The Influence of "Low Fat" and "No Sugar" Labels on Irish Consumers' Purchase Intentions

Abstract

This study examines how 'low fat' and 'no sugar' nutritional claims influence Irish consumers' perceived healthfulness, trust in those claims and purchase intention. A quantitative survey generated 105 usable responses from Irish packaged food consumers. Reliability analysis (Cronbach's Alpha range: .607 to .658), descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression were conducted using SPSS. Results confirmed four hypotheses: perceived healthfulness and trust in nutritional claims are significantly positively correlated (r = 0.575, p < .001); both significantly predict purchase intention (r = 0.451 and r = 0.548 respectively, both p < .001); and trust is the stronger independent predictor (B = 0.403, p < .001) in a model explaining 31.3% of variance in purchase intention. The findings confirm that trust in the accuracy of nutritional claims not merely positive health impressions is the primary driver of purchase intention among Irish consumers.