns to “rebuildconfidence” in British beef utilised a number of ideas about the way in which it symbolisesnational gender and class identity.

Demographic Variables Related to Neophilia and Neophobia. JENNIFER E.CROUCH, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858, U.S.A.

In this study, the relationship between socio-economic variables and food neophilic andneophobic tendencies supports the belief of food choice behavior serving as a form of socialcommunication (Bourdieu, Distinction, 1984). A pencil-and-paper survey composed of scalesmeasuring food neophilia (van Trijp & Steenkamp, Appetite, 1992), food neophobia (Plinerand Hobden, Appetite, 1992), product-specific (beer) neophilia (Crouch, dissertation, 1994)and demographic questions was administered to students, faculty and staff (N=1926) at asoutheastern U.S. university. Data analysis included one-way ANOVAs to examine the threescales in relation to the demographic variables. ANOVAs of food neophobia showed differencesamong age, education level, ethnicity, occupational status, and salary measures (p<0.001) andgender (p<0.01). ANOVAs of food neophilia showed differences among age, education level,occupational status, and salary measures (p<0.001). ANOVAS of beer neophilia showeddifferences among age, education, ethnicity, gender, occupational status, and salary measures(p<0.001). Findings suggest that high neophilia is associated with older age, higher levels ofeducation and income, and higher prestige occupationsl status. High neophobia is associatedwith younger age, lower levels of education and income, and lower occupational prestige.

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Food Safety and the Elderly. ANGELA E. JOHNSON, ANGELA J. M. DONKIN,JEANNETTE M. LILLEY, KEVIN MORGAN, ROGER J. NEALE, ROBERT M. PAGE andRICHARD L. SILBURN, Department of Health Care of the Elderly, University ofNottingham, NG7 2UH, U.K.

The elderly are the largest group at risk of mortality from food poisoning. This presentationreports the food safety knowledge and practice of 809 independently living elderly people(aged 65+), who were randomly selected from the general population of a British city. Awide ranging diet and health questionnaire included questions about food storage and foodsafety knowledge. The temperature of 758 fridges were measured and 70% were too warmfor the safe storage of food (above 5ºC). Knowledge of the “use by” and “sell by” dates weregood but 30% of respondents had difficulty reading food labels. 41% of respondents knewthe star rating of their freezer. A quarter of the respondents said that getting food poisoningwas the greatest anxiety they had about food safety. Storing food for too long and at thewrong temperature are serious risk factors for food poisoning in the elderly. The storage offoods at inappropriate temperatures was not independent of socioeconomic or demographicstatus, and tended to be more likely among the poorer and those living alone.

Food Neophobia in Sweden: Age, Gender and Socio-economic Differences.ULLA-KAISA KOIVISTO HURSTI and PER-OLOW SJODEN, Centre for Caring Sciences,Uppsala University, Uppsala Science Park, 751 83 Uppsala, Sweden.

The aims were to study the degree of food and general neophobia in Swedish families and(a) socio-economic, (b) age and (c) gender differences with respect to food and generalneophobia. Further, familial resemblance in food and general neophobia was investigated. Agroup of randomly selected families (nation-wide, stratified, N=1593) with children aged7–17 years were invited and 722 participated. The results are based on a demographicquestionnaire and the Food and General Neophobia Scales. The overall levels of food andgeneral neophobia were low. Significant differences for education level and socio-economicstatus were found for mothers, fathers and their children. The higher the education level/socio-economic status among the parents, the lower the neophobia in all family members. Noage differences were found in parental neophobia although there was a tendency towardslower food neophobia among older mothers. Children were significantly more neophobic thantheir parents. The younger children had higher food and general neophobia scores as comparedto the older children. No gender differences were found among children but fathers showedsignificantly higher total food neophobia scores than mothers. Some evidence was found forfamilial resemblance with respect to both food and general neophobia.

Food Neophobias and Willingness to Try Novel Foods among Finnish Popu-lation. LIISA LAHTEENMAKI1, ANNE ARVOLA1, HELY TUORILA1, LEENA POHJA-LAINEN2 and LEILA LOTTI2, 1Department of Food Technology, University of Helsinki,P.O. Box 27, 00014 Helsinki, Finland; 2Food & Farm Facts, Finland.

The aim of this study was to examine how food neophobia is related to such demographic factorsas gender, age and education in the Finnish population and how neophobia is expressed inwillingness to try different types of novel foods. Respondents (N=1083; 576 women and 507men), rated their willingness to try 10 pairs of novel and familiar foods on 5-point scales. Scoreson neophobia scale were normally distributed in the population (mean was 33.9, range 10 to 70,Cronbach’s alpha 0.85). Men were more neophobic than women and neophobia decreased withthe level of education. The oldest age group (57 yrs or more) was more neophobic than theyounger ones. Overall, respondents low in neophobia were more willing to try novel foods thanthose with high scores (r=−0.38), but there were also product related differences. The differencebetween lowest and highest neophobia quintile was especially clear for animal products, but insome product categories the two groups did not differ from each other.This study is a part of EU funded project AIR2-CT94-1315.

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The Marketability of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid (PUFA) Fed Fish. SHEENALEEK, Research Centre for Consumer Behaviour, University of Birmingham, Edg-baston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, U.K.

Aquacultural developments have led to the production of fish fed a diet rich in polyunsaturatedfatty acids (PUFA). These fish are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids and are a high qualityhealth food with a potential market in Great Britain. Polyunsaturated fatty acids have beenassociated with the prevention of heart disease and breast cancer and the alleviation ofinflammatory diseases such as arthritis. It was thought health would be a major reason forthe purchase of PUFA fish. A questionnaire survey and group discussions were performed inorder to find out whether people would be prepared to buy PUFA fish, whether they wouldbe prepared to pay extra and whether they would buy a number of species, specifically salmon,eel and sturgeon. The reasons for their purchase related decisions were examined includingconsideration of attitude, involvement and cognitive style. The concept of PUFA fish wasgenerally accepted. As it became specifically associated with a species the concept became lessacceptable. A variety of reasons for their purchase related decisions were mentioned includingthe sensory qualities.

Attitudes Towards Genetic Engineering of Food by German Consumers.ULRICH OLTERSDORF and EVA-MARIA FLICK, IOS-BFE,Garbenstr. 13, D-70599 Stutt-gart, Germany.

German consumers are very critical about genetically engineered food. This was observedalready before such foods were available. Recent information campaigns have led to acontroversial discussion. In two representative surveys (in 1993 and 1994; N=2500) datawere collected on consumer attitudes towards nutrition, technology in general and geneticengineering in particular; knowledge, information sources and possible intention to buy novelfood. In regular annual representative surveys (the first in 1992) a list of possible risks involvedin nutrition, including genetically engineered food, was presented and the persons were askedto identify the risks according to the assumed danger to health. The results reveal an increaseof negative attitudes; but also possibilities of acceptance by profound and open informationabout novel food. Creating positive attitudes towards novel food seems easier in the case offood of plant than of animal origin.

Food Neophobia in Humans. PATRICIA PLINER, University of Toronto, 3359 Mis-sissauga Rd, Missisauga, ON L5L 1C6 Canada (Plenary Lecture).

Omnivores, including humans are neophobic with respect to food. They tend to approachunfamiliar foods with caution and, when given a choice, prefer familiar foods. However, thereare individual differences in degree of food neophobia; not all organisms are equally neophobic.There are also a number of situational factors which affect degree of neophobia, including(a) the presence of neophobic/neophilic models, (b) the provision of information about thetaste of the novel food, (c) pre-exposure to other novel foods, and (d) the amount of othernovelty present in the situation. In two experiments we examined the effects of manipulationsof arousal on food neophobia in humans. Neophobia was defined in terms of the number ofnovel (vs. familiar) foods chosen for subsequent tasting. In both studies, subjects with lowerarousal chose a greater number of novel foods, indicating that food neophobia is inverselyrelated to level of arousal. The results of these experiments and other data were interpretedas indicating that there is nothing special about food neophobia. It is simply another exampleof organisms’ general fearfulness with respect to novel stimuli. And individual differences infood neophobia may be nothing special either, but rather manifestations of individualdifferences in general reluctance to approach novel stimuli.

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Trust in Information about Food-Related Risks. R. SHEPHERD, L. J. FREWER,C. HOWARD and P. PAUWELS, Institute of Food Research, Earley Gate, Reading RG66BZ, U.K.

Trust in the source of information about food-related hazards is likely to be an importantdeterminant of public reactions. It is not understood why some individuals and organizationsare trusted while others are not. Industry and government often lack public credibility, whereasother sources (for example, consumer organizations, the quality media, medical doctors) arehighly trusted. The factors underlying trust have been examined in a series of studies; semi-structured interviews (N=35), repertory grids (N=35) and a validation survey based uponthe results of the first two studies (N=888). Trust was found to be related to knowledge but,contrary to previous research, complete freedom did not lead to greater trust—rather sourcespossessing moderate accountability were the most trusted. In a further study based on theElaboration Likelihood Model, credibility of the source was found to interact with howpersuasive a message was in affecting the amount and type of thinking indulged in by people.Funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Fondness, Familiarity and Flavour Principles: The effect of adding sauces onreduction of food neophobia. CAROLYN STALLBERG-WHITE and PATRICIA PLINER,Erindale College, University of Toronto, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

In two studies, we investigated Rozin and Rozin’s (1981) hypothesis that flavour principles(familiar and well-liked flavours) function to decrease food neophobia in humans (NaturalHistory, 90, 6–14). Both studies measured subjects’ willingness to taste, anticipated liking for,and familiarity with novel and familiar foods presented either plain or with a familiar ornovel flavour principle. In study one, flavour principles were correlationally obtained for 64undergraduate subjects. In study two, however, we attempted (successfully!) to create a flavourprinciple for 32 children (10–12 years of age) by giving subjects repeated exposure to aninitially novel dip. In both studies, subjects were more willing to try, had greater anticipatedliking for, and rated as more familiar, novel foods when offered together with a familiarflavour principle than when offered plain or with a novel one. Moreover, increases in perceivedfamiliarity—vs. anticipated liking—were found to be the prime mediator of the flavourprinciple phenomenon. Findings support Rozin and Rozin’s claim that flavour principles area frequently employed cultural strategy for approaching the “omnivore’s dilemma” vis-a-visnovel foods.

Effect of Information-induced Expectations on Liking and Choice of Un-familiar Foods. HELY TUORILA1, HERBERT L. MEISELMAN2 and ARMAND V. CAR-DELLO2, 1Department of Food Technology, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 27, FIN-00014 Helsinki, Finland; 2US Army Natrick R,D&E Center, Natick, MA 01760, U.S.A.

Expected and actual liking for unfamiliar foods as well as their subsequent choice as snackswere examined among U.S. subjects to determine the extent to which positive informationabout nutritional properties, flavor, and product category information contributed to theiracceptance. Unfamiliar foods were arctic cloudberry jam, oat bran pudding “yosa”, and driedreindeer meat chips. The corresponding familiar foods, served in the control condition, wereapricot jam, blueberry yogurt and meat jerky. One hundred and sixty subjects were dividedinto the following four conditions: (1) Unfamiliar foods; no verbal information (2) Unfamiliarfoods; positive information, no schema defined, (3) Unfamiliar foods; positive information,schema defined, and (4) Familiar foods; no information (Control group). The subjects ratedtheir expected liking/disliking prior to tasting (based on information in Conditions 2 and 3,and based on seeing in all conditions), their actual liking, and the degree to which the foodsmatched/mismatched their sensory and hedonic expectations after tasting. Following each

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session, subjects snacked from a table on which unfamiliar and familiar foods were available.A post-test interview and self-administered survey tracked subjects’ choices, general foodpractices and food neophobia. Samples were rated higher and chosen as snacks more frequentlyfollowing the positive information than in the absence of information. The results will beanalysed taking into account individual confirmation/disconfirmation of expectations andsubjects’ food consumption practices.

Food choice among Portuguese consumers during Bovine Spongiform En-cephalopathy (BSE) Crisis. MARIA DANIEL VAZ DE ALMEIDA, SUSANA FERREIRAand PEDRO GRACA, ISCNAUP—University of Oporto, R. Dr Roberto Frias, 4200Oporto, Portugal.

In April 96 a possible link between BSE and a new human variant of Creutzfeldt-JakobDisease (CJD) was widely reported in Europe. In December 96 we examined the knowledgeand behavior of 263 adult Portuguese Consumers (PC) about this subject using a structuredquestionnaire. PC interviewed had a mean age of 34.7 years SD 15.4, a mean schooling yearsof 9.8 SD 4.8 and 61.2% were females. All the PC had already heard aboutBSE, especially through the media. Health professionals were rarely mentioned as a sourceof information (5.8%). In May 96, half (50.6%) of the PC interviewed changed their eatinghabits and from these 84.9% cut or reduced beef consumption replacing it by other meats,fish and vegetables. Six months later, 54.5% of the consumers that had changed their eatinghabits had not yet returned to their old consumption patterns. Almost half of PC (45.9%)didn’t feel they had been well informed during the crisis. However 66.2% knew about themeasures implemented by the Government to deal with the problem.

Consumer Concern about Food Related Risks and their Faith in Experts.MARGARETA WANDEL and RØNNAUG FAGERLI, National Institute of ConsumerResearch, P.O. Box 173, 1324 Lysaker, Norway.

Theorists have claimed that present day society can be characterised by an increased focuson risk. Another much debated feature is whether experts are losing authority in this society.A survey of a representative sample of 1050 Norwegian consumers above 15 years of age,included questions on consumer opinions concerning food safety, such as additives andcontaminants, as well as nutritional aspects of the diet. Norwegian consumers were in generalvery much aware of the relationship between food and health. A factor analysis conductedon the responses to different statements related to food and health, identified two main factors.These were labelled “feeling of insecurity” and “faith in experts”. More respondents expressed“faith in experts” than “feeling of insecurity”. There were substantial variations betweendifferent consumer groups with regard to these main factors, we well as their opinion on whataspects contribute to a healthy diet. Even though the respondents expressed concern relatedto both the nutritional aspects of food and food safety issues, there was a larger need forgood and dependable information on the latter aspects.

SYMPOSIUM: FOOD CRAVINGSMechanisms and Definitions of Food Cravings. MARCIA LEVIN PELCHAT, MonellChemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA 19104, U.S.A.

Although there has been a renewal of interest in food cravings, many questions still remain.(1) The use of different definitions of food cravings could contribute to confusion when studiesare compared. We define a food craving as an intense desire or longing to eat a particularfood. Intensity is an important part of the definition in order to distinguish a craving froman ordinary food choice decision. Specificity is also an important part of the definition because

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it allows us to distinguish craving from hunger. Alternative definitions will be discussed. (2)There is a great deal of controversy over the role of deprivation in cravings. There is ananecdotal literature that reports a link between deficiency and craving but this has beendifficult to demonstrate in the laboratory. Some report a link between dieting and cravings,others do not. Can these apparent conflicts be resolved? (3) There appear to be gender andage differences in food cravings. What is the basis for these differences? Can they be used astools to examine mechanisms of cravings? Supported AG09892.

Chocolate Craving. PAUL ROZIN, University of Pennsylvania, 3815 Walnut St.Philadelphia, PA 19104, U.S.A.

Chocolate craving is the most common craving among North American women. It occurs inover 40% of women, about half of whom experience craving only in the perimenstrual period.About 20% of men in the same population experience chocolate craving. Whatever initiateschocolate craving, an experimental study indicates that it is satisfied principally by the sensoryexperience of chocolate, rather than the physiological effects of chocolate. A diary study ofwomen under double blind hormone or drug treatment for this syndrome indicates that lowlevels of progesterone, which normally occur in the perimenstrum, are not causally related tothe initiation of chocolate craving.

Food Cravings in Pregnancy. PATRICIA PLINER, University of Toronto, 3359 Mis-sissauga Rd., Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, Canada.

In this paper, I will examine the literatures on food cravings during pregnancy and foodcravings in nonpregnant women with the aim of determining whether pregnancy cravings area separate phenomenon. In the two literatures, I will compare the incidences of cravings, thetypes of foods craved, the hormonal profiles, patterns of sensory sensitivity, and emotionalstates temporally associated with cravings, and personality variables related to craving.

Craving in Response to Food Cues. RAIMO LAPPALAINEN, A.I. Virtanen Institute,University of Kuopio P.O. Box 1627, FIN-70211 Kuopio, Finland.

Feelings of craving may be elicited by environmental cues, and reactivity to cues associatedwith eating may be important in understanding obesity and eating disorders. A series ofexperiments were performed in order to investigate simultaneously subjective responses tocraving and hunger, and physiological responses during cue-exposure to food. Obese subjectswith the binge eating disorder (BED) reported higher desire to eat when exposed to food cueswithout eating as compared with the non-BED subjects. Similarly, “chocolate addicts” reportedhigher craving as compared with non-addicts when exposed to cues without eating. Taken asa whole, these results suggest that subjects with eating disorders show higher craving whenexposed to food cues. Interestingly, subjects with eating disorders did not show increasedperipheral physiological reactivity to food cues. Craving for food cues was also studied inobese and normal weight women. No differences in craving or in hunger were observedbetween these groups. However, in obese women (but not in normal-weight women) changesin hunger feelings during exposure were associated with increased blood flow in the rightparietal cortex. Surprisingly in obese women no such association was observed in desire toeat. This suggests that different brain mechanisms may be associated with craving and hunger.

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EFFECTS OF FOOD CHOICEDecreases in Hunger during Ramadan Fasting. GRETEL M. FINCH1, DR RAZAK2,JON E. L. DAY1, DENISE A. WELCH1 and PETER J. ROGERS1, 1Institute of FoodResearch, Reading, RG6 6BZ, U.K. and 2Pakistan Community Centre, Reading, RG13PA, U.K.

Each day during the month of Ramadan, Muslims abstain from food and drink from sunriseuntil sunset. This major change in eating pattern provides an ideal opportunity to investigatefactors controlling hunger and thirst. A group of healthy Muslims (15 men and 26 women)living in Reading made hourly ratings of their hunger, mood and thirst, and recorded theirfood and drink intake on selected days before, during and after Ramadan between Januaryand March 1996. There was no significant change in body weight over Ramadan. Ratedhunger increased substantially across the day during fasting; however, for the women but notthe men there was a significant decline in hunger as Ramadan progressed (significant Genderby Day of Ramadan interaction, p<0.001). During Ramadan the women typically spent muchtime preparing food for meals to be eaten later after sunset, which suggests an explanationfor the results based on the external cue control of hunger. Unreinforced exposure to foodcues in this context may have led to a decrease in the capacity of these cues to stimulatehunger.

Effects of Breakfast Skipping and Breakfast Components on Cognitive Func-tion in Adolescents. HARRY R. KISSILEFF, SOPHIE C. L. DATNOW, DAVID BENTONand KIM KRUMHAR, Columbia University, St. Luke’s/Roosevelt Hospital Center, 1111Amsterdam Ave., New York, NY, 10025 U.S.A., Univ. of Swansea, Wales, U.K., andNestle R&D, New Milford, CT U.S.A.

Fasting was compared with consuming a liquid meal replacement drink and an energeticallyequivalent combination of conventional breakfast items on maintaining vigilance and im-proving moods. On five nonconsecutive days, ten boys and ten girls (age 12–17) ate a high(350 kcal) and a low energy (220 kcal) breakfast of conventional food items (corn flakes,banana skim milk), a nutritionally equivalent liquid meal replacement drink, or they had nobreakfast. Consumption of all breakfasts compared to fasting, significantly elevated all moods2 h later (e.g. wide awake, clear headed, energetic, full of ideas) and increased the number ofwords recalled by 0.787±0.41 (t=1.93, p=0.058) in a 30-word recall test 3 h after breakfast.There were no differences in mood scores among breakfasts 2 h after breakfast, but at 3 hsubjects were more energetic after the liquid than conventional breakfasts (more “raring togo” by 0.90 units±0.416 t=2.16, p=0.03; “more full of energy” by 1.32 units ±0.495, t=2.67, p=0.0119). Subjects remembered more words after the lower, than higher, energybreakfasts. Eating breakfast improves performance of tasks requiring vigilance and elevatesmoods. The energizing effect of an all liquid breakfast persists longer than that of a conventionalbreakfast.

The Effect of Fructose and Glucose on Wakefulness. A Laboratory Study.M. LENNERNAS, U. LANDSTROM, A. KNUTSSON and L. SODERBERG, NationalInstitute of Public Health, S-103 52, Stockholm, Sweden.

Sleepiness causes accidents in night- and shift workers. Despit this, the effects of meals, foodsand nutrients on wakefulness are not investigated. To study such relationships experimentaldesigns are required including tests of different food-related variables, e.g. type and amountof nutrient, combination of nutrients, energy content, food temperature and food texture.Methods and subjects: In this laboratory study changes in wakefulness before, during andafter ingestion of 400 ml glucose-solution (250 kcal, Glycaemic Index=100), 400 ml fructose-solution (209 kcal, GI=20) and 400 ml water respectively were analysed in 10 sleep-deprived

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subjects (5 males+5 females; 18–24 years). Wakefulness in subjects was measured by EEGand also by self rating scales 30 minutes before, 10 minutes during and 90 minutes afteringestion. Results: Self rated sleepiness after ingestion of fructose indicated a delay of thefatigue of about 20–30 minutes when compared to water and glucose. No differences weredetected between water and glucose. Conclusion: Fructose might postpone sleepiness.

Behavioral Correlates of Nutrient Intake of 5-year-old Children. TERHI PU-OTSAARI, MINNA TARMI-MATTSON, HARRI NIINIKOSKI, RITVA SEPPANEN and STRIPBABY STUDY GROUP, Cardiorespiratory Research Unit, University of Turku,Kiinamyllynkatu 10, 20520 Turku, Finland.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relations between nutrient intakes and behaviorin five-year-old children. The study group consisted of healthy 779 children participating inthe STRIP baby Project. Food intake information was obtained using 4-day food records.Energy intake of the children was adequate to support normal growth. All intakes used inthe analyses were energy adjusted/1000 kcal. Only the children in the lowest and highest decileswere included in the analyses. Behavior of the children was studied with a questionnairecomprising 46 questions which evaluate aspects of the child’s behavior in everyday life. Thestatistical significance limit was set at p<0.05. There were several behavioral differencesbetween the children with low and high nutrient intakes. Especially, lower relative intakes ofzinc and vitamins B1 and B6 associated with negative effects on children’s behavior. Intakesof other nutrients and minerals did not have a significant effect on behavior in 5-year oldchildren. We conclude, that behavior and dietary intakes of certain minerals and vitaminsshow significant correlation in healthy young children.

FOOD CHOICE AT DIFFERENT STAGES IN LIFEMeal Patterns of Elderly Women. CHRISTINE BROMBACH, Institute for RuralSociology, Bismarckstr. 4, 35390 Giessen, Germany.

Qualitative biographical interviews on food habits and patterns were conducted with 60women aged 65 to 94. Of those, 41 women aged 65 to 85 kept a three day dietary recordincluding two working days, a weekend or holiday. Data of 592 meals were obtained, onkinds of foods, nutrient content, food patterns, frequency, duration, timing of meals, moodat meals. Despite differences in marriage status, income, education, place of origin, durationof years spent at the research area, shared and common structures of meal patterns werefound: Three daily main meals is a stable pattern shared by all respondents. The mid daymeal is a cooked meal and considered the main meal, where almost 33% of total energy isconsumed. On average, 35% of total energy is derived from second breakfast, afternoon, lateevening snacks. Main breakfast pattern is bread, jam, coffee. Lunch consists in 38% of alllunch meals in a meat, legume and starchy component. This lunch pattern is found in 80%of Sunday and holiday lunches where traditional and also lengthier meals are consumed.

Primary School Pupils’ Perceptions of School Lunches. M. J. CORNEY, A. EVES,M. KIPPS, C. NOBLE, M. PRICE and M. LUMBARS, Dept. Management Studies,University of Surrey, GU2 5XH, U.K.

Fifty-nine eleven to twelve years old U.K. primary school pupils’ perception of foods theyare typically offered as part of their school meal provision was analysed using the repertory-grid method of personal construct analysis. Producing an average of three constructs, contentanalysis showed that most constructs were related to the type of food, for example maincourse/dessert and that few constructs related to preference in comparison to those pertainingto healthiness. Factor analysis of the food scores on the constructs (explaining 68% of data

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variation) revealed that factors were based on the commonly used food groups, for examplemeats, desserts, vegetables and also food shape. Comparison of boys’ and girls’ perceptionswas made using Procrustes analysis. This produced a consensus configuration showing threemain dimensions (explaining 85% of data variation); meat and less healthy foods versusvegetables, healthier foods; main meal items versus popular accompaniment foods; roundversus triangular foods. As only rotation/reflection of the configurations was necessary toobtain this consensus their perceptions were essentially similar. This work was funded by theMinistry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Decision-making about Food in the Family: Keeping the Balance. ILSE DEBOURDEAUDHUIJ and PAULETTE VAN OOST, University of Ghent, Research GroupHealth and Behaviour, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.

Research on decision-making about food in the family comes to contradictory conclusions.For a very long time, women were considered to have most decision-making power, being“gatekeepers” in the family, controlling the food. However, other researchers stressed theinfluence of the other family members in the home. This study provides some insight intodecision-making about food choices in the family and the relationship with (un)healthy eating.Focus-group interviews and 3 surveys were executed, in the scope of a PhD research. Fourdifferent measures of decision-making power were used, responses were gathered fromadolescents (N=420), family triads (N=1500) and family quartets (N=440). Our findingssuggest that considering women as “gatekeepers” in the family, may be a misconceptionmerely due to methodological and measurement shortcomings. We argued that through aprocess of trial and error women learn what foods their partners and children would andwould not eat. Consequently, a balance is achieved between the varying preferences of allfamily members. The process of change has to result in changing dietary habits (the content),but without affecting the balance in the family (the system).

A Life Course Model of Food Choice Trajectory Development. CAROL M.DEVINE, MARGARET CONNORS, JEFFERY SOBAL and CAROLE A. BISOGNI, Divisionof Nutritional Sciences, MVR Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, U.S.A.

Life course transitions and trajectories are fundamental to the development of personalsystems for making food choices. We conducted a qualitative study of fruit and vegetablechoices, using depth interviews of 86 ethnically diverse, low to moderate income adults in oneU.S. city who were purposively recruited through community organizations. The semi-structured interview guide asked about food roles, food choices, changes in dietary behaviors,access to fruits and vegetables, ethnic identity and perceptions of the food system. Qualitativedata analysis suggested that past life-course events and experiences established food choicetrajectories which influenced present food choices. Life events such as growing food, life-cyclerole transitions, health transitions, ethnic food traditions, access to resources, change ofresidence, and interactions with the food system provided direction and momentum for foodchoice trajectories that established the groundwork for later food choices. Studies of foodchoice as well as nutrition interventions may benefit from examining how life course experiencesaffect the development of food choice trajectories and the way people construct meanings andinterpretations of foods.

Food Choice in Later Life: what is eaten and why? ANGELA J. M. DONKIN,ANGELA E. JOHNSON, JEANETTE M. LILLEY, KEVIN MORGAN, ROGER J. NEALE,ROBERT M. PAGE and RICHARD L. SILBURN, Department of Health Care of theElderly, University of Nottingham, NG7 2UH, U.K.

This presentation describes data collected from a four-stage study conducted within a randomsample of older people living at home in the U.K. (N=1210). The aim of the research was

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to explore the construction of food choice in later life. The presentation describes social anddietary correlates of Body Mass Indices (BMIs) and related food choices. In multiple regressionanalysis significant links emerged between higher BMIs and better cooking skills, not cookingfor oneself, good appetite, being more educated, being healthier and being younger. Abnormallylow or high BMIs were associated with a significantly lower morale. Abnormally low BMIswere also linked with living alone, lower income and perceived low income, inability to carryshopping bags, smoking and poor appetite. The second part of this presentation traces thesefactors through to see how they influence BMI and illustrates the actual differences in thetypes of foods chosen. The presentation will also draw on qualitative research conductedamong sub-samples.

Children’s Food Problems—Nutrition and Parenting. ANN A. HERTZLER, VirginiaPolytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, VA 24060–0430, U.S.A.

Two variables were operationalized to identify what families do differently that explainschildren’s food acceptance. Preschool staff rated children’s food problems and caregivingtechniques of families in their program. Children’s food problems of greatest concern wereliking fast foods and won’t taste new food. Like fast food, cookies, and cake and dislikevegetables and mixtures were positive and significantly related to the “Picky Eater”. A secondstudy corroborated these findings and suggested that about 1/4 of the children acceptedvegetables without problem, 13%, dark green vegetables. Frequently reported caregivingtechniques were let the child watch too much TV, make the child clean the plate, and usefood for punishment or reward. Parents punishing the child for not eating appear to provideexcess fat/sweet choices and limit vegetable choices. Problem food behaviors were related tofood choices to which the preschooler is exposed and to television and caregiving techniqueswhich support children’s food acceptance. Children’s food problems are associated withinappropriate caregiving and with the child’s overeating high calorie foods and undereatingvegetables and new foods.

Food-related Activities in Young Finnish Families. SAIJA LAITINEN, PIA HOG-STROM and LEENA RASANEN, Division of Nutrition, Department of Applied Chemistryand Microbiology, P.O. Box 27, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland.

As a part of the follow-up study “Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns” in 1992 a total of684 married, cohabiting or engaged couples individually filled in questionnaires on food habitsand food-related activities. The subjects of the study were 18–30-years-old and their femalespouses ranged in age from 18 to 36 years and the male ones from 18 to 50 years. Childlesscouples (N=370) divided household tasks more evenly than couples who had children. Theshare of men taking part in food preparation and shopping was about 50% when they didnot have children, whereas only 21% of men prepared food and 36% of them shopped forfood when they had children. When the woman’s educational level was high, home choreswere shared more evenly. Women notably prepared the meals and did the food shopping,when the couple had children and when the woman’s educational level was low. When childrenare born, food choices among young couples became more similar, more meals are eaten athome and the women are burdened with more responsibility in food-related activities.

Going Down the Shopping Aisle: Food Shopping Experiences of YoungMarried and Co-habiting Couples. D. W. MARSHALL∗, A. ANDERSON∗∗ and D.KEMMER∗∗, ∗Department of Business Studies, University of Edinburgh, Scotland,U.K. ∗∗Department of Human Nutrition, University of Glasgow, Scotland, U.K.

Recent research revealed a high degree of similarity between husbands and wives in theirapproach to store loyalty and in store shopping (Polegato and Zaichkowsky, 1994), and it

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has been suggested that women may guide their partners’ shopping behaviour (Blaylock andSmallwood, 1987). This paper reports on research with twenty two Scottish couples who tookpart in a longitudinal study of food choice pre- and post-marriage/co-habitation in 1995.Drawing on in-depth interviews and questionnaires on shopping habits, including frequencyof shopping and reasons for store choice across a range of products, it looks at changes inshopping behaviour after couples set up home. The results highlight the move towards aregular pattern of shopping in the transition from single to married/co-habiting status anddiscusses the decision making processes among couples in this new stage of their life course.This research is funded under the Economic and Social Research Council “The Nation’s Diet”Research Programme.

Polegato, R. & Zaichkowsky, J.L. (1994). Family food shopping: Strategies used by husbandsand wives. The Journal of Consumer Affairs, 28(2) 278–99.

Blaylock, J.R. & Smallwood, D.M. (1987). Intrahousehold time allocation: The case of groceryshopping. The Journal of Consumer Affairs, 21(2) 183–201.

Nutritional Behaviour of the Elderly in Private Households—Meal Patterns.CORNELIE PFAU and JOHANNES PIEKARSKI, Institute of Nutritional Economics andSociology, Postfach 720140, D-70577 Stuttgart.

A project concerning nutritional habits of the aged in private households started in September1993. One hundred and eighty-one, one- and two-person-households of people aged 65–75years agreed to participate in the project and filled out whole-day protocols for two periodsof 6 weeks each and a questionnaire on additional aspects on nutrition. Household typeswere selected according to the statistical distribution of comparable households in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. Aim of the project is to obtain data on nutritional behaviour, onmeal patterns especially. The data obtained will be used for a computerized informationsystem which reflects actual nutritional habits; it is intended as a tool for calculating dietsaccording to individual requirements at favourable costs. As the data analysis is not completedyet, only results based on the data of a subgroup of 58 one-person households will be discussedin greater detail. These data include information given for nearly 4.900 days with about fivemeals each. Results on number and frequencies of meals during the day, on frequencies ofwarm and cold meals, courses and combinations of these will be presented predominantly.

Food Habits: Concepts and Practices—Continuity or Change Between Gen-erations. S. S. P. RODRIGUES and M. D. V. ALMEIDA, ISCNAUP—Oporto University,R. Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200 Porto, Portugal.

A recent Pan-European survey of consumer’s attitudes to food, nutrition and health (IEFS,Dublin) has shown that the Portuguese value quality, taste and price as the most importantfactors in food choice. Perceived barriers to healthy eating were identified with lifestyle. Thus,the knowledge of the habits, attitudes and values of a population is central to the developmentof sound nutrition messages.We have extended our previous investigation (ICCAS, Bournemouth, 1996) on concepts andpractices related to food. Two generations of women (mothers and daughters) were interviewedin an urban area in the centre of Portugal to find elements of change or continuity in foodhabits. The following aspects were assessed: concepts of ideal meal, healthy eating, culinarypractices, confidence when cooking and food practices—in relation to one weekday andone Sunday: number of eating occasions, interval between them, place, physical position,commensality and activity.

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Food Choices of Young People in Northern Ireland. JENNIFER WARWICK,HEATHER MCILVEEN and CHRISTOPHER STRUGNELL, University of Ulster, Jor-danstown, Northern Ireland, BT37 OQB.

Food choice and its effect on the population has been widely researched but little researchhas focused on food choice and young people in Northern Ireland. Food choice is influencedby a number of factors and the National Consumer Council (1992) state that any decision inregard to choosing food is the result of a whole jigsaw of conscious and subconsciousinfluences. The complexity of food choice increases when the subject is embraced with whyyoung people choose certain foods. Research conducted involved observational studies at fiveschool canteens, where it was evident that young people choose foods high in fat and sugarin preference to fresh fruit and vegetables. A questionnaire administered to nine to fifteenyear olds (N=105) highlighted that young people are aware of nutrition and the importanceof healthy eating but fail to put this knowledge into practice. These results are disturbingconsidering the high incidence of coronary heart disease in Northern Ireland.

Short-term Regulation of Food Intake in Children, Adults and Elderly. E. H.ZANDSTRA, M-F. A. M. MATHEY, C. DE GRAAF, W. A. STAVEREN, Departmentof Human Nutrition, Wageningen Agricultural University, P.O. Box 8129, 6700 EVWageningen, The Netherlands.

The purpose of this work was to investigate age-associated changes in the short-term regulationof food intake. Therefore 30 children (4–6 y), 33 adults (18–26 y) and 25 elderly (61–86 y)were asked to participate in lunch sessions with or without a preload. The preloads consistedof four different strawberry yoghurt preloads that varied in energy and macronutrient content.One yoghurt was low-fat and low-carbohydrate (2 en% of fat and 54 en% of carbohydrate),one yoghurt was high-fat (71 en% of fat), one yoghurt was high-carbohydrate (87 en% ofcarbohydrate) and the fourth yoghurt was high-fat and high-carbohydrate (42 en% of fat and53 en% of carbohydrate). Ninety minutes after preload consumption subjects had an adlibitum lunch-buffet. Results showed evidence for an incomplete caloric compensation. Theenergy compensation observed in the children ranged between −13% and 39%, in the adultsbetween 15% and 44% and in the elderly between 15% and 23%. We conclude that this studydid not show a decline in the ability to regulate the food intake with increasing age.Sponsored by EU.

EATING AND HEALTHWhat Effect does Socio-Economic Status have on Children’s Perceptions ofVegetables? IRENE A. BAXTER, FRANCES R. JACK and MONIKA J. A. SCHRODER,Department of Applied Consumer Studies & Centre for Food Research, Queen Mar-garet College, Edinburgh EH12 8TS, U.K.

U.K. consumption (e.g. National Food Survey, 1995) has shown that families of lower Socio-Economic Status (SES) consumes less vegetables than those of higher SES. This studyexamined children’s perceptions of vegetables in relation to their reported vegetable preferencesand aversions. Seven to nine-year-old children from two areas of Edinburgh representingsocio-economic extremes were interviewed using the repertory grid method (Kelly, 1955, ‘ThePsychology of Personal Constructs’, Norton Publishers) to elicit perceptual constructs relatingto eight commonly consumed vegetables. All eight vegetables were then scored by eachchild for their personal constructs using 15 cm unstructured scales. Each child completed aquestionnaire pertaining to their typical weekly vegetable consumption, and appropriatenessof the eight vegetables for different meal occasions. The findings of this study will be discussedin detail.

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Nutrition in the German Press. REINHILD BENTERBUSCH and ULRICH OLTERS-DORF, IOS-BFE, Garbenstr. 13, D-70599 Stuttgart, Germany.

Information about nutrition in newspapers is often criticised, but has in fact been rarelyinvestigated. This reason to study nutrition related topics in German press over a period ofone year (14.02.1994–13.02.1995). 15,292 contributions were collected by a press cuttingagency from 501 different newspapers (ca. 148,000 issues). A nutrition related contribution—ofpostcard size on the average—appeared in only one of ten issues. Articles dealt with specificfoods (17%), nutritional diseases (14%), nutrients (11%), risk groups (10%), and special diets(10%). Only 4.8% of contributions were devoted to so-called food scandals. Some topics ase.g. nutrition problems of the poor and the nutritional situation worldwide are neglected. Inthe German press nutrition indeed is a subject of secondary importance.

Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour to Understand Healthy Eating. M.CONNER∗, R. POVEY∗, P. SPARKS†, R. JAMES† and R. SHEPHERD†, ∗Department ofPsychology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, U.K. †Institute of Food Research,Reading, Reading Laboratory, RG6 6BZ, U.K.

The impact of diet on health is widely acknowledged and large proportions of individuals inthe Western world claim to eat healthily. Results from a questionnaire study of healthy eatingcompleted by 234 members of the general public is reported. In the first questionnaire,respondents completed items developed from the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) inrelation to healthy eating. In the second questionnaire, respondents reported the extent towhich they engaged in healthy eating behaviours. Respondents’ intentions were well predictedby attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control (PBC) (43.9% of varianceexplained). In addition, self-reported healthy eating behaviour in the second questionnairewas predicted from intentions and PBC (16.2% of variance explained). In the second set ofanalyses we examined predictions of intentions and healthy eating behaviour within re-spondents. As respondents had completed TPB components in relation to a range of healthyeating behaviours (N=39) we were able to perform within person regressions. These regressionsaccounted for significant portions of the variance in intentions and self-reported eatingbehaviour. The findings are discussed in relation to implications for successful interventionsto encourage healthy eating.

Meal Patterns in Dieting vs. Non-Dieting Swedish Adolescents. BIRGITTAEDLUND and PER-OLOW SJODEN, Centre for Caring Sciences, Uppsala University,Glunten, 751 83, Uppsala, Sweden.

Meal patterns were studied as part of two investigations of eating attitudes and dietingbehaviors among Swedish adolescents. One of these (Kungalv study) included 1361 boys andgirls aged 11–18 (57% girls) and the other (Uppsala study) 401 boys and girls aged 1016 (54%girls). A total of 74% of the Kungalv girls and 26% of the boys reported that they had sometime wanted to be thinner and 56 vs. 17% that they had tried to lose weight. In the Uppsalastudy, 65% of the girls and 26% of the boys reported that they had wanted to be thinner and51 vs. 18% that they had tried to lose weight. Among the 18-year old girls (Kungalv), 91%reported that they had some time wanted to be thinner and 71% that they had tried to loseweight, illustrating a strong increase of weight concerns with increasing age. Dieting girls(Kungalv) reported that they skipped all meals (breakfast, school lunch, afternoon snack,dinner, evening meal) significantly more often than non-dieting girls. They also reporteddrinking water rather than milk with their lunch more often than their non-dieting peers.These patterns of results were the same in the Uppsala study except that there was nodifference concerning school lunch consumption. Dieting girls had breakfast and dinnertogether with other family members less often than non-dieting girls and ate breakfast alone

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more often. This was at least partly due to the fact that dieting girls lived with both of theirparents less often than did non-dieters. Dieting boys reported skipping breakfast, afternoonsnack and evening meal (Kungalv) more often than non-dieters. Girls in Kungalv who couldbe regarded as being in the risk zone for developing an eating disorder [a score >20 on theChildrens’ Eating Attitudes Test (ChEAT), N=39, 5%], reported having afternoon snacksand evening meal on the average 2 days/week and school lunch on the average 3 days/week.A total of 60% of these girls stated that they preferred water to milk as compared to 10%among girls outside the ChEAT risk zone. Remaining risk zone dieters (30%) preferred fruitdrink to milk. These results suggest that both dieting boys and girls reduce their food intakeby skipping meals and that dieting girls prefer water with their lunch meal.

Using Verbal Protocol Analysis to Investigate Consumer Use of the NutritionInformation Panel on Food Packages. C. S. HIGGINSON1, M. J. RAYNER, S. W.DRAPER and T. R. KIRK, 1Centre for Food Research, Queen Margaret College, EdinburghEH12 8TS, Scotland.

Current knowledge of how U.K. consumers use the nutrition information panel on foodpackages is based on self-reported survey data and some experimental work. Self-reports relyon accurate recall and the absence of personal bias on the part of the reporter, whileexperimental work often lacks ecological validity. Verbal protocols were used in this study toaccess consumers’ cognitive processes and decision-making procedures directly, and to maxi-mise ecological validity. Consumers from high and low socio-economic groups, and a groupof dietitians, were individually trained in protocol giving and accompanied on a typicalshopping trip. On a second trip each subject was asked to purchase what s/he perceived tobe the healthiest version of each of nine specified types of food. Finally subjects were presentedwith food packages and nutrition information panels and set label use tasks based on Levy,Fein and Schucker’s proposed nutrition label uses (FDA—unpublished, 1992). Concurrentverbal protocols were collected on each occasion. This paper will discuss the verbal protocolmethod and its use in food choice research, and present initial results of the study.

Food Choice and Cross Cultural Analysis: Presentation of a Project andMethodological Remarks. SOREN JANSSON, ANNE MURCOTT and LOTTE HOLM,Dept. of Ethnology, Lusthusporten 10, S-10691 Stockholm, Sweden, South Bank Univ,103 Borough Road, London SE1 OAA, England, FHE, KVL, Rolighedsvej 30, DK-1958,Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark.

A new project, “Food in Every-day Life in Copenhagen, Frankfurt, London and Stockholm”,will be presented. It brings together four qualitative studies of conceptions and contexts offood in the daily domestic lives of 40 families in each of the four cities. All familes havechildren in the age group of 13–16 and include two adults doing paid work outside the home.The project aims to elaborate the complexity of food and eating in modern every-day life inhouseholds that include teenagers. It addresses four themes: commensality, control andautonomy, health and risk, resource management, and gender. Doing systematic qualitativeanalysis cross national boundaries raises methodological considerations of general interest inthe realm of cross cultural research and for qualitative methodology. Questions of com-parability, the conduct of interviews, analytical procedures etc will be discussed with referenceto the practical problems, both expected and unexpected, that are emerging during the earlydata collection stages.

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Expected Difficulties in Following Nutritional Advice Among Cardiac Patientswith High Dietary Fat Intake. MERJA KOIKKALAINEN, HANNU MYKKANEN,JUHANI JULKUNEN, TIMO SAARINEN and RAIMO LAPPALAINEN, Department ofClinical Nutrition and A.I. Virtanen Institute, University of Kuopio, P.O. Box 1627,70211 Kuopio, Finland.

The purpose of this study was to describe expected barriers in following nutritional advice amongcardiac patients with poor dietary compliance. Male cardiac patients (N=91) participating in arehabilitation program were asked to keep a food diary, and report via a questionnaire theexpected barriers in following nutritional advice. The patients were classified into high and lowdietary fat groups according to median dietary fat. The percentage of dietary fat of total energyintake was 37.7% in the high fat group and 28.6% in the low fat group.The patients in high fat group reported more often than the patients in low fat group that otherpeople influenced their eating. Price of foods, taste of healthy foods, family members, lack oftime or difficulties in receiving information were not associated with high dietary fat. Thus,cardiac patients with high fat intake expected difficulties when eating with other people suggestingthat eating in social situations may be associated with poor compliance with healthy diet.

Difficulties in Trying to Eat Healthier: Descriptive Analysis of PerceivedBarriers. RAIMO LAPPALAINEN, ANNA SABA, LOTTE HOLM, HANNU MYKKANEN,JOHN KEARNEY, MARY KEARNEY and MICHAEL GIBNEY, A.I. Virtanen Institute,University of Kuopio, Box 1627, 70211 Kuopio, Finland.

In order to increase our knowledge of consumers’ beliefs of healthy eating, totally 14261subjects in 15 EU-countries were presented a list of 22 barriers and asked to select those theywould perceive as major difficulties when trying to eat healthier. A great variability in theperceived barriers to healthy eating between different EU countries was observed. Lack oftime was the most frequently mentioned difficulty in not following nutritional advice. Lackof time was frequently reported by the younger and by the highly educated people. Givingup liked food and taste preferences of family or friends were also often experienced as barriers.Thus, healthy diets are not seen as attractive alternatives to current diets. Generally, only aminority of the EU population reported lack of knowledge about healthy eating and availabilityof healthy food as barriers although resistance to change was more frequently reported bymales and by people with lower levels of education. Thus, specific nutritional programs maybe needed for these subgoups.

Food Choice and Dietary Intake: Initial Observations Comparing Hip FracturePatients with Healthy Day-centre Clients. M. LUMBERS, S. A. NEW, M. C.MURPHY and C. PITHER, Department of Management Studies & School of BiologicalSciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, U.K.

Food selection and dietary intake of 14 hip fracture patients was compared with 15 healthyelderly females to investigate potential foods for supplementation as alternatives to sip feedsfound previously to be poorly accepted. Twenty-four hour dietary recalls were recorded usingcompleted menu cards as prompts for hospital patients. Dietary intakes of energy and nutrientswere up to 50% lower for the hospital patients, except for Vitamin C. Fruit juice or segmentswere popular choices among hospital patients such that only vitamin C met the RNI.Sandwiches were often chosen for lunch by day-centre clients and for supper by hospitalpatients. Fifty percent and 70% of hospital patients chose soup for lunch and supperrespectively. Notable differences in food choice between the two groups were apparent.Concluding, hospital patients failed to meet most RNIs and there are obvious implicationsfor catering and supplementation strategies.

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Validation of a Scale to Assess Eating Behaviour in Healthy PortugueseUniversity Students. PEDRO MOREIRA, LEANDRO ALMEIDA, DANIEL SAMPAIOand MARIA DANIEL VAZ DE ALMEIDA, Inst Sup Ciencias Nutricao Alim. da U.P., RuaDr. Roberto Frias, 4200 Porto, Portugal.

The objective of this study is to measure three dimensions of eating behaviour (“dietaryrestraint”, “disinhibition” and “hunger”). For this we have employed the “Three-FactorEating Questionnaire” (Stunkard et al. (1985) J Psychosom Res 29, 71–83) and validated thisquestionnaire in healthy Portuguese university students. Subjects were 98 male and 98 female,body mass index between 18–25 kg/m2, aged 18–30 years. None had been on a intense weightloss diet during the 4 weeks before the study. Responses were factor analysed (exploratoryanalysis) with the method of principal-axis and factors were rotated by the Varimax procedure;the resulting factor structure was used to define the questionnaire for Portuguese universitystudents. Three factors emerged in a version of a 26 items scale; the alpha reliabilities coefficientswere: 0.91 for factor I (“dietary restraint”; 13 items), 0.77 for factor II (“disinhibition”, 7items) and 0.70 for factor III (“hunger”; 6 items). Scale intercorrelations were 0.18 (p<0.05)between factor I and II, and 0.40 (p<0.001) between factor II and factor III. We concludethat the construct validity of the scale was demonstrated in this population.

The Food and Nutrient Intake of Swedish Non-smokers and Smokers.MARGARETHA NYDAHL1, INGA-BRITT GUSTAFSSON1, RAWYA MOHSEN2 andBENGT VESSBY2, 1Department of Domestic Sciences, University of Uppsala, DagHammarskjoldsvag 21 750 37 Uppsala, Sweden; 2Department of Geriatrics, Universityof Uppsala, P.O. Box 609, 751 25, Uppsala, Sweden.

The question often arises as to whether it is only the smoking as such that may contribute toan increased risk for developing coronary heart disease or whether other lifestyles and dietaryhabits may play an important role. The aim of this study was to investigate dietary andnutrient intake in a representative, healthy Swedish population of working ages.All employees (N=1,006) of the National Swedish Telephone Company in Uppsala, Sweden,were invited to participate in a health survey, and in addition report their dietary intake bya precoded 7-day food-record.When comparing smokers and non-smokers it was found that the smokers, both men andwomen, had a higher reported intake of total and saturated fat and of mono- and poly-unsaturated fat. Significantly higher intakes of carbohydrates, dietary fibre and ascorbic acidswere noted in non-smokers. Non-smoking men had a higher intake of vitamin E. Malesmokers had a lower reported energy intake than male non-smokers. Further, smokers ofboth genders reported a higher protein intake. The alcohol intake was significantly higher inboth male and female smokers.As a result, not only of smoking itself, but also of the dietary habits and other lifestyle factors,special attention should be paid in this group, not only to medical advice refraining fromsmoking, but also to dietary counselling.

Factors Influencing the Fat-Content of Sauces. METTE PEETZ-SCHOU, PIAKNUTHSEN∗, ANNE C. BECH†, CARSTEN STIG POULSEN† and HANS JORN JUHL,∗National Food Agency of Denmark, Mørkhøj Bygade 19, DK-2860 Søborg, Denmark,and †MAPP, The Arhus Business School, Fuglsangs Alle 4, 82100 Aarhus V, Denmark.

Since 1991 the National Food Agency of Denmark (NFAD) has been targeting sauce inpublic nutrition education. Together with spread on sandwiches this source of fat accountsfor 1/3 of the fat intake by the average Dane. To be more efficient in the communication astudy was carried out to determine factors of importance for the fat-content. Two hundredconsumers collected samples of the sauces they ate during a week, and answered questions

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about themselves and the sauces. Analysis of the fat-content revealed an average content of12.6 grams/100 grams of sauce, two to three times the level recommended by NFAD (5 grams/100 grams). Two segments of consumers with different sauce behaviour could be identified.A “high fat” segment accounting for nearly 80% and a “low fat” segment accounting forapproximately 20%. Factors such as ingredients used, degree of home preparation, compositionof meal (fish vs. meat), person who prepared the sauce influenced the fat-content in the “highfat” segment, but apart from ingredients used none of the factors were significant in the “lowfat” segment. The presentation will outline the findings in more detail, and discuss implicationsfor nutrition education.

Health-promoting Diet as a Religious Ideal—Food Choice of Finnish Seventh-day Adventists. LEENA RASANEN and MIA LAITINEN, Division of Nutrition, Uni-versity of Helsinki, P.O. Box 27, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland.

The lifestyle of Seventh-day Adventists (SDAs) is directed toward maintaining health througheating the right kind of foods. Vegetarian diet is seen as an ideal and meat, esp. pork andinternal organs, is avoided. Tea, coffee, alcohol and tobacco are considered harmful. Adherenceto the SDA and modern dietary recommendations was studied in a random sample of 25021- to 30-year-olds and 250 50- to 59-year-olds taken from the registers of the Finnish SDAchurch. Mailed questionnaires about dietary practices and health behavior were returnedacceptably by 349 (75%) persons. Of the respondents 14% reported vegetarianism, 21%avoidance of all meat, 66% pork, 93% internal organs and blood, 53% coffee, 40% tea, and65% alcohol. The SDAs did not differ from the general population in the choice of milk typeor breakfast eating, but they consumed more vegetables, less salt, soft drinks and alcohol.Use of recommended margarines was less common among the SDAs, however. The numberof SDA food choices was associated with religious activity and middle age but not withgender, education or SDA family background.

Milk and Table Fat Choice in Atherosclerosis Prevention Project. MINNARASANEN, HARRI NIINIKOSKI, OLLI SIMELL, HANNA LAGSTROM and STRIP BABYSTUDY GROUP, Cardiorespiratory Research Unit and Department of Pediatrics, Uni-versity of Turku, Kiinamyllynkatu 10, 20520 Turku, Finland.

In the prospective STRIP project 1062 children were at 7 month of age randomised to anintervention group (N=540; low-saturated-fat, low-cholesterol diet) or to a control group(N=522; unrestricted diet). Families kept 3- to 4-day food records of the child’s diet regularlyat 5- to 12-month intervals until the age of 5 years. The food choices of the first 100intervention and 100 control children were evaluated using Micro Nutrica computer program(Social Insurance Institute, Turku, Finland). Depending on age, 84–90% of the children inthe intervention group used skim or 1% fat milk as their main milk source (over 75% of themilk used) after the age of 12 months, whereas skim or 1% fat milk was used by 19–32% ofthe control children. Two to five percent of the intervented children and 39–63% of the controlchildren used 1.9% or 3.9% fat milk. The intervented children consumed more soft margarinesand less butter than the controls. In conclusion, individualized dietary counselling of familiesmarkedly influences milk and table fat choices of children.

Development of Scales to measure Health and Taste Orientations AmongConsumers. KATARIINA ROININEN, LIISA LAHTEENMAKI and HELY TUORILA, De-partment of Food Technology, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 27 (Viikki B), FIN-00014Helsinki, Finland.

Health and Taste Attitude Scales were developed to assess consumers’ orientations towardhealth and hedonic characteristics of foods. Items were generated using expressions elicitated

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in a qualitative study. The attitudes were measured using 37 statements on health and 44 ontaste, rated from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Items were tested in a representativesample of 1005 Finnish adults (18 to 81 years). As expected from the results of the qualitativestudy, three health-related and four taste-related factors were extracted. Health-related factorswere labelled as “general health interest”, ”light product interest” and “interest in naturalfoods”. Taste-related factors were named as “cravings for sweet foods”, “using food asreward”, “feeling guilty about eating” and “pleasure”. Age and gender affected the responses.Males and young respondents were less concerned about healthiness and naturalness of foodthan females and older respondents. Multi-item scales with Cronbach’s alphas (0.67 to 0.89)were constructed from the extracted factors and their predictive validity will be tested byanalysing subjects’ responses to foods with weak and strong connotations on health and taste.This study is a part of EU funded project FAIR CT95-0574.

Models of the Food Choice Process. JEFFERY SOBAL, Division of NutritionalSciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, U.S.A. (Plenary Lecture).

This presentation examines models used to conceptualize, analyse, and change food choices.The concept of food choice can be seen as a process that incorporates related concepts, suchas food acceptance and food selection. Food choices include both cognitive and biologicalcomponents. Factors involved in the food choice process include social (food traditions, foodideologies, etc.), psychological (food knowledge, food preferences, etc.), and physiological (foodneeds, sensory perceptions, etc.) influences that operate within specific contexts. Aggregate foodchoice patterns collectively produce diets, food habits, foodways, cuisines, etc. Many modelsare used to examine food choices, including physiological biological models, individualisticpsychological models, interpersonal social psychological models, institutional sociologicalmodels, market-based economic models, biocultural anthropological models, and contextualenvironmental models. Application of various models to food choices structures the way foodchoice is defined, assessed, and the interventions chosen to change food choices. Food choiceis a fundamental concept for many areas of research and practice, and it is important toconsciously consider the variety of options for thinking about it and the limitations andadvantages of employing particular models.

Ambivalence about Food: Implications for Attitude Theory and Research.PAUL SPARKS1, RHIANNON JAMES1, MARK CONNER2, RICHARD SHEPHERD1 andRACHEL POVEY1, 1IFR, Earley Gate, Reading, U.K., RG6 6BZ and 2Dept. Psychology,University of Leeds, U.K.

Researchers across different disciplines have written about ambivalence and food. In thispresentation, we discuss a psychological approach to ambivalence and food choice, focussingon the implications of ambivalence for attitude theories and the consequences of ambivalencefor empirical studies of attitude–dietary behaviour relationships. From the perspective taken,ambivalence can be defined as “a psychological state in which a person holds mixed feelings(positive and negative) towards some psychological object”. We illustrate our research in thisarea with an account of two empirical studies. In the first study, respondents (N=58) answeredquestions about healthy eating, dietary change strategies and barriers to change. The findingsare discussed in relation to mixed feelings about food choice. In the second study, respondents(N=296) completed a questionnaire structured around Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour.In this, we included items with which we sought to measure levels of ambivalence. The resultsare discussed in relation to our hypothesis that greater ambivalence would be associated withan attenuation in attitude-intention relationships. The general implications of the findings arediscussed.

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Conceptualizations in Relation to Choice and Use of Food. EVA SVEDERBERG,Lund University, Department of Education, Box 199, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden.

For educational purposes, research has been proposed on the circumstances and facts whichgovern eating habits and the intake of nutrients. By focusing on the perspective of theindividual, this study explores and describes how previous experiences influence people’sthinking and acting in relation to their present eating habits to elucidate factors that contributeto, or hinder, changes for the promotion of health.An empirical study comprised a group of eighteen metalworkers and their families in threeethno-cultural groups: Finnish, Croatian and Swedish. The open and explorative form ofdata collection from each family comprised a participant observation during the preparationof a hot meal, and two semi-structured interviews based on the participant observation: oneinterview focused on food rich in dietary fat and one on food rich in dietary fibre.The analysis had an interpretative and contextual character (Svensson, 1994) aimed atcategorising descriptions of the conceptualization influencing the choice and use of food.Also, one aspect of the sociocultural concept habitus, symbolic capital, was used in theanalysis (Bourdieu, 1990).In the families who changed their choice and use of food in accordance with the SwedishNutrition Recommendations, experience related to health problems was predominantlydecisive in the conceptualization of food and in their choice and use of food. In thefamilies who did not change their choice and use of food at all, or just marginallychanged their choice and use of food, experiences related to their cultural backgroundwere prodominantly decisive.

Bourdieu, P. (1990). The logic of practice, Cambridge: Polity.Svensson, L. (1994). Theoretical foundations of phenomenography. In Ballantyne R. & BruceC. (Eds.) Phenomenography: philosophy and practice (pp. 7–20). Brisbane: QUT Publicationsand Printing.

Dutch Consumers’ Experience with Implementing Dietary Recommendationsto Reduce Fat Intake. PATRICIA VAN ASSEMA1, BRENDA KEMPERS1, JOHANNESBRUG1 and KAREN GLANZ2, 1Department of Health Education and Promotion, Maas-tricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, the Netherlands; 2Cancer ResearchCenter of Hawaii, University of Hawaii, 1236 Lauhala Street, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813,U.S.A.

The mean fat intake of the Dutch population is higher than recommended. In educationalmessages that are taken to the Dutch public, many different dietary recommendations forreducing fat intake are given, e.g. use low fat milk, reduce meat intake, etc. Purpose of thestudy was to assess which types of dietary recommendations are difficult to implement forconsumers and which are easier. Two classifications were used for type of recommendation:the product group the recommendation relates to, and the recommended type of behavioralchange recommended (e.g. eat less of a high fat product, prepare a product differently). Sixty-six people were recruited to implement 25 recommendations during a four week period. Atbaseline, participants completed a food frequency list to assess which recommendations theyalready implemented. At posttest, participants completed a questionnaire to assess difficultyof implementation of recommendations. The results support the hypothesis that there aredifferences in difficulties consumers experience in implementing different types of re-commendations. For instance, recommendations to prepare a product differently were easiest,while recommendations to eat less of a high fat product were most difficult to implement.Further research should extend this line of inquiry to help design optimally effective nutritioninterventions.

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Factors Influencing Successful Long-term Stabilisation of Reduced BodyWeight. JOACHIM WESTENHOEFER, ASTRID STELLFELDT and WIEBKE MARTENS,Dept. of Nutrition and Home Economics, Fachhochschule Hamburg, LohbrueggerKirchstr. 65, D-21033 Hamburg, Germany.

In this cross-sectional study we compared 39 women who maintained reduced weights for 2or more years with 28 women who tried to reduce weight, but were not successful in the longrun. We assessed eating behaviour, activity, motivational variables and social support in asemi-structured interview. The unsuccessful women had a BMI of 33±4, the successful womenhad reduced their BMI from 30±4 to 23±3, which corresponded to a long-term weight lossof 19±11 kg that was maintained for 6±5 years. Successful weight maintainers reportedsignificantly more to take their time to eat and not to snack or eat between meals. Most ofthem were consciously controlling their eating behaviour even after years of successful weightmaintenance. They preferred low fat foods significantly more often. They also reported moreoften that their decision to lose weight was accompanied by private or professional changesor that such reinforcing changes occurred after weight loss. The unsuccessful subjects had thenecessary nutritional knowledge, but did not maintain their cognitive control of behaviour.

SYMPOSIUM: PROMOTING DIETARY CHANGEPromoting Dietary Change Via Personal Dietary Information. PAUL SPARKSand MONIQUE M. RAATS, Institute of Food Research, Earley Gate, Reading, RG66BZ, U.K.

Diet and health are intimately linked. Despite widespread recommendations that people inthe western world should make changes to their diets in order to benefit their health, positivechanges in national consumption levels often appear difficult to achieve. At the same time,there exists some debate as to whether health promotion efforts should be targeted at apopulation level or whether they should best be directed at “at risk” individuals. The themeof this symposium is the provision of personalized dietary information. People may haveparticular difficulties in assessing their intake of certain dietary components, such as fat (forexample). If people realize that their diets do not match up to expert recommendations, arethey more motivated to try to initiate dietary changes than if they view their diets asnutritionally adequate? Does the provision of accurate information about personal dietaryintake then have the potential to change people’s opinions about the adequacy of their diets?Can this kind of information contribute to actual dietary change? The contributors to thissymposium present empirical findings which assess the effects of providing people with personalinformation about the composition of their own diets and address the potential advantagesand disadvantages of pursuing this strategy in health promotion contexts.

The Effects of Varying Levels of Personalised Dietary Feedback on DietaryFat Intake. MONIQUE M. RAATS, PAUL SPARKS, MOIRA GEEKIE and RICHARDSHEPHERD, Institute of Food Research, Earley Gate, Reading, RG6 6BZ, U.K.

Little advance has been made in the United Kingdom with regard to key nutritional goals.Unrealistic optimism has been demonstrated for a number of diet-related health problems,and people’s low estimates of their risks associated with these problems also seem to be relatedto a biased perception of their own food consumption. Many people seem to be unaware oftheir dietary fat intake; this may be related to the difficulties people meet when trying toassess their own intake of dietary components and the effect of any changes they make totheir diet. The results of four studies investigating the motivational effects of the provision ofdifferent levels of dietary feedback information will be discussed. The level of informationprovided to participants in the studies ranged from information about only the percentage

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energy coming from fat in their diets to more extensive information detailing the main sourcesof fat, carbohydrate, starch and fibre in their diets. The results of all the studies are discussedin relation to their implications for health promotion strategies.

Individualized Dietary and Psychosocial Feedback to Improve Eating Habitsof Blue-Collar Working Women. MARCI KRAMISH CAMPBELL, Department ofNutrition, Campus Box 7400, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599U.S.A.

This paper will examine the effect of providing personalized dietary feedback in the contextof a multi-behavioral intervention. Health Works for Women is a five year study aimed atimproving health of rural women working in medium-sized textile and light manufacturingindustries. Eight worksites in eastern North Carolina (having at least 100 women per worksite)were randomized to either intervention or control groups. Behaviors targeted for improvementincluded healthy eating, physical activity, smoking cessation, and cancer screening. Eachwoman received an individualized computer-tailored health magazine after completing abaseline survey. The study conceptual framework was based primarily on the stages-of-changemodel and Social Cognitive Theory. The magazines incorporated the individual surveyresponses to provide behavioral feedback and action plans based on stage of change, anadvice column addressing the individual’s barriers and outcome expectations, and tailoredtestimonials, tips, and recipes. Women’s average education was 12 years, and average age was35–41 years, 66–75% were eating a high fat diet and less than 10% consumed adequate fruitsand vegetables. Process and outcome data will be presented.

The Impact of Computer-Tailored Nutrition Education on Changes in Fat,Fruit and Vegetable Intake. JOHANNES BRUG∗, PATRICIA VAN ASSEMA, KARENGLANZ and GERJO KOK, Department of Health Education and Health Promotion,Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD, Mastricht, The Netherlands.

Computer-tailored nutrition education is a means to provide subjects with computer-generatedpersonalized feedback about their diet and about their dietary determinants. A randomizedtrial was conducted to study the impact of computer-tailored feedback on changes in intakeof fat, fruit and vegetables. Respondents in the experimental group received computer-generated feedback letters tailored to their dietary intake, intentions, attitudes, self-efficacyexpectations and self-rated behavior. Half of the respondents in the experimental groupreceived additional ipsative feedback tailored to changes in behavior and intentions after thefirst feedback letter. Respondents in the control group received a single general nutritioninformation letter in a similar format as the tailored letters. Computer-generated feedbackhad a significantly greater impact on fat reduction and increases in fruit and vegetable intakethan general information. Ipsative feedback had an additional significant impact on fat andfruit intake. The results indicate that computer-generated individualized dietary feedback canbe effective in inducing dietary changes towards recommended intake levels. The resultsfurther indicate that ipsative feedback might increase the longer-term impact of computer-tailored nutrition education.∗New address: Open University, Heerlen, The Netherlands.

Assessing the Efficacy of Personalised Fat Feedback. CHRISTOPHER J. AR-MITAGE and MARK CONNOR, Department of Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds,LS2 9JT, U.K.

U.K. government guidelines recommend that one should consume no more than 35% ofcalories from fat in the diet. Epidemiological data suggest this target is not being met. Thepresent study provided participants with information leaflets concerning the government

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recommendations with either: individualised feedback concerning percentage fat consumed(N=266) or no personalised feedback (N=240). Food frequency data and psychologicalvariables from Ajzen’s (1991) theory of planned behaviour (TPB) were the outcome measures.Overall findings suggested no effect of feedback. However, controlling for initial diet showedthat personalised feedback reduced percentage, total and saturated fat intake in individualsinitially consuming more than 35% fat. TPB variables were useful predictors of intentionsand low fat eating behaviour, although feedback had little direct impact on any of theconstructs. Prediction of behaviour was superior when self-perception measures were used,suggesting reporting bias. The present study therefore supports the provision of personalisedfeedback for “at risk” groups, but calls into question the adequacy of the TPB as a tool forintervening in food choice behaviour.

Effects of Feedback About Personal Dietary Fat Intake. DEBORAH J. BOWEN,Cancer Prevention Research Program, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1124Columbia Street, Seattle, WA 98104, U.S.A.

Feedback of consumption level for important nutrients or foods, and directions or advice forpossible changes to dietary habits could help interested individuals make behavioral changes.We have conducted two studies to determine the effects of dietary fat consumption feedbackon psychological and behavioral variables, including fat intake. The first study, conducted inyoung women and men, assessed the effects of providing feedback about dietary fat intakeon short-term psychological and behavioral variables. Participants completed a brief foodfrequency checklist. Using this data we provided feedback about level and meaning of currentfat consumption, and methods for reducing fat consumption. Level of feedback (belowaverage, about average, higher than average) affected psychological variables and behavioralvariables. The second study involved the provision of personal feedback about fat, fruit,vegetable intake to participants in an ongoing randomized trial to test the effects of vitaminson lung cancer rates in smokers. The feedback consisted of level of current consumption andrecommendations for changes to meet the national goals. The data from both studies will bepresented, along with recommendations for future research.

INFLUENCES ON HEALTHY EATINGIncreasing Fruit and Vegetable Consumption in a Worksite InterventionProgramme of Dietary Education. ANNIE S. ANDERSON1, DAVID N. COX2, SUSANELEY3, RACHEL STEWART2, MICHAEL E. J. LEAN3 and DAVID J. MELA2, 1School ofManagement and Consumer Studies, University of Dundee; 2Institute of Food Re-search, Earley Gate, Reading; 3Department of Human Nutrition, University of Glasgow,U.K.

Throughout Northern Europe increasing fruit and vegetable intake (FVI) has been identifiedas a major dietary target. To assess the impact of a nutrition education programme aimed atincreasing FVI an intervention study was undertaken in low FVI consumers in workplacesettings. Sites were randomised into three groups: Specific Advice Group (SAG) (N=31),General Advice Group (GAG) (N=36) and a Control Group (ConG) (N=26). The advicegroups participated in a programme based on educational, motivational and behaviouralapproaches to dietary change and the SAG group also received a videotape presentationfocusing on diet-disease relationships and practical strategies for dietary change. Resultsshowed that fruit and vegetable intakes had significantly increased in the advice groups (SAG264±20 g to 446 g+32 g) (GAG 317 g±28 g to 504 g±38 g) with a lesser increase in thecontrol group (ConG 269 g±20 g to 354 g±45 g). These results point to the value of worksitesettings for dietary education programmes and suggest these might complement other individualand public health approaches to dietary change.This study was funded by MAFF.

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A Behavioural Programme to Increase School Children’s Consumption ofNutritious Snack Foods. M. A. BOWDERY, C. EGERTON, C. F. LOWE, P. J. HORNEand J. H. GRIFFITHS, School of Psychology, UCNW, Banger, U.K.

An intervention package was developed to enable children to choose and consume a widerange of healthy snacks. Twenty-six 5–6 year-old school children, each randomly allocated toone of three teams, were daily presented with a combination of fruit, vegetables, and sweetand savoury snacks at school. Dependent measures taken were (i) verbal statements ofconsumption intentions, (ii) choice of snack and (iii) actual consumption of snack foods.Following baseline, subjects were exposed to a video film in which a group of peers knownas the “Food Dudes” modelled consumption of target snacks (i.e., fruit and vegetables). The“Food Dudes” also explained the rules of a “game” whereby the children and their respectiveteams could win prizes by eating target snacks. During this intervention phase, subjectsreceived tokens for choosing and consuming target foods and teams competed to obtain thegreatest number of tokens. Baseline conditions were then re-introduced. Results indicatedthat the modelling and rewards intervention had a strong effect on all dependent measures.Importantly, actual consumption of fruit and vegetables increased substantially from baselinelevels. Two and six months follow-up data indicated that fruit and vegetable snacks continuedto be consumed at high levels.

Factors Influencing ‘Five-a-Day’ Fruit and Vegetable Consumption in LaterLife. ANGELA E. JOHNSON, ANGELA J. M. DONKIN, JEANETTE M. LILLEY, KEVINMORGAN, ROGER J. NEALE, ROBERT M. PAGE, RICHARD L. SILBURN, Departmentof Health Care of the Elderly, University of Nottingham, NG7 2UH, U.K.

Popular advice is to eat at least five fruit and vegetables a day. Combining information fromfood frequency questionnaires and health interviews, factors influencing fruit and vegetableconsumption were assessed in a random sample of 571 independently living older people(aged 55+). Forty-eight percent of respondents ate at least five fruit and vegetables a day,mean daily consumption was 4.9 servings (SD 2.1). Previous research indicates that health,personal and socio-economic circumstances may influence fruit and vegetable consumption.To explore the combined influence of such variables specifically on the achievement of five-a-day targets, the sample was divided into two groups (those who ate five portions a day andthose who did not), and variables describing the respondents household and socio-economiccircumstances, physical health, psychological well being, and cooking skills were combined instepwise discriminant function analysis. Younger women, who are mobile, highly sociallyengaged, do not smoke and have no dental problems are the most likely to meet five-a-daytargets. Using these six variables 64.2% of all cases could be correctly classified as eating fivea day.

Possibilities for Point-of-purchase Interventions in Supermarkets and Work-site Cafeterias. INGRID STEENHUIS1, PATRICIA VAN ASSEMA1, MONIQUE VAN DENBROEK1 and KAREN GLANZ2, 1Department of Health Education and Promotion,University of Maastricht, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, Netherlands; 2CancerResearch Center of Hawaii, University of Hawaii, 1236 Lauhalastreet, Honolulu, Hawaii96813, U.S.A.

In 1997 an experiment will be conducted in 16 supermarkets and 16 worksite cafeterias inorder to determine the feasibility and effectiveness of two environmental interventions (e.g.food labeling and changes in food supply) aimed at reducing fat intake and increasingfruit and vegetables consumption. A preliminary investigation was conducted to determineconditions for adoption and implementation of the environmental interventions in worksitecafeterias and supermarkets. Results are used in designing and developing a nutrition labeling

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program and a change in food supply program. Information was gathered by means of semi-structural interviews with 10 catering managers of large Dutch companies and 10 supermarketmanagers. During the interviews the following topics were assessed: attitudes towards nutritioneducation; previous experiences; perceived advantages and disadvantages of point-of-purchaseinterventions; possibilities for and demands on point-of-purchase interventions; and theintroduction and evaluation of point-of-purchase interventions. The interviews showed thatworksite cafeteria’s and supermarkets are willing to participate in point-of-purchase programsif these programs satisfy certain demands. The interviews resulted in a list of demands on aprogram.

The Influence of Nutritional and Sensory Descriptive Information on Meas-ures of Food Selection and Acceptance in a Restaurant. KARIN STUBENITSKY,JACKIE I. AARON, SUSAN CATT and DAVID J. MELA, Institute of Food Research,Consumer Sciences Department, Earley Gate, Reading, RG6 6BZ, U.K.

Restaurant patrons (N=217) received the following additional menu information for a “target”low fat main meal option: (1) none, or (2) nutritional (“low fat”), or (3) sensory descriptive,or (4) nutritional plus sensory descriptive. Meals were scored for expected (pre-meal) andactual (post-meal) liking, pleasantness of taste, texture and appearance. Subjects also indicatedhow well the dish matched expectations and likelihood of repeat purchase, and providedsocio-demographic and attitudinal data. Additional menu information had no significantinfluence on main meal choice or pre-natal expectation ratings, but the latter was very high(ceiling effect). Additional information, particularly sensory descriptive, was associated withlower total meal fat and energy intakes. While nutritional information had neutral or positiveeffects on acceptance measures, sensory descriptive information generated reduced post-mealacceptance ratings, including reduced matching of expectations and future purchase intent.Results indicate that “healthy” options can significantly improve the nutritional profile ofrestaurant meals, and that nutritional information does not detract from their acceptance.However, sensory descriptive information can generate relative dissatisfaction, and shouldperhaps be used with caution.

Understanding Food Choices Using Decision Making Patterns. JAN TRUMBLEWADELL and GUSTAAF SEVENHUYSEN, Department of Foods and Nutrition, Uni-versity of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3T 2N2.

A new qualitative technique called the Food Choice Map was developed to determine theinfluences that affect food choices. The Food Choice Map captures the perceptions ofindividuals’ food related decisions and behaviours which reflect their own social, cultural,physical and economic environments. Such maps link the environmental contexts with theindividual’s own experience and reasons for food choices. This process creates a concept mapof the major influences of food choice and food behaviors in addition to identifying decisionmaking patterns for groups of people. This method has been tested internationally with severalpopulations in Indonesia and Canada. Data is presented on common influences in thesepopulations and similarities in the patterns. Groups of people characterized by decisionmaking patterns are described in terms of environmental influences and psychosocial responsesto food behaviours. Life stage and health status provide important contexts in understandingdifferences in the population. Resource control and the social network of individuals addressother common influences. Reliability and validity tests are presented.

The International Multidisciplinary Food Choice Conference series is affiliated to the Journal Appetite.