Health Claims in Food Marketing: Evidence on Knowledge and Behavior in the Cereal Market

This study examines the ready-to-eat cereal market during a period in which producers were initially prohibited from advertising cereals’ health benefits but were later permitted to make health claims. Results indicate that producer health claims led to significant increases in consumer knowledge of the fiber-cancer relationship, in fiber cereal consumption and in product innovation. Government and general information sources had limited impact on fiber cereal choices in the years prior to the advertising, despite the accumulation of scientific evidence linking fiber to colon cancer. Most segments of the population increased their fiber cereal consumption once health claims were added to the market, but some informationally disadvantaged segments that had responded less to government and other sources of information responded disproportionately to health claims compared to other segments. These findings suggest that policies governing producers’ use of health claims should be evaluated not only on how well they control deceptive or misleading claims, but also on how well they encourage producers to disseminate evolving health information to consumers.