Nutrition and Health Claims as Marketing Tools

European regulations mandate that only substantiated and approved statements can be used as nutrition and health related claims in food marketing. A thorough understanding of consumer perceptions of these approved claims is needed to assess their impact on both the selection of functional foods and innovative functional food concepts. In this article, a conceptual framework on the European consumers' perception of nutrition and health claims on these functional foods is proposed. Through a literature review, common independent variables are structured, and an analysis of these variables shows that nutrition and health claims are mostly only perceived positive by specific target consumers (who need the product, accept the ingredient, understand the benefit and trust the brand). These consumers indicate that the products with substantiated and approved claims help them in reaching overall health goals. This increased expectation in functional efficacy may mediate an increase in repurchase intent, overall liking, and the amount consumers are willing to spend. Other consumers, however, may have adverse reactions towards nutrition and health claims on functional foods. Implications for the consumer and the industry are discussed.