Acceptance and likelihood of purchasing vitamin D-fortified foods among Irish adults aged 18–65 years: A consumer study with conjoint analysis
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Date
2026-07-04
Authors
McGuinness, Lauren
McCarthy, Mary
Kiely, Mairead E.
McCarthy, Sinéad N.
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Abstract
Meeting recommendations for vitamin D is challenging due to limited food sources. Strategic fortification has been shown to prevent low vitamin D status. Using an online survey of Irish adults (n = 1008), this study assessed awareness of vitamin D deficiency, attitudes to fortification, cues-to-action and intention to consume vitamin D-fortified foods using a 7-point scale. Current consumption of supplements and fortified foods was assessed. Willingness to purchase vitamin D fortified foods was evaluated using a 9-point scale with the following attributes: food vehicle (i.e., bread, cereal, milk), fortification level (no information, with vitamin D and with vitamin D and health claim) and price, using conjoint analysis. Conjoint analysis indicated that the food vehicle (importance = 40.6%) and claim (38.3%) exerted greater influence on purchase decisions than price (20.8%). Bread generated the highest part-worth utility (0.204), yoghurt was approximately neutral (0.039) and breakfast cereal the least preferred (−0.244), a simple ‘with vitamin D' label produced a positive utility (0.177). Respondents grouped into four segments: Supplements and fortified food users (S&FF) (n = 595, 59.0%), supplements only (SO) (n = 161, 16.0%), fortified food only (FFO) (n = 145, 14.4%), non-users (NU) (n = 107, 10.6%). S&FF reported the highest positive attitudes (mean 5.6 ± 0.9), awareness (mean 5.6 ± 0.8) and intention to consume fortified foods (mean 5.2 ± 1.1), NU had lower awareness (5.2 ± 0.8) and intention (4.1 ± 1.3) but responded positively to cues to action such as health professional and family recommendations. Therefore, leveraging trusted health professionals and family-mediated cues to reach low-engagement groups could increase vitamin D intake.
Description
© 2026, the Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ).
Keywords
[CUBS] , [FoodNutritionalSciences] , [INFANT] , Vitamin D , Health behaviour , Public health , Fortification , Consumer acceptance
Citation
McGuinness, L, McCarthy, M, Kiely, M E & McCarthy, S N 2026, 'Acceptance and likelihood of purchasing vitamin D-fortified foods among Irish adults aged 18–65 years: A consumer study with conjoint analysis', Food Quality and Preference, vol. 145, 106038, pp. 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2026.106038
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