This document summarizes a study on Finnish consumers' understanding and views of dietary fibre. It includes: 1) Focus group discussions found some knowledge of fibre sources but also misconceptions. Fibre was mainly associated with preventing constipation with little knowledge of other health benefits. 2) An online survey assessed fibre knowledge, beliefs about high-fibre foods, and intentions to consume them. It identified segments ranging from "Fibre enthusiasts" to "Uninterested". 3) While sources of fibre were reasonably understood, actual intake is lower than recommendations. The study suggests increasing intake through new high-fibre innovations and making fibre more interesting without negative impressions.

1. Consumers' understanding and
views on dietary fibre
Kyösti Pennanen
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
20.5.2021
HGF Webinar on Consumer Understanding on
Dietary Fibre and Proteins
20/05/2021 VTT – beyond the obvious
All pictures in the presentation from Unsplash.com

2. 20/05/2021 VTT – beyond the obvious
 Prevents constipation by increasing stool
frequency (Yang et al., 2012)
 Reduces blood glucose rise after a meal (Stephen
et al., 2017)
 Contributes in maintaining the normal blood
cholesterol levels (Stephen et al., 2017)
 Lowers body weight and waist circumference (Du et al.,
2010)
 Lowers mortality from cardiovascular disease, coronary
heart disease and all cancers (Kim & Je, 2018)
 Inverse association between dietary fibre intake and
incidence of type 2 diabetes (The InterAct Consortium,
2015)
 Might have effect on cognitive functioning and mental
well-being through gut-brain axis (Anderson et al.,
2017; Xu et al., 2018)
Dietary fibre has multiple benefits

3. 20/05/2021 VTT – beyond the obvious
 Dietary fibre intake recommendations
vary between 18 g/day up to 40 g/day
depending on country, age and gender.
Majority of the recommendations in EU
and US fall between 30-35 g/day for men
and 25-32 g/day for women (Stephen et
al., 2017)
 Actual dietary fibre intake is lower than
the recommendations all over the world
(Stephen et al., 2017; Barret et al., 2020)
But intake is not sufficient

4. 20/05/2021 VTT – beyond the obvious
 Consumers might be unaware of the long-term
health benefits of dietary fibre (Barret et al.,
2020)
 Consumers have difficulties in recognizing
products high in dietary fibre (Jezewska-
Zychowicz & Krolak, 2020)
 Products high in dietary fibre such as whole-
grain products might have association to
scepticism around the health value of
carbohydrate-based foods (Barret et al., 2020)
 Products high in dietary fibre might be
considered tasteless (Baixauli et al., 2008) and
expensive (Dominick et al., 2018)
Some reasons for low intake

5. 20/05/2021 VTT – beyond the obvious
 Aim was to understand Finnish consumers’
dietary fibre consumption
 Two complemetary studies:
a. Focus group discussions to generate initial
understanding on dietary fibre consumption,
dietary fibre knowledge, 2 groups, N=16
b. Online survey (N=1000) to understand
Finnish consumers’ dietary fibre knowledge,
identify relevant consumer segments based
on willingness to try and buy products high in
fibre
VTT study

6. 20/05/2021 VTT – beyond the obvious
 Some of the participants were aware of good sources of dietary
fibre such as rye bread, whole grain pasta, oat porridge, bran,
fruits, vegetables, berries
 Misconceptions, such as dried meat and fish contain fibre, fibre
is a good source of energy, pealed vegetables don’t contain
fibre, emerged
 Only health-related association was prevention of constipation.
No knowledge on other potential health benefits, not even on
those with accepted health claim
 In general, dietary fibre seem not to have any special meaning
or role in participants diet (cf. protein, which was discussed
often, even the theme of the discussion had nothing to do with it)
Focus group study
“Is there fibre in
everything that is
dried? Fish, meat,
reindeer meat...
How about tea and
coffee..? Those are
dried as well.”
“There is fibre in
bread.. If white
bread has fibre less
than 5g / 100 g then
it is like a bun,
rubbish. Rye bread
and dark breads as
well as whole grain
pasta have more
(dietary fibre).”

7. 20/05/2021 VTT – beyond the obvious
1. Dietary fibre knowledge (good sources of
dietary fibre; evaluation of statements related to
diet rich in dietary fibre; knowledge of Finnish
recommendations related to dietary fibre;
assessment of own dietary fibre consumption)
2. Beliefs about foods containing dietary fibre
(functional and affective beliefs)
3. Intention to try and buy products high in fibre
4. Demographics
The survey - measures

8. 20/05/2021 VTT – beyond the obvious
Consumers’ evaluations of good sources of dietary fibre*
*Sliding scale 0-10 in which 0=not at all good source of fibre and 10=very good source of fibre
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Consumers' evaluations on good sources of dietary fibre • In general,
consumers are
familiar with the
good sources of
dietary fibre
• However, foods
containing no fibre
(fish, meat)
received also
moderate scores
indicating
knowledge gaps

9. Consumers’ evaluations of statements related
to dietary fibre in a diet (%)
20/05/2021 VTT – beyond the obvious
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
’Diet rich in fibre…’
true (%) false (%) I don’t know (%)
√ √ √ √
√
√ √
√
√ √
√
√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
√
√
• Statements related to physiological health are known well
• Some misconceptions related to nail condition and age-related issues are visible
• Potential link between fibre and mental health is not known

10. Knowledge of national dietary fibre recommendation and self-
assessed daily dietary fibre intake (%)
20/05/2021 VTT – beyond the obvious
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
I don’t know I think I know I know
Do you know what is the national
recommendation for daily dietary fibre
intake?
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
The right
amount
Somewhat
less
Somewhat
more
I don’t know Far too less A lot more
Compared to the national daily dietary fibre
intake recommendation, I get fibre from the
food I consume…
• Only small fraction of consumers state that they were aware of the national fibre recommendation.
• When the national recommendation was revealed, about 40 % state that they consume the right
amount of fibre in their diet

11. 20/05/2021 VTT – beyond the obvious
Consumers’ beliefs about foods containing
dietary fibre*
*Sliding scale 0-10 in which 0=completely disagree and 10=completely agree
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Consumers’ beliefs about foods containing dietary fibre
• Foods with dietary
fibre perceived as
functional nutrient
and associated
with healthiness
• Foods containing
fibre are perceived
relatively
expensive and
moderate on taste
• Foods containing
dietary fibre seem
to evoke moderate
emotional
responses

12. Consumers’ intention to try and buy foods high
in fibre*
20/05/2021 VTT – beyond the obvious
*Likert scale 1-7 in which 1=completely disagree and 7=completely agree
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
I might buy foods high in fibre
in near future
I am interested in buying
foods high in fibre
I am going to try foods high in
fibre in near future
I am going to recommend
foods high in fibre to my
friends
Consumers’ intention to try and buy foods high in fibre • Intention to try and
buy foods which are
high in fibre is
relatively high
• Intention to
recommend foods
high in fibre is
moderate indicating
low involvement of
fibre to consumers

13. Segmentation according to intention to try
and buy products high in fibre
20/05/2021 VTT – beyond the obvious
* Scale in which 1=completely disagree and 7=completely agree
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Fibre enthusiasts Interested Average Uninterested
Segments according to intention to buy products
high in fibre*
22 %
32 %
38 %
8 %
• 22 % of the participants show very
high interest in buying products high
in fibre
• More than half of the participants
show interest in buying products
high in fibre
• Other half shows moderate or no
interest

14. 20/05/2021 VTT – beyond the obvious
Segment profiles: demographics
0 20 40 60 80 100
Uninterested
Average
Interested
Fibre enthusiasts
Segments by gender (%)
Male Female
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Uninterested
Average
Interested
Fibre enthusiasts
Segments by age group (%)
18-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-
• Fibre enthusiasts is a female and older dominated segment
• The share of females decrease in segments showing less interest in buying products high in fibre
• No clear differences by age groups in other segments

15. Segment profiles: functional beliefs about
foods containing dietary fibre*
20/05/2021 VTT – beyond the obvious
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Affordable
Unhealthy
Important part of a diet
Artificial
Safe
Dry
Useful to me
Good for gut bacteria
Segments by functional beliefs about foods containing dietary fibre
Fibre enthusiasts Interested Average Uninterested
*Sliding scale 0-10 in which 0=completely disagree and 10=completely agree
• Fibre enthusiasts evaluate
the positive functional
properties of foods
containing fibre extremely
high
• None of the segments
perceive foods containing
dietary fibre unsafe,
artificial or unhealthy
• All segments evaluate
foods containing fibre
relatively expensive

16. Segment profiles: self-assessed knowledge on national fibre
recommendation and daily fibre consumption (%)
20/05/2021 VTT – beyond the obvious
71,8
70,9
57,5
43,9
26,9
27,2
39,4
48
1,3
1,9
3,1
8,1
0 20 40 60 80 100
Uninterested
Average
Interested
Fibre enthusiasts
Do you know what is the national
recommendation for daily dietary fibre intake?
I don't know I think I know I know
0 10 20 30 40 50
I don't know
Far too less
Somewhat less
The right amount
Somewhat more
A lot more
Compared to the national daily dietary fibre
intake recommendation, I get fibre from the
food I consume…
Fibre enthusiasts Interested Average Uninterested
• Majority in all segments seem hesitant to claim that they know the Finnish recommendation for daily fibre
intake
• Among Fibre enthusiasts the self-assessed knowledge is the highest
• Uninterested claim the most to consume right amount of fibre per day

17. 20/05/2021 VTT – beyond the obvious
 Functional (health-related) features of dietary fibre are to
certain extent understood and appreciated. Affective
associations only moderate. Is dietary fibre a bit ”boring” in
consumers’ minds (cf. protein)?
 Knowledge of good sources of dietary fibre seem to be on a
good level, but intake is not high enough. How to increase the
intake?
 There seem to be relatively large consumer segments
interested in dietary fibre. Could they be open to new fibre-
rich food innovations?
 None of the segments had negative impression on foods
containing dietary fibre. How to make dietary fibre
interesting to those consumers who are not yet so keen
on them?
Conclusions

18. Kyösti Pennanen
Kyosti.pennanen@vtt.fi
+358 40 158 9679