Costlier does not always mean healthier
Consumers swayed by higher price
At a time when the term “clean eating” has become de rigueur, a new study reveals that people believe the more you spend on food, the healthier it is. Of course, some healthful foods are more expensive, but this is not universally the case. Cheap ingredients can also be beneficial, but are often discounted because of the expectation that healthier food simply costs more.
As Fast Company’ s Co. Exist reports, an Ohio State University study investigated this assumption. When subjects were presented with a fake product called Granola Bites, they equated a “health grade” of A with a higher price, and a “health grade” of C with a lower price. Merely increasing the price made it appear more virtuous.
In another test, subjects were asked about two versions of a mock trail mix: one was “rich in vitamin A for eye health,” the other “rich in DHA for eye health.” It’s common knowledge that vitamin A is beneficial for eyesight, but not so with DHA — many people don’t know what it is or what it does.
Regardless, test subjects rated t he higher- priced product, which contained DHA, as being more healthful.
“It’ s concerning. The findings suggest that price of food alone can impact our perceptions of what is healthy and even what health issues we should be concerned about,” study coauthor Rebecca Reczek said in a statement.
Interestingly, the study also found that people required more proof of the health claims of inexpensive products over expensive ones. When it came to the fictitious “Healthiest Protein Bar on the Planet,” some participants were told the bar cost $ 0.99 and others $ 4. They were given the option of reading product reviews before they offered their ratings, and were told that the average price of similar bars on the market was $2.
“People just couldn’t believe that the ‘ healthiest protein bar on the planet’ would cost less than the average bar,” Reczek said in a statement.
“They had to read more to convince themselves this was true. They were much more willing to accept that the healthy bar would cost twice as much as average.”