The Challenge
Malnutrition is when the diet that someone consumes does not contain the nutrients that they need. Older adults (65+) are at particular risk of experiencing malnutrition, which can reduce quality of life, increase the risk of disease and make hospital stays longer (British Dietetic Association, 2024).
Food fortification is when nutrition is added to a food. It is one approach that can be used to prevent malnutrition. However, fortification can sometimes affect the sensory experience of a food which may reduce consumers’ desire to eat these foods.
The method
The aim of the research was to understand the factors that influenced whether a fortified food was acceptable to a consumer and whether they would try, purchase and/ or consume a fortified product. In particular, Dr Laura Wilkinson and her team were interested in the acceptability of fortified foods that are not traditionally associated with fortification.
Alongside their project partners, BIC Innovation and the Awen Institute, the team were funded by Welsh Government to work with manufacturers to produce non-traditional fortified test foods (e.g., a protein fortified ice-cream).
Dr Wilkinson and her team worked with 5 manufacturers and tested 6 fortified foods with consumers, including an older adult group, a younger adult group (control) and a peri-menopause/ menopause group. The team used a range of methodologies, drawing on consumer psychology approaches, virtual reality and eye-tracking technologies and an online tool to assess portion size selection.
Impact
The key benefit of the Dr Wilkinson's and her team's approach was that, not only were they able to pool their data across test-foods to identify trends to inform the sector, but they were also able to provide consumer insight back to the individual manufacturers about the fortified food that they produced. Indeed, the team's data already contributed to the launch of one of the test food products to the market.
Dr Wilkinson and her team engaged in knowledge exchange with Welsh food manufacturers and policy makers at the Welsh Government Food and Drinks Division flagship event, BlasCymru/ TasteWales, at the Pembrokeshire Aquaculture Day and via the NutriWales Cluster.
Overall, this project has highlighted the potential benefit of food manufacturers engaging with consumer insight early in the new product innovation/ reformulation journey to ensure acceptability and support a nourished older adult population.
