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Considerable efforts have been exercised to influence the intestinal microbiota by dietary means in such a way that the health of host is beneficially affected. Consumer's belief that certain foods can exhibit health benefits has resulted in the coining of the term functional foods. Functional foods exist at the interface between food and drugs, therefore offers great potential for health improvement and prevention of diseases when ingested as part of a balanced diet. The purpose of this paper is to examine functional foods as self‐care and complementary medicine.

The paper explores various aspects of functional foods such as the reasons for consumer's inclination, health claims, formulation, regulation, and labeling.

Any food can be regarded as functional if it can be demonstrated to affect beneficially one or more target functions in the body or reduce disease risk besides basic nutrition. Health beneficial properties of functional foods suggest their application as self‐care and complementary medicine.

Ingestion of functional food may help in maintaining the intestinal microbiota and prevent disease risk beyond their basic nutritional needs.

Increasing awareness of functional foods would have many health benefits such as reducing the incidence of non communicable diseases. The aim of this study is to investigate consumer awareness and consumption of functional foods in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece.

A sample population of consumers was randomly selected outside popular supermarkets in the city of Thessaloniki (n=154). Trained interviewers conducted interviews and a questionnaire was completed by each participant. Socio‐demographic information and details of knowledge and consumption of functional foods were obtained. Data were analyzed using Stata.

The analysis of the data showed that only 33 per cent of the consumers were aware of the term “functional foods”. Interestingly, the proportion of the sample population that knew about foods with health promoting factors was over 95 per cent. The term “functional food” was unfamiliar to the sample population. Over 70 per cent of the consumers surveyed consumed such foods, unaware of the terminology.

This appears to be the first Greek study to examine consumer awareness and consumption of functional foods.

Functional foods have been marketed as promoting health and reducing the risk of disease. While the market of functional foods is increasing across the globe, little is known about how actual and subjective health status are related to functional food choices and existing research evidence is inconsistent. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to systematically explore the relationship between functional food choices and perception related dimensions vs medical dimensions.

The study used data collected from a large-scale mail survey in Japan (N = 8,368) and a representative Internet survey in Lithuania (N = 900). It used structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the proposed conceptual model.

The general results indicated that functional foods could be used to maintain one’s subjective health status – the frequency of using functional food products was positively related to consumers’ subjective health status (p = 0.04). However, if consumers were experiencing health-related issues (self-reported disease symptoms or current medical treatment), there was no systematic relationship between such experience and the usage of functional food products.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first to systematically analyze the relationship between subjective health status, self-reported disease symptoms, current medical treatment and the frequency of using different functional food product groups. The findings indicated that it is important to simultaneously consider different underlying factors, such as specific to functional food targeted disease symptoms and specific food product groups, which contributed to a more thorough understanding of functional food consumption.

This study has two main purposes. First, the effects of health anxiety and perceived social value on the intention to consume functional food were examined. Second, the role of health knowledge levels in these relationships was identified.

The sample consisted of 271 restaurant consumers on the European side of Istanbul between August and October 2021. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the research model.

Restaurant consumers revealed that health anxiety and perceived social value positively affect functional food consumption intentions. Moreover, health knowledge levels have a negative moderating effect on the relationship between health anxiety and functional food consumption intentions.

Thanks to the findings of this study, the roles of health anxiety, perceived social value and health knowledge in functional food consumption were determined, thus filling a vital literature gap.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the most important characteristics of functional foods and the motives behind its consumption.

The data were collected in the direct interview. The sample (n=200) consisted of 137 women and 63 men at the age of 18-60 years. The research tool was a questionnaire divided into four sections. The first one included quality attributes. The second one included healthful properties, functional components and carriers. The third one concerned the motives for purchasing functional food and included the consequences and values. In the fourth section the participants were asked about gender, age and education.

Among the quality attributes the research reveals six principal components package of information on healthful properties and nutritional value of the product, attributes of taste, health and safety, practical packaging, freshness, purity and naturalness. In terms of health benefits, two components were distinguished prevention of health problems, strengthening of the body and improvement of its functions. Among functional components, the following were distinguished vitamins and minerals, dietary fibre and Omega-3 fatty acids. As the best carriers the following were recognized: cereal products, dairy products, meat products; mixtures of fruits and vegetables. As the most important consequences motivating people to consume functional food the following were recognized: the health effects of proper nutrition resulting from consciousness raising actions promoting health; and the joy of eating and improvement of the appearance. When it comes to the most important motivating factors, good health, long harmonious life and self-esteem were included. The means to achieve these goals are to be responsible for health.

The key factors determining the functional product and motivating for consumption of functional food may establish a basis for actions related to development and consumption of the food. The understanding of the factors that consumers take into account when choosing functional food will help in shaping the optimal strategies for product development. Learning about the basic motivating factors in consumption may be helpful in the development of healthy nutrition education and promotion programmes. The research may provide valuable support for actions related to food products promotion and marketing.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the purchase intention of functional food is influenced by the perception of carrier-ingredient fit, that is, to what extent the carrier product and functional ingredient are intuitively perceived to be matched, and how such influence is moderated by consumers’ prior nutrition knowledge and provided health claim.

Through two phases of experimental studies on 30 hypothetical functional foods, this paper analyzed the relationship between perceived carrier-ingredient fit and purchase intention which were reported by participants with different nutrition knowledge levels and in conditions that differed in the content of health claim.

Phase 1 (n=62) found that the positive influence of perceived fit on purchase intention of functional products was moderated by one’s prior nutrition knowledge; compared to those knowledgeable in food/nutrition fields, consumers with less knowledge relied more heavily on the perceived carrier-ingredient fit when making purchase decision. The results of study 2 Phase 2 (n=93) revealed that the perceived fit was more important to predict purchase intention in the condition without health claim. A further analysis revealed that health claim increased the purchase intention particularly for functional foods receiving poor perceived carrier-ingredient fit.

For innovative functional foods, the product development and market penetration may be benefit from fine-grained segmentation and positioning strategies that are based on the understanding of interaction between intuitive perception and cognitive knowledge.

The present work highlights consumers’ perception of the carrier-perception fit, interacting with nutrition knowledge and health claim, as a critical factor determining the acceptance of functional foods.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how health consciousness and skepticism toward health claims are related to perceived healthiness and willingness to buy functional food (i.e. functional yogurt) compared to conventional and organic (bio) food.

A survey of 295 consumers was conducted in Lithuania. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

Research findings indicate that health conscious consumers tend to discount messages about the health value of functional food and show preferences for organic food. In contrast, skepticism toward health claims has a higher negative homogenous impact on the perceived healthiness of functional, organic and conventional products compared to health consciousness. On the other hand, skepticism toward health claims does not directly reduce consumers’ willingness to buy functional, organic and conventional products.

Testing other settings, product categories, additional constructs and understanding underlying processes using an experimental design may help to gain more insights into how health conscious and skeptical consumers make food choices.

An examination of health consciousness and skepticism toward health claims can provide at least a partial explanation as to why many functional food products fail to gain consumer confidence.

Based on the reactance theory, the study sheds some light on the understanding of how different psychosocial factors are related to consumer attitudes toward functional, organic and conventional food.

After the introduction of functional food term in 1980s, production and marketing of functional food in Japan, USA and European markets has developed rapidly. Compared to these developed countries, the market size of the functional food in Turkey is very limited. The purpose of this study is to explore reasons of limited development and marketing strategies regarding the size of expenditure, governmental legislation and consumer preferences and highlight the type of functional food products available at large retail chains of important suppliers in Turkey.

Description and exploration of market size and expenditure were determined by using Euromonitor International (2017). The factors influencing consumption and attitudes toward functional food purchasing were evaluated by studying literature research. The number and types of functional foods in the most important supermarket chains were determined to show the growth rate in Turkey. Products in the markets were determined based on the direct observation available, and functional foods sold in the markets were noted at the visits and tabulated. The type of functional food product, its category, the main benefit offer to the consumer and the brand and status of the food processing industry (national or not) were identified. Government legislation on special health claims for functional foods was stated.

Market size of Turkey per capita expenditure was approximately US$5.8m, which was very low, whereas that of Japan and USA was US$86.7m and 100.2m, respectively, in 2017. The variety of functional food products was at a very low level, and functional food market share was limited compared to powerful countries like Turkey. International companies had a higher market share than national companies. Danone with dairy functional foods was the biggest company in Turkey market. Literature studies showed that Turkish people have less knowledge about functional foods and need education. According to reviews, socio-demographic characteristics such as age, education, income levels, gender and prices were important indicators influence consumer awareness and consumption of functional foods. Consumer’s knowledge must be increased with their health benefits by education. Reviews showed that nearly 60 per cent of people did not have any information about functional food and women were more aware and the most active user group. Dairy products were the most preferred functional foods in Turkey. Because of limited awareness, there is a need for elucidating studies that are targeting potential consumers. Turkey did not have labeling system to claim foods functionality on packages and did not permit foods that contribute to health maintenance and/or recovery from disease, but Republic of Turkey Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock applies some laws and regulations.

This study provides market study and detailed research about marketing strategies and legislation of functional foods in Turkey. People have high demand to consume and there are big potentials of functional food marketing and opportunities for food industries. But to increase consumption and marketing size, it needs education of consumer, advertising and some adjustment of legislation by government.

This paper aims to explore the socio-cultural meanings of functional foods for Tunisian consumers and to understand how these meanings shape their preferences and practices in the particular context of a Middle-East and North African (MENA) region.

A constructivist perspective based on multi-qualitative methods was designed allowing data collection in a natural setting through focus groups interviews, individual in-depth interviews and projective techniques among Tunisian consumers.

Findings show the complexity and importance of conscious and unconscious non-health-related socio-cultural factors in the construction and acceptance of functional foods by the Tunisian consumer. Common sense knowledge, social environment and tradition shape the constructions and practices of functional foods. These factors may act as a shortcut to compensate for unhealthy behaviour and as a social marker to reflect trendiness and identity.

The findings are specific to the Tunisian setting and may be not transferable to other settings.

The role of information is central in functional food acceptance. Communication on health effects should consider not only the formal nutritional health benefit but also lay knowledge.

The findings of this research contribute in the government’s understanding of Tunisian’s constructions of health and well-being by suggesting that besides health motives, non-health-related factors such as lay knowledge, social influences and conspicuous consumption play an important role in functional foods choice.

This paper contributes to extend functional foods literature by exploring the complex interconnected conscious and unconscious socio-cultural constructions behind functional food choice. It contributes also to the understanding of the food consumer behaviour in the specific cultural context of the Arab-Muslim MENA region, an under investigated setting.

The desire for health and well-being is a strong driver in the food market. Scientific publications show that health is an important motive for both functional and organic food consumption. The aim of this study is to investigate whether functional and organic food consumers have the same understanding of health, and which health and well-being improving lifestyles are characteristic for them. Based on this, the authors identify dimensions for a wellness-orientated lifestyle model.

In order to measure the different well-being and health lifestyles, AIO dimensions were adapted to theoretical wellness concepts. The results of the conducted factor and multiple OLS regression analyses are based on the data of an online survey of 500 German consumers.

Consumers of functional food have a similar concept of health and well-being to organic consumers, but differ in certain aspects in their way of achieving this. The purchase of organic and functional food is driven by different lifestyles. Overall, the results confirm the link between organic food and an active lifestyle, as well as functional food and a passive lifestyle.

The paper contributes to the discussion of health in marketing and especially in the food industry. The results reveal which kinds of lifestyle food marketing should be considered in a target group specific product communication and positioning.

This study contributes to the understanding of consumer behaviour, especially in the organic and functional food segment. It highlights the importance of health for both food types and also important differences in the understanding of wellness. Moreover, the results reveal first dimensions for a wellness-orientated lifestyle approach – especially for the food market.