Investigation of the Functions of Dietary Fibers and Catechins and Their Effects on the Consumer Behavior of College Students

• Main Authors: Shu-Kuei Hsu, 許淑貴
• Other Authors: Jenn-Shou Tsai,Doctor
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2006
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/84134666285136745263

碩士 === 國立臺灣海洋大學 === 食品科學系 === 94 === The purpose of this study was to understand the functional properties of dietary fibers and catechins perceived by the consumers, and the related consumers’ behaviors and characteristics in junior college students in Shin Chuen Unversity. Amount the 748 participants, 563 were students and 185 were male. The participation rate for students from the College of Human Ecology, College of Design and College of Management was 52.8%, 9.7% and 27.5%, respectively. The participation rate for students’ weight of normal, overweight and fat was 67.2%, 7.9% and 24.9%, respectively. The rate of participants usually drank at least one bottle of the commercial beverages every day is 34.1%, spent around Nt$16-30 per day on these drinks (57.4%), and purchased them from 24-hour convenience stores most of the time (77.4%). The majority of study participants bought beverages that were packed in sealed bottles (Tetra Pak, PET (Poly Ethylene Terephthalate), etc.) (67.8%). Data from valid questionnaires were analyzed using the SPSS statistics software program. For the willing of buying the drinks contained different amount of sugar, most of female would like to rather buy the sugar-free drinks (57%) and most of them would not want to buy the sugar-normal drinks(40.8%). In contract to the female, the male like to buy the sugar-normal drinks(40.8%) and do not like to buy sugar-free drinks (57%). However, in our test the sugar content in the sugar-free drinks can be as high as 2%. For the functional additives, more than 55% of female students had ever bought functional drinks added with dietary fibers and/or catechins, and only 37% of male students had ever bought drinks contained dietary fibers and/or catechins. It was found that participants usually preferred functional beverages packaged in PET (42.5%). The most frequent reason for female students to use functional drinks was to improve gastrointestinal function (50.1%), and the second most frequent reason was to lose weight (42.7%). However, only 18% male students consumed these beverages to lose weight. The results suggest that females are the major consumers for functional drinks with claims of improving gastrointestinal and weight loss. The rate of participants that believe the function of functional drinks for student from Department of Food Science, Nutrition, and Nutraceutical Biotechnology, Department of Restaurant and Institutional Management and Department of Fashion Design was 26.6%, 14.8% and 11.8%, respectively. Most the participants believe the information from the professional journal (medical/food). It reveals that the education about food science is helpful for the college student to buy the functional food.