Nutrition claims and balance of breakfast cereals - 2012

[PEREZGONZALEZ Jose D (2012). Nutrition claims and balance of breakfast cereals. Journal of Knowledge Advancement & Integration (ISSN 1177-4576), 2012, pages 105-107.] [Printer friendly]

Nutrition claims and balance of breakfast cereals

Nutrition and health claims are commonly used when marketing breakfast cereals. As claims cannot be legally made unless products meet such claims, it is of little interest testing the truth of individual claims. However, it is of interest to test whether individual claims inform about overall nutritional balance (BNI). This way, a consumer may rely on any significant claim for choosing more balanced breakfast cereals. This article summarizes research done in this regards (for more detail see Perezgonzalez, 2012b3).

Illustration 1 collates statistical information for seven claims: group medians for cereals with and without a particular claim, tests for equality of independent rank distributions (Mann-Whitney U, used to assess group differences), correlations of each claim with the BNI (Spearman's rho), and regression coefficients of each claim on the BNI4.

Illustration 1: Medians, Mann-Whitney U tests, and correlation and regression coefficients per group
Claims Md 'no' Md 'yes' U rho β R
Wholegrain 55.58 34.27 416.0** -.323** -.318** .482**
Low fat 35.40 44.65 405.0* .256* .272** Adj.R
Low sugar 39.68 22.04 61.5* -.224* -.270** .449
High fiber 56.21 36.81 608.5 -.190 ---
Low sodium 40.89 33.14 337.5 -.171 ---
Pick Me sun 39.59 29.53 62.5 -.150 ---
Heart health 36.99 40.89 609.0 .043 ---
(Dependent variable = BNI. Medians closer to 0.0 indicate greater balance. * p ≤ .05; ** p ≤ .01. Sig ≤ .05, 2-tailed)

According to above results, it can be concluded that:

  • Cereals with a 'wholegrain' claim have a BNI distribution significantly lower (median = 34.27; U = 416, p ≤ .01) than products without such claim (median = 55.58). Such claim alone could help identify some 32% of more nutritionally balanced products (rho).
  • Cereals with a 'low fat' claim have a BNI distribution significantly higher (median = 44.65; U = 405, p ≤ .05) than products without such claim (median = 35.40). The absence of such claim alone could help identify some 26% of more nutritionally balanced products.
  • Cereals with a 'low sugar' claim have a BNI distribution significantly lower (median = 22.04; U = 61.5, p ≤ .05) than products without such claim (median = 39.68). Such claim alone could help identify some 22% of more nutritionally balanced products.
  • The combined appearance of above three claims on the same product could help identify some 49% of more nutritionally balanced products in the sample (R), and may help identify about 45% of more nutritionally balanced products in the population (adj.R).
  • The remaining claims have BNI distributions not significantly different between groups. They are, thus, less dependable for identifying nutritional balance.

Author

Jose D PEREZGONZALEZ (2012). Massey University, Turitea Campus, Private Bag 11-222, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand. (JDPerezgonzalezJDPerezgonzalez).

Want to know more?

BNI™ journal (2012, issue 3) - Breakfast cereals
This issue of the Balanced Nutrition Index™ journal collates all BNI™ nutrition information for the original sample in a single book. You can also access information about each individual breakfast cereal on the BNI™ database and aggregated information on Wiki of Science (nutritional balance of food)
Wiki of Science - Marketing claims and the nutritional balance of breakfast cereals
This page provides detailed statistical analyses of the research summarised in this article.

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