Labeling and Taste Targeting

How Diet and Health Labels Influence Taste and Satiation

Research on how diet and health labels influence taste or satiation shows mixed findings that are study-specific and difficult to generalize.

Abstract

Research on how diet and health labels influence taste or satiation shows mixed findings that are study-specific and difficult to generalize. We offer a potential explanation to these inconsistencies. Results from a controlled cafeteria study suggest that health and diet labels might improve the perceived taste of less healthy, hedonic foods (such as desserts and possibly snack foods) without influencing the taste of more healthy utilitarian foods (such as entrées or possibly yogurt and soy foods). These findings have immediate implications for reinterpreting past research findings that may have gone unnoticed because they appeared inconsistent with conventional thinking.

For more information see Wansink, Brian, Koert van Ittersum, and James E. Painter (2004), “How Diet and Health Labels Influence Taste and Satiation,” Journal of Food Science, 69:9 (Nov-Dec), S340-S346. Acknowledgement: ©2004 The Institute of Food Technologists, Blackwell Publishing www.blackwell-synergy.com.

Contact:
Brian Wansink, PhD
Food and Brand Lab, Director
110 Warren Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
Email: foodandbrandlab@cornell.edu

*This study was conducted at the University of Illinois, former location of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab.

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© 2006 Cornell University, Food and Brand Lab, Department of Applied Economics and Management