Why Is Healthy Food Perceived As Less Tasty?

A study shows that the less a product is presented as healthy, the better the taste ratings are before, during, and after consumption. Can food companies fight this association in the minds of consumers?

Article written by Fernando Arendar of Nitid Studio

The 60s and 70s brought about a cultural revolution that not only affected social mores but also a revolution in the way people perceive the link between diet and health outcomes.

It was during these decades that the term "lifestyle" first emerged. It was used to describe how not only the food on your plate contributes to your health, but also your daily habits.

With the massification of television came the TV shows dedicated to this type of culture. In the beginning, the foods associated with this type of healthy diet had the distinction of being tasteless or flavorless. There was not the variety of ingredients that could serve as substitutes for wheat flour as there is today. Sweeteners were also still in development and could not replace the taste of sugar.

Although the taste of healthy foods today has little to envy unhealthy ones, the latter are still perceived as tastier. It is undeniable that saturated fats provide a distinctive taste, but there are other reasons why healthy foods are still considered less tasty. Are you aware of them?

Here’s the fact: our brain learns and builds connections through the experiences and stimuli we receive. Based on this, it constructs symbols and meanings that are always framed by culture and context. The more often we are exposed to an experience or stimulus, the more that meaning is reinforced. This is called "associative memory" or "associative learning."

Phil Barden, author of the book "Decoded : The Science Behind Why We Buy”, compares this concept to a snowy road that gets deeper the more times it is walked on. Therefore, if we have long been exposed to the fact that healthy foods are not tasty, it will be harder to change that association. While the health food industry has grown by leaps and bounds, the fast food and junk food industry has grown even faster. Therefore, most people have been exposed to these foods from a young age and have long developed this association of unhealthy and tasty.

In a 2006 study published by the Journal of Marketing entitled "The Unhealthy = Tasty Intuition and Its Effects on Taste Inferences, Enjoyment, and Choice of Food Products," it was found that the same product presented as ‘healthy’ is perceived as less tasty than when presented as ‘unhealthy’. The relationship between unhealthy-tasty is so strong that it even changes the perception of taste, even though the product is objectively the same. This explains the failure of fast food and snack companies to introduce healthy products, such as the launch of Pizza Hut's Lo-cal pizza, McDonald's McLean pizza, Burger King Satisfries, Pringles Fat-Free, Frito-Lay, and the list goes on.

What’s the Solution?

While there is an ever-growing healthy food public that looks out for these signs on the packaging to distinguish this type of food from the unhealthy products, it is also important that this type of product is no longer perceived as tasteless so that it can gradually penetrate another audience that initially rejects it.

For your products, try highlighting the taste and appetizing properties of a healthy product when it is launched. It is important that our brain associates the product with something delicious from the beginning. However, the consumer's expectations of the product must be met, and no promises must be made that cannot be fulfilled. In 1998, for example, Frito-Lay introduced new fat-free potato chips. People got caught up in the hype of this "miracle food" and, within the first year, sales reached $400 million. Sales plummeted soon after, however, when it was revealed that the chips contain Olestra, a fat substitute that causes abdominal cramping and has laxative side effects.

Another way is to do something similar to what the British government did when it introduced a tax on sugar in soft drinks and did so successfully. According to the PHE report, the sugar content in lemonades, colas, and other soft drinks has dropped by 44% since 2015, with many companies cutting out the sugar to avoid the tax. This shows that companies have continued to communicate the product in the same way and consumers have not noticed this change. Using certain incentives or penalties without the consumer knowing or increasing the price is the most viable solution to get us to consume healthier products without our brains preventing it.