Testing the Impact of Familiarity with Health Benefits Information on Dietary Supplement Choice in Pregnancy: An Online Choice Experiment

Lenka Malek*, Wendy J. Umberger, Shao Jia Zhou, Elisabeth Huynh, Maria Makrides

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    To help meet the increased requirements for critical nutrients during and around pregnancy, supplementation with essential nutrients is recommended. This study aims to determine how the previous awareness of nutrient health benefits and/or the provision of this information influences the importance placed on nutrients (folate, iodine, omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamin D) when choosing between dietary supplement products for pregnancy. Discrete choice experiment data were collected as part of a cross-sectional online survey administered to 857 pregnant women living in Australia. Four segments of women were identified that differ in their preference criteria when choosing among dietary supplement products for pregnancy. When choosing between products, the reinforcement of perceived health benefits (i.e., showing information on health benefits to those already aware of the benefits) was most effective at increasing the importance of folate (in all segments) and iodine (in two segments, 63% of the sample). Neither prior awareness of health benefits alone nor information provided at the point-of-purchase without prior awareness were enough to increase the importance of folate. Our findings suggest a need for simultaneous strategies that (1) provide information on health benefits before purchase and (2) ensure that information on health benefits is available at the point-of-purchase.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number1707
    Pages (from-to)1-17
    Number of pages17
    JournalNutrients
    Volume14
    Issue number9
    Early online date20 Apr 2022
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 May 2022

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