British Food Journal

Market potential of lignans and omega-3 functional cookies

Nikolina Čukelj Predrag Putnik Dubravka Novotni Saša Ajredini Bojana Voučko Duška Ćurić
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Nikolina Čukelj Predrag Putnik Dubravka Novotni Saša Ajredini Bojana Voučko Duška Ćurić , (2016),"Market potential of
lignans and omega-3 functional cookies", British Food Journal, Vol. 118 Iss 10 pp. -
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 Market potential of lignans and omega-3 functional cookies

1. Introduction

Functional foods can be developed from practically any food through enrichment,
fortification, alteration, or enhancement of its specific components. The most popular among
those are probiotics, prebiotics, drinks, cereals, bakery products, spreads while foods
considered “fun foods” such as candies, snacks or other confectionaries, are perceived in a
nutritionally negative way and considered no to “add good to your life” (Siro et al., 2008;
Kraus, 2015). Nevertheless, confectionery foods can be important factor on the rising
functional food market (Siro et al., 2008), since by default they have a good taste and large
consumer market, a key factor for achieving the market success (Pickford and Jardine, 2000;
Kraus, 2015). Consumers’ acceptance of functional foods has been extensively researched
(Verbeke, 2005; Siro et al., 2008; Vella et al., 2014; Kraus, 2015), but studies on the
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perception of the specific confectionery functional food were not often reported. Thus, this
research looked into the market potential of functional cookies from the viewpoint and
preferences of Croatian consumer as a member of the EU food market. Cookies were chosen
as a carrier product due to apparently huge popularity. Namely, in 2015 Euromonitor
International reported cookies and snack bars surpassing chocolate confectionery, to be the
second biggest snack category globally. Over 2010-2015, cookies were the fastest growing
snack category, and will continue to grow strongly over 2015-2020. Additionally the
“Biscuits & Cakes Market Update 2014” by Research and Markets stated that in the cookie
sector the best performed area were healthy cookies. Demand for cookies “in general remains
high, as consumers still like to treat themselves regularly”, while authors of the report
“forecast total market growth of 14.8% between 2014 and 2018”.
These market reports serve as encouragement for cookies to be used as a vehicle for daily
delivery of valuable nutrients, especially the ones limited in the Western diet, such as lignans
(Landete, 2012) and omega-3 fatty acids (Lorente-Cebrian et al., 2013). The major
importance of lignans, as a group of phytoestrogens, lies in their (anti) estrogen activity
(Landete, 2012), and the negative link between lignan intake and risk of cardiovascular
diseases and breast and prostate cancers (Kuijsten et al., 2005; Landete, 2012). Omega-3 fatty
acids are essential nutrients important for maintaining homeostasis, normal development and
mental health. The higher intake of omega-6 and the lower intake of omega-3 than
recommended (2:1 ratio) promotes inflammatory effects related to heart diseases, rheumatoid
arthritis, obesity, diabetes, cancer, and mental illness. Today, ratio of omega-6:omega-3 in the
Western diets is 15:1 to 16.7:1 (Lorente-Cebrian et al., 2013).
Excellent source of both, lignans and omega-3 fatty acids is flaxseed (Oomah, 2001), but data
on its intake and consumer acceptance is virtually unknown. One of the rare studies reported
that 21% of women ate flaxseed at least once a week, while 70% women never ate flaxseed
(Lowcock et al., 2013).
Based on the above mentioned, it could be assumed that enriching popular cookies with
flaxseed could result with a product that could easily deliver important omega-3 acids and
lignans to a wider population. However, product market success depends on consumers’
habits, demographic background, personal relevance to functional benefits, prudent selection
of a carrier product (Dean et al., 2007; Siro et al., 2008; Kraus, 2015), and an adequate
marketing through food labels and health claims (Miklavec et al., 2015).
Results from this study were part of the larger research that evaluated lignans in cereal
products and included beginning-to-end development of functional foods (cookies),
compositional analytics, quality assurance, and consumer-driven product acceptance. In this
 study we evaluated: (1) consumption of cookies; (2) consumption of flaxseeds; (3) attitudes
towards functional cookies; (4) nutrition knowledge about lignans and omega-3 fatty acids.

2. Materials and Methods

1.1. Questionnaire

The data were collected by convenience sampling using an online-questionnaire created by

the Google Docs application. It was designed according to Lambert et al. (2009) and
administered in Croatian. The questionnaire contained 37 multiple-choice questions. Five of
those were socio-demographic questions, while the rest covered the following: consumption
of cereal products (type of products, consumption frequency, consumers’ habits); cookie
consumption (type of products, consumption frequency, consumers’ habits, consumers
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preferences for cookies producers); flaxseed consumption (consumption quantities and

frequency); purchase interests for functional cookies; nutritive awareness and knowledge
about lignans and omega-3 fatty acids; general attitudes about food and dieting (e.g. reading
food labels, personal attitudes about importance of food quality consumption and food
labelling). Around 15% of participants were recruited in person and introduced to the concept
and goals of the study. Besides that, questionnaire had the short introduction with brief
description containing following information: who were the authors of the study; what is
affiliation of authors; what were the main research objectives; who funded the study; and the
notion that the results of this nationally funded project will be included in a PhD thesis.
Research objectives stated that the goal of the survey was to collect the information about the
habits of eating cookies and factors influencing the choice and purchase of conventional and
enriched cookies. The study was conducted from April 2012 till June 2013.

2.2. Data Analysis

Categorical variables were analysed using χ2-tests, and continuous variables using t-test and
analysis of variance. Statistical dependence of two continuous variables was tested by Pearson
tests. Descriptive statistic was used for characterization of the sample. In order to check the
underlying structure among specific variables, factor analysis was performed on selected
variables from questionnaire. Appropriateness of factor analysis was tested by KMO and
Bartellett's test (KMO=0.71; p≤0.01). This approach was previously reported in the literature
(Markovina et al., 2011; Obranović et al., 2015.)

2.3. Index of Nutritive Awareness and Nutritional Knowledge Score

Variables from questionnaire formed one dimension/factor, called Index of Nutritive

Awareness (INA), which explained 42% of the total variance (Table I). Increase in INA
implied higher awareness or better application of current and scientifically accepted
nutritional principles (e.g. from Dietary Guidelines for Americans). Criteria for keeping a
factor in analysis was chosen based on Kaiser’s rule and by examining graphical plot, while
item retention threshold per factor was ≥0.40. Factor analysis score was calculated by linear
regression method. Discrete variables and factor scores were tested by t-tests or ANOVA. The
level of significance for all tests was α≤0.05, and results were analysed using SPSS software
(v.20).
 Table I. Loading of "Index of Nutritive Awareness" factor

The Nutritional knowledge score (NKS) was formed from three questions which evaluated
participant’s specific knowledge on nutrition. Participants had to choose answers from the list
of correct and incorrect answers on two flaxseed components - omega-3 fatty acids and
lignans. Questions were: “What are the omega-3 fatty acids?” “What are good food sources of
omega-3 fatty acids” and “What are lignans?”. Correct answers were summed-up (maximum
number of correct answers was 33), and formed NKS. This approach was previously reported
in literature for this and similar purposes (Markovina et al., 2011; Cooke and Papadaki, 2014;
Obranović et al., 2015).

3. Results

Participants were observed through following categories: gender, age, occupation, education
level, and size of residence. Only significant differences within categories will be mentioned.
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Demographic characteristics are shown in Table II. Questionnaire collected answers from
n=1035 total participants, of which 73% were women in the age range 15-65y (97%). Most
participants were students and employed (85%), had a bachelor/masters education degree
(65%), and were coming from residential areas with more than 200,000 inhabitants (60%).

3.1. Consumption of cookies

Around 93% participants consumed cookies, of which 62% ate them at least once a week
(Table II), while 5% did not answer the question about cookie consumption frequency.
Almost half of the participants (47%) ate up to 800 g of cookies per month. The most popular
were chocolate and whole grain cookies, followed by wafers and cream filled/sandwich
cookies from larger domestic producers (data not shown).
Most participants ate cookies because they craved sweetness (71%) (Figure 1). Among
cravers, the highest percentage (70%) was found for age range 15-44y (p≤0.01, χ2=27.88).
Participants eat cookies because they taste good (60%) (Figure 1), and this reason was more
pronounced in men (65%) than in women (53%) (p=0.01, χ2=11.38). In the age category, 65%
of younger participants (15-29y) more often ate cookies because of their good taste (p≤0.01,
χ2=41.18). This is aligned with the occupation category, where average 74% of pupils and
students ate cookies because of good taste (p≤0.01, χ2=25.87).
The 48% of participants in age range 15-29y, ate cookies because they are simple snack or
dessert (p=0.01, χ2=18.63). Again this is well aligned with student/pupils group where 56%
ate cookies for the same reason (p=0.01, χ2=14.59). The high number reported to eat cookies
out of habit, boredom, stress and other emotions (31%) but this reason was not significantly
expressed in any sociodemographic category.

Table II. Cookies and flaxseed consumption broken down by the sociodemographic (n =
1035)

3.2. Consumption of flaxseed

Sixty four percent of all participants consumed flaxseeds (Table II). Women (67%) tended to
eat flaxseed more than men (59%) (p=0.02, χ2=5.33). Adults above 45y ate it the most (73%),
while age group 15-29y ate it the least (57%) (p≤0.01, χ2=21.24). Unemployed ate flaxseed
the most (90%), and pupils were on the opposite side of flaxseed consumption (40%, p≤0.01,
 χ2=21.24). Participants mostly ate whole or grounded flaxseed added to meals or through
bakery products (51%). To this question did not answer 1.7% of participants.

3.3. Interest for functional cookies

To the answer “Would you be attracted to the cookie with enhanced nutritional value (e.g. less
sugar or/and fat, added minerals, fibres) if you knew it has a positive effect on your health?”
slightly over half of the participants answered positively (Figure 2). Of those participants,
63% were men, and 51% were women. More men (12%) than women (5%) answered
negatively, while indifferent (answer “maybe”) were 20% of men and 30% of female
participants (p≤0.01, χ2=20.02). Age groups that were the most attracted to the nutritionally
enhanced cookies were older than 33 (on average 70%), while functional cookies had the least
sympathizers among younger than 15y (46%) (p=0.01, χ2=25.29). Further, 53% of
participants were willing to pay 10-20% higher price for enriched cookie, and 6% of
participants were willing to pay 30-50% more for this type of the product. Smaller number of
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participants (15%) would not be willing to pay higher price for this type of cookie. For 8% of
participants the price was not an issue, while 19% refrained from answering. On average, 63%
of participants were willing to pay 10-20% higher price for nutritionally changed cookie (30-
44y and 66+ years old), while 45-66y old did not care for the price of this type of products
(average 17%) (p=0.01, χ2=33.91). Employed are the biggest group in the occupation category
(60%), which was willing to give 10-20% more money for the functional cookie, while pupils
were the least interested to do so (20%) (p=0.03, χ2=34.24). As expected, the unemployed
were the occupation group that did not want to pay more for this type of cookie.
Forty three percent of participants would buy a cookie if consumption of 3 pieces would reach
the recommended daily amount of omega-3 fatty acids (i.e. omega-3 cookies) (Figure 2).
Women (58%) were almost twice more willing to buy an omega-3 cookie than men (35%),
and for both genders purchase intention largely depended on the price (M=12%; F=13%)
(p=0.03, χ2=17.62). Differences in interest were also noticed in the age category (p≤0.01,
χ2=36.95). Participants aged 15-29y (35%) were less interested for an omega-3 cookie,
compared to 66+ years (73%). Price of this product was the most important factor in the 15-
29y group (18%), while 45-65y adults cared the least about the price (7%). In the occupation
category, retirees would the most likely buy the omega-3 cookie (65%), while
entrepreneurs/artisans and students would do it the least likely (37%). In the unemployed
group (25%) the decision is mostly based on the price, while for retired, entrepreneurs/artisans
the price is the least important (average 9%) (p=0.05, χ2=25.11).
Interest to buy a cookie able to decrease the risk of prostate cancer, breast cancer, and relieve
the symptoms of menopause with regular consumption (i.e. lignan cookie) was higher (62%)
than the interest for omega-3 cookies (Figure 2). Women would be more willing than men to
buy lignan cookie (67% vs. 52%). Twice more men (11%) than women (5%) had a negative
attitude for buying this type of cookie, while 30% of men and 23% of women would “maybe”
buy this cookie.
The participants’ common reactions when they notice the new cookie on the market are
shown in Table III. Most participants bought new products because they wanted to try it, and
women (38%) had slightly higher tendency to try new cookies than men (34%). Also they
read food labels more often than men (27% vs.16%). Both genders were equally suspicious
(F=5%; M=6%), and waited to try new product after somebody else tried it first, but more
men (36%) than women (22%) did not notice new cookie on the store shelf. However,
tendency to do nothing when noticing new product was similarly low for both genders (F: 6%,
M: 8%) (p≤0.01, χ2=30.45).
 Table III. Reactions on the new cookies product on the market

When questioned if they would be interested in detailed information about the composition
and the nutritional value of cookies, 60% of participants answered they would be interested
and 21% though that this was not important. Nine percent had no opinion on the topic. For
most of the women (68%) and men (62%) it was important to have detailed information on
the content and nutritional value; 32% of men and 20% of women said that this was not
important to them, and 6% of men and 12% of women did not have any opinion (p≤0.01,
χ2=17.76). To all age groups it was equally important to have this information, but was
considered more important to 66+ years (80%) compared to the younger (15-29y) age group
(60%) (p=0.03, χ2=16.70). On average 70% employed, unemployed, and retired thought it
was important to have detailed information on nutritional value, while for the pupils (20%)
this was the least important. Similarly, 60% of pupils thought that this information was not
important, the same as average 24% of employed, unemployed and retired (p=0.01, χ2=29.39).
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3.4. Nutrition knowledge on lignans and omega-3 fatty acids and nutrition awareness

The questionnaire included a group of questions about omega-3 fatty acids and lignans.
Analysis showed that men have lower nutrition knowledge score than women (M=19.12±3.45
vs. F=20.23±3.50 of total 33 answers; p≤0.01), and the age was not associated with the score.
Women with higher educational level had higher knowledge on omega-3 fatty acids and
lignans, but no difference was observed between women with elementary vs. high school
level, and bachelor/master vs. doctorate level (p≤0.01). In men, their educational level showed
no association with the nutrition knowledge score.
Participants with a higher nutrition knowledge score (20.52±3.50) consumed significantly
more flaxseed, when compared to the participants with the lower score (18.97±3.41). The
same was shown for both genders (p≤0.01). Participants who cared for the nutritional
information about the cookies had the higher nutrition knowledge score vs. those who did not
find it important or had no opinion about it (p≤0.01). Participants who had higher nutritional
knowledge score had higher tendency to be more nutritionally aware (r=0.31, p≤0.01).
Index of nutritive awareness (INA) is dimension created from specific variables from the
questionnaire (Table I). If participants were more nutritionally aware there was a greater
chance that they would purchase a nutritionally enhanced cookie (p≤0.01). Also, more aware
participants with higher nutrition score were willing to pay the 10-50% higher price for the
functional cookie vs. the conventional one, or they did not care about the price (p≤0.01). Also
men showed to be less nutritive aware than women (p≤0.01), as well as participants younger
than 29 compared to the older than 30’s (p=0.02). Participants with elementary and high
school education had lower INA compared to the ones with a higher education degree
(p≤0.01).

4. Discussion

4.1. Consumption of cookies

The global cookie popularity appears present within Croatian consumers as they consume
them in relatively high amounts. Namely, cookies seem to be a regular part of the Croatian
consumers diet (Table II), equally attractive to all genders, age, occupations or educational
categories. These results were accordant with GfK Centre for Market Research Croatia which
reported in 2012 that 9/10 Croatian households purchased cookies with average frequency of
20 times a year.
 Reasons for cookie purchase can be physiological (e.g. hunger) and psychological (e.g.
hedonic) however in this study it seems that the later one dominated. The main reason for
eating cookies was craving for sweetness (Figure 1). Food craving is an intense desire to
consume certain foods and although it can be more pronounced in females (Chao et al., 2016),
this research showed that the craving was significantly expressed only in younger to middle
age participants (15-44y). The second most chosen reason for consuming cookies was the
appealing taste. Mostly this was chosen by younger men, pupils and students (15-29y). The
taste had a primary role in directing the food choice process (Verbeke, 2005; Kraus, 2015;
Miklavec et al., 2015), confirming that food was a source of pleasure and not just a survival
necessity. Due to a fast paced lifestyle, the demand for convenience foods is increasing
(Jackson and Viehoff, 2016), and this trend was confirmed in our study. More than 40% of
participants found the convenient nature of cookies being an important reason for the cookie
consumption. This was again mostly pronounced in younger pupils and students (15-29y).
The fourth most chosen reason for eating cookies was also related to the psychological effect
of cookies: 31% of participants ate cookies out of habit, boredom stress, and other emotions.
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The high prevalence of the answer confirms the increasing trends of people eating in response
to signals of psychological distress, which can create the eating behaviour called “emotional
eating” (Pidgeon et al., 2013).

4.2. Consumption of flaxseed

Sixty four percent consumed flaxseed more or less often (Table II). Even though this
percentage was moderately high, majority of participants ate flaxseeds rarely. When answers
“less than once a month” and “1-2x month” were added to the “never consume flaxseeds”,
overall consumption dropped to less than 30%, which was similar to findings in Canada
(Lowcock et al., 2013). Women consumed flaxseed slightly more than men, while flaxseed
was the most popular among middle-aged participants (>45y). Age group 15-29y ate flaxseed
the least, although more than 50% consume it. Compared to cookies, flaxseed was not
consumed regularly as the food product. Thus cookies enriched with flaxseed might be used
to increase lignan and omega-3 fatty acids intake. This approach could be the most effective
for youngsters, considering that the greatest relevance on the health status was attributed to
the long-term lignan intake, e.g. lowered risk for breast cancer is associated with the long-
term consumption of lignans (Hanf and Gonder, 2005).

4.3. Interest for functional cookies

Interest in cookies with the enhanced nutritional value was highly positive or neutral, while
only 16% of participants were non-interested or not answering. The positive interest was more
pronounced in men above 30y, while interest declined with younger age (below 15y). Slightly
more than half of participant would pay 10-20% higher price, and most likely those would be
30-44 and 66+ years old. This is somewhat surprising knowing that 66+ years old are often
retired, thus usually having lower incomes. However, they are apparently willing to buy the
product if they see benefit in it, which was also confirmed with Canadian study showing the
93% prevalence of functional food consumption in the elderly (Vella et al., 2014). Prices
higher than 20% seemed generally unacceptable, and a certain number of participants (15%)
would not pay at all the higher price for the functional cookie.
To identify consumer preferences for functional cookies, the questionnaire contained
questions about cookies enriched with omega-3 fatty acids and lignans. Participant were asked
two questions: (1) would they buy a cookie if “the content in three pieces would be sufficient
to get daily recommended amount of omega-3 fatty acids”, and (2) would they buy a cookie if
 “its frequent consumption could decrease the risk of prostate and breast cancer and relieve
menopause symptoms” (Figure 2). Although, only 9% participants refrained from buying the
omega-3 cookies (Figure 2) a high percentage of consumers were indecisive about the
purchase indicating that they need detailed information about the specific cookie in order to
buy it. The positive response (43%) was lower than with non-specific nutritional enriched
cookies (54%), showing that omega-3 fatty acids were less popular than in other studies (da
Silva et al., 2014). Also, opposite to expressed interest for non-specific nutritional enriched
cookie, women were more willing to buy the omega-3 cookie than men. For both genders, the
price of the omega-3 cookie influenced purchase intention in a similarly manner. The price
was the most important purchase factor for 15-29y, and the least for 45-65y. Again, 66+ year
old and the retired were the most interested to buy this type of cookie, and students younger
than 29y were the least interested. The interest for the lignan cookie was somewhat higher,
resulting with 62% of participants saying they would buy it for sure or maybe (24%).
Similarly as with the omega-3 cookie, women would be interested more in this type of cookie.
Dean et al. (2007) generally established no gender difference in perception of a cookie with
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cholesterol lowering effect, although the interest depended on a persons need to pay attention
to their health. If that need was higher, the interest was similar in both genders, whereas if the
need was lower, men were less interested. The authors also concluded that those who
perceived benefits were more willing to buy special products. These results to some extent
explain our results, for instance younger men might not see special benefit in omega-3 or
lignan/cancer risk reducing cookies, while elderly women who are generally more health
conscious, might (Dean et al., 2007; Ree et al., 2008; Rejman and Kasperska, 2011).
The dominant reaction to a new cookie on the market (Table III) was the purchase out of
curiosity, with slightly more emphasis in women. Roughly 20% of participants did not notice
a new product or did not have a special interest in it, and men reported this behaviour more
than women. The similar percentage of participants would read the label before deciding to
purchase, which was similar to other European countries where 18% seemed to always check
the labels, and 34% checked when considering to purchase the product (Rejman and
Kasperska, 2011). Women more often than men would read the label before deciding, and the
same was noticed in Polish women (Rejman and Kasperska, 2011).
Sixty percent would be interested in the detailed information regarding the composition and
nutritional value of cookies, while 30% thought this information was not important or had no
opinion about this topic. The interest was similar for both genders and all age categories,
although the elderly (66+ years) found nutritional information more important than younger
(15-29y). This might be explained by younger being less concerned about health impacts of
food at the earlier point in their lives (Ree et al., 2008; Cooke & Papadaki, 2014;) thus not
needing special information on the food they consume. Relatively high expressed interest in
nutrition information on cookies is in accordance by Grunert et al. (2010) who said that 40-
60% respondents claimed to use nutrition information always or often. However these
numbers came from the retrospective self-reported behaviour, while the direct in-store
interview led to only 27% of respondents actually looking for the nutritional information.
Related, it should be noted that in our study consumers only expressed the interest, thus it
remains unclear whether or not that interest will be transmit to the actual behaviour.
Additionally, nutrition information was more likely to be looked at the products which are
regarded as more healthy (Grunert et al., 2010), which might not be the case for the cookies.

4.4. Nutrition knowledge on lignans and omega-3 fatty acids and nutrition awareness

Nutrition knowledge can be observed from three different aspects: (1) the diet and disease
relationship, (2) the nutrient content of foods, and (3) dietary guideline recommendations
 (McKinnon et al., 2013). Here participants’ knowledge about specific food components,
omega-3 fatty acids and lignans, was examined. Analysis showed that men have lower
nutrition knowledge on omega-3 and lignans, and also that their general education was not
connected to the nutrition knowledge score. On the other hand, women with the higher
general education had the higher nutrition knowledge score. Although the evaluation of
nutrition knowledge focused on specific nutrients, the results were somewhat in accordance
with other studies, which concluded that general education played an important role in a food
choice process (Ree et al., 2008). Furthermore, nutrition knowledge decreased with lower
levels of education, incomes and socio-economic status (Ree et al., 2008; Rejman and
Kasperska, 2011; McKinnon et al., 2013), plus men had lower nutritional knowledge than
women (Rejman & Kasperska, 2011; Cooke and Papadaki, 2014; Tallarini et al. 2014), and
nutrition knowledge might be better in middle age (Parmenter et al., 2000). However, some
studies did not confirm association of the age difference with nutrition knowledge (Lalor et
al., 2011). Participants with higher nutrition knowledge consumed flaxseed more than those
with a lower score. Although we were unable to identify studies that investigated connection
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between nutrition knowledge and flaxseed intake, it is known that people with higher nutrition
knowledge tend to have healthier diets. However, nutrition knowledge alone does not
guarantee the healthier dietary behaviour (Geaney et al., 2015; Parmenter et al., 2000), but it
is a likely factor that determines food intake and dietary quality (McKinnon et al., 2013;
Tallarini et al., 2014; Geaney et al., 2015).
Participants who cared for the nutritional information of cookies had the higher score of
nutrition knowledge. The British study (Grunert and Wills, 2007) showed that participants
regardless of gender were more likely to read food labels if their nutritional knowledge score
was higher. Similarly, among UK students, nutrition knowledge and attitudes were predictors
of the nutrition label usage and dietary quality since participants with higher nutrition
knowledge would more likely engage in healthy dietary practices (Cooke and Papadaki,
2014).
Index of nutritive awareness (INA) from Table I was more pronounced in highly educated
women older than 30y (University degree holders). More nutritionally aware participants
would more likely to purchase functional cookies. Also, more aware participants, as well as
the ones with the higher nutrition score, were willing to pay the higher price for the functional
cookies, or they would not care for the price. Participants who had the higher nutritional
knowledge also had the higher tendency to be more nutritionally aware.

5. Conclusion

Croatian consumers showed moderately elevated interest for functional cookies enriched with
omega-3 fatty acids and lignans, especially older women. This conclusion was driven by the
data showing that 93% of participants ate cookies regularly. On the other hand, natural source
of omega-3 and lignans such as flaxseed was rarely consumed. Indeed, consumers could be
more encouraged to eat flaxseed through education and raising the nutrition awareness, but
one should also not neglect the potential and popularity of confectionery products to be a
vehicle for delivery of limited nutrients in the everyday diet. In that sense, cookies could be
enriched with flaxseed and used as a pathway for introducing flaxseed to the wider public,
especially to the younger population which is more prone to consume sweet products, but
were not particularly health-conscious and able to reach the flaxseed by itself. Nevertheless,
when considering this approach employment of social marketing campaigns should be
considered by the cookie producers, since a high percentage of participants were not sure
about the purchase of the functional cookies, so they might need persuading. This was well
aligned with the fact that nutritional knowledge about omega-3 and lignans positively
 correlated with the interest for the functional cookie. So it might be a prudent investment to
finance educational campaigns (recruit new consumers and advertise products at the same
time), and use food labels to deliver messages about functionality of the product. For
purchase, cookies should be appealing with a pleasant taste. The price margin might be up to
10-20% higher than for conventional cookies that could account for the expenses of marketing
campaigns. However, producers should also state the recommended daily amounts for cookie
consumption in order to avoid overconsumption of calories. This is necessary since
consumers may be distracted by the positive effects of the cookie consumption, thus
forgetting the potentially high intake of lipids, sugars and other caloric content.

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Figure 1. Most common reasons for eating cookies

99x62mm (300 x 300 DPI)

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Figure 2. Interest to buy enriched cookies

 Table I. Loading of "Index of Nutritive Awareness" factor

Components
1
I pay attention to what I eat to maintain a good health .794
I pay attention to what I eat to maintain good appearance and prevent putting on weight .711
I pay attention to food labels .677
For me is important to have detailed information on content and nutritional value of
.664
cookies
I think that whole-grain products positively influence my health .488
I eat flaxseed .467
Cronbach α 0.71
Explanation of variance 42%
Eigenvalue 2.491
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Table II. Cookies and flaxseed consumption broken down by the sociodemographic (n = 1035)

How often do you eat…

...cookies? ...flaxseed?
% of total
number of 3-5x 1x 1-2x < 1x 3-5x 1x 1-2x < 1x
everyday never everyday never
participants week week month month week week month month
Gender Males 26.5% 8.4% 24.4% 34.4% 26.0% 5.0% 1.9% 3.8% 6.8% 9.8% 9.4% 29.7% 40.6%
Females 73.2% 5.1% 23.2% 35.8% 24.8% 9.3% 1.8% 6.3% 9.2% 13.0% 12.8% 26.0% 32.8%
Unanswered 0.3%
<15y 1.5% 16.7% 8.3% 33.3% 41.7% 0.0% 0.0% 20.0% 10.0% 20.0% 0.0% 10.0% 40.0%
15-29y 40.9% 7.2% 20.5% 36.6% 26.2% 8.2% 1.2% 4.8% 7.4% 9.0% 13.5% 22.6% 42.8%
30-44y 38.7% 3.1% 26.5% 36.6% 23.9% 7.8% 2.1% 6.0% 8.3% 14.8% 11.3% 29.4% 30.2%
Age
45-65y 17.2% 9.4% 24.1% 30.6% 24.1% 8.8% 2.9% 5.7% 10.8% 14.2% 10.2% 32.4% 26.7%
>66y 1.4% 0.0% 33.3% 25.0% 25.0% 16.7% 0.0% 8.3% 25.0% 0.0% 8.3% 33.3% 25.0%
Unanswered 0.3%
Elementary school 0.4% 20.0% 40.0% 40.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 20.0% 20.0% 20.0% 0.0% 0.0% 40.0%
High school 18.6% 7.6% 26.6% 33.2% 25.0% 5.4% 2.2% 6.8% 5.8% 9.9% 8.4% 29.8% 39.3%
Education
Bachelor/Masters 65.3% 6.5% 21.6% 37.2% 24.6% 8.5% 1.5% 5.4% 9.9% 11.7% 12.7% 26.2% 34.2%
level
Doctorate 14.9% 1.4% 27.6% 30.3% 27.6% 10.3% 2.8% 4.6% 6.0% 17.2% 13.2% 27.8% 31.1%
Unanswered 0.9%
Pupils 0.5% 20.0% 40.0% 40.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 20.0% 0.0% 20.0% 0.0% 60.0%
Students 18.3% 5.6% 22.0% 38.4% 23.7% 9.0% 1.1% 3.2% 7.4% 6.4% 13.3% 20.7% 48.9%
Employed 67.1% 6.3% 23.2% 36.0% 24.9% 7.9% 1.6% 5.5% 8.9% 14.5% 12.0% 27.1% 31.9%
Occupation Entrepreneurs/Artisans 4.4% 2.2% 35.6% 28.9% 22.2% 4.4% 6.7% 4.3% 6.5% 4.3% 8.7% 45.7% 30.4%
Retired 3.2% 6.5% 25.8% 25.8% 29.0% 6.5% 6.5% 10.0% 16.7% 10.0% 0.0% 30.0% 33.3%
Unemployed 1.9% 10.5% 15.8% 21.1% 47.4% 5.3% 0.0% 15.0% 10.0% 10.0% 15.0% 40.0% 10.0%
Unanswered 4.5%
Total 5.7% 22.3% 33.6% 23.9% 7.7% 1.7% 5.5% 8.4% 12.0% 11.7% 26.5% 34.2%
 Table III. Reactions on the new cookies product on the market

When you notice new product on the market you do the following %
You buy it because you want to try it 34.1
You are suspicious, and wait until somebody else tries it 5.2
You are afraid it would affect your health 0.2
You read food label and then decide 21.5
You do not notice new products or you do not have any special interest in it 22.7
Other 6.0
Unanswered 10.2
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