2.1 Association game

Group members wrote down the first couple of words that came into their minds after hearing a term to test their prior knowledge. The first term was functional food. Only two individuals from the HC group had heard it previously, but even they had no detailed knowledge about it. Nevertheless, almost everybody connected it to healthy diet and healthy lifestyle in both groups. The next expression was health, and NHC group associated it with words like fruit, vitamin, physical activity, happiness, salad, vegetables, and milk. HC group, however, thought in a much wider spectrum e.g. sport, vegetable fibres, physical activity, being stress- free, conscious diet, long life, happiness, fitness, vitality, pollutant-free, awareness and abstinence. The last expression was health-consciousness. In both groups, it was associated with regular physical activity and consumption of healthy foods. However, in HC group good time management, being stress-free, vitality and self-respect were also mentioned. The associations of HC group show that they think about these expressions on a considerably wider scale.

2.2 Frequency of consumption - identification of preferred products

After explaining the notion of functional food, we assessed which functional product categories were consumed frequently and what products were preferred mostly. Main categories were based on the classification made by the European Commission, and divided into further subcategories based on the classifications by Szakály and co-workers (2012) and Küster-Boluda and Vidal-Capilla (2017). Table 1 summarises the ranking of product categories and distinct products the most frequently consumed by the groups of HC and NHC consumers. In HC group, live flora/probiotic products are the most frequently consumed due to their positive effects on intestinal microbiota and digestion. Low-fat and low-cholesterol products are also popular due to their efficiency in controlling body weight. Wholemeal products are rich in fibre, thus help in digestion; although, one person expressed his concerns about wholegrain products, because different fungi can attack the grain crust, and eating their toxins would be not healthy. Products enriched with vitamins were purchased mostly for children. The products enriched with protein are consumed because certain members use them to control their hunger for protein after exercise and to increase muscle mass, while others buy them because of craving for sweets and consider them healthier, since their carbohydrate content is lower. Products enriched with omega-3 fatty acid were also relatively frequently consumed; however, several respondents claimed that it was needless to enrich oil and margarine with any beneficial ingredients, since they considered them basically unhealthy. Products enriched with minerals were ranked to last place. Overall, in HC group, quality and components of product and its effect on health were found to play very important role in their purchasing decisions, as members of this group are active information seekers with regard to healthy nutrition and healthy lifestyle.

In contrast, NHC group chose only 5 categories to rank. Added ingredients only to a very little extent influence members of NHC group, and their decision is primarily based on taste, not even price is a substantive influential factor. They do not compromise on taste for health, which explains why they are not interested in low-cholesterol and low-fat products. Though, they are not motivated to care about their own health, information related to health provides them with incentives upon buying food for their children.

2.3 Sources of information

Obtaining and processing information are important components of consumer behaviour, which influence purchasing decision-making process. HC group usually checks the origin of products and typically consume Hungarian or Central-European food, since they trust the quality assurance of these countries the most. It is also important for them to know the ingredients of products, since they plan their nutrition consciously. That is why they seek a wide spectrum of information including packaging, internet, family members, friends, colleagues (if they follow a health-conscious lifestyle), professional journals, books, TV programmes, physicians, workshops/lectures on a healthy lifestyle, dieticians. For NHC group, taste was found to be the only motivator; therefore, they are not particularly interested in information concerning the food. There are exceptions though, when a particular topic becomes widespread in the public mind, e.g. in the case of E-numbers. However, this factor was no longer considered important for respondents in the focus group when purchasing food. Thus, this group considerably narrowed down the sources of information to five elements: colleagues, family members, internet, shop assistants, and packaging. Also, a high priority is placed on experience as a source of information in this group. Consequently, it is crucial to have a positive feedback from the first purchase, on which further purchases are based.

2.4 Barriers and motivators of health behaviour

In order to assess the elements of barriers and motivators of health behaviour, and how they influence the consumption of functional foods, members of both groups put in order what factors caused them to follow or not to follow health promoting behaviour, based on the model of Downes (2008). Regarding the motivators of health behaviour, HC group considered each statement very important and the ranking was a major dilemma. Table 2 shows the final order of statements. Of note, even the last motivational aspect was essential to them, since they usually seek the company of people like coaches, bodybuilders, companions doing sports, lifestyle consultants, who are capable of providing them with credible information. Importantly, members of HC group keep themselves constantly informed about healthy lifestyle, and they are confident of how to maintain their health and how to reduce the risks of developing certain diseases. Regarding the barriers of health behaviour, NHC group ranked only 5 statements, since they found that statements of not knowing what to do or living in an unsafe neighbourhood are not relevant in their cases (Table 2). The most important barrier was the lack of time, since collecting information about healthy lifestyle and doing physical exercise would take too much time and energy. Furthermore, they are convinced that only by consuming food rich in energy can they perform both intellectually and physically.

2.5 Attitude towards functional food

The attitudes towards functional foods were examined based on the four dimensions of the model created by Urala and Láhteenmáki (2007). Respondents were asked to assess 26 statements on a seven-point scale on a questionnaire, where 1 indicated complete disagreement and 7 indicated complete agreement. Considering the small sample size, it is not possible to make generalisations based on the survey; however, it was appropriate as a frame of reference. The results indicate that members of both groups have positive attitude towards functional food, although members of HC group gave slightly better values in this manner. Participants in both groups considered as a reward that functional foods are beneficial to their health, although, more importance was attached to taste than health effects in NHC group as they claimed that they would not give up on sensory pleasures provided by the taste of foods. Taking the dimension of necessity, both groups find it important that these foods facilitate the better intake of vitamins, minerals, and trace elements that can prevent the development of numerous diseases. However, some members of NHC group mentioned that people did well without them 100-200 years ago as well. Regarding safety, participants find functional food safe at present, however, they express their hope that these foods will not turn out to have the opposite features later. Moreover, the food should be produced in Europe, especially in Central-Europe, as they trust the quality assurance system of these countries the most. Considering confidence in functional food, the groups were also asked which foods they trusted the most, functional food, organic food, GMO-free food, or e-free food. Both groups had definitely more confidence in functional food as compared to others. E-free products were thought to mislead consumers; they failed to believe that organic foods contain no chemicals at all due to the high level of environmental pollution; moreover, respondents found it difficult to track whether certain GMO products had been used for fattening of animals or not.

2.6 Hierarchical value mapping of functional foods

Consumers look for value in their purchasing decisions, and these values and their chains can be elaborated in the hierarchical value map. The hierarchical value map gives an explanation of why a consumer chooses functional food instead of its conventional equivalent. Based on responses collected from the HC group, we drew up the hierarchical value map, which contains aspects and connections mentioned at least three times (Fig. 1).

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Hierarchical value map of functional food purchases by health-conscious respondents (n=8)

Citation: Acta Alimentaria 49, 3; 10.1556/066.2020.49.3.7

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Responses collected from the NHC group did not allow for a meaningful assessment, because although they consume some functional food, their purchases from this food category are not based on conscious decisions and it is primarily the taste that dominates their purchases.

Of note, our results outline basically only the main characteristics of HC and NHC consumers and should be reinforced by representative survey with a larger number of cases. Nevertheless, during the focus group discussions it has become evident that the health behaviour of a person plays a significant role in the choice of functional food. Members of HC group value functional foods beneficial to health much more than conventional ones and would even pay higher prices for them. Members of NHC group welcome functional foods; however, they would consume them only if the taste also meets their expectations.