Nutritional Profile and consumers’ Perceptions of Cereal Bars

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive information regarding price (€/g) and serving size (g/bar).

			Price (€/g)^a				Serving size (g/bar)
Category	n	%	M	SD	Min	Max	M	SD	Min	Max
General	45	16.25	1.57	0.83	0.68	5.63	24.70	5.68	20.00	40.00
Child-Oriented	11	3.97	1.66	0.40	0.86	2.23	22.38	1.97	20.00	25.00
Fruits/nuts/seeds	89	32.13	3.17	1.18	1.33	6.30	34.82	11.66	9.00	80.00
Diet	77	27.80	2.90	1.34	0.32	6.20	27.24	11.59	12.50	62.50
Energy/Protein	55	19.86	3.91	1.00	1.24	5.91	48.09	16.53	22.00	100.00
Total	277	100	2.92	1.35	0.32	6.30	33.25	14.52	9.00	100.00

^aWhenever the cereal bar was available on the website of both retailers (n = 88), we calculated the product’s mean price (per 100 g).

Figure 1. Nutritional characterization (fat, saturated fat, total carbohydrates, sugar, fiber, and protein per 100 g) according to the type of bar.

Figure 2. Categorization of sugar, fat, and salt levels according to the nutritional traffic light system (% of products).

Figure 3. Example of a trial.

Table 2. Descriptive statistics for each evaluative dimension according to product category.

	All		Cereal bar category (M, SD)
	M (SD)	95%CI [LB,UB]	General	Child-Oriented	Fruits/nuts/seeds	Diet	Energy/ protein	Repeated measures ANOVA
Healthiness	3.49 (1.38)	[3.39, 3.59]	3.16 (1.34)	2.12 (1.32)	4.30 (1.37)	3.59 (1.49)	4.27 (1.38)	F(3.74,1391.98) = 260.89, p < .001, η^2p = .412
Calories	5.08 (1.33)	[4.98, 5.17]	5.31 (1.28)	6.15 (1.07)	4.57 (1.43)	4.64 (1.44)	4.70 (1.50)	F(3.745, 1392.99) = 138.28, p < .001, η^2p = .271
Taste	5.18 (1.38)	[5.09, 5.64]	5.51 (1.27)	5.99 (1.29)	4.80 (1.45)	5.20 (1.36)	4.40 (1.54)	F(3.51, 1303.85) = 113.50, p < .001, η^2p = .234
Sugar	4.94 (1.42)	[4.84, 5.03]	5.41 (1.38)	6.33 (0.98)	4.38 (1.60)	4.64 (1.60)	3.94 (1.56)	F(3.79, 1409.02) = 223.46, p < .001, η^2p = .375
Fat	4.23 (1.40)	[4.13, 4.32]	4.60 (1.39)	5.16 (1.39)	3.85 (1.43)	4.02 (1.37)	3.51 (1.41)	F(3.84, 1412.71) = 119.19, p < .001, η^2p = .243
Protein	3.89 (1.38)	[3.79, 4.00]	3.43 (1.44)	2.83 (1.34)	3.99 (1.40)	3.62 (1.39)	5.60 (1.35)	F(3.48, 1292.61) = 351.06, p < .001, η^2p = .486
Fiber	4.33 (1.40)	[4.23, 4.43]	4.28 (1.39)	3.31 (1.47)	4.99 (1.34)	4.51 (1.37)	4.55 (1.43)	F(3.73, 1387.65) = 114.20, p < .001, η^2p = .235
Degree of Processing	5.01 (1.36)	[5.40, 5.61]	5.57 (1.36)	6.25 (1.09)	4.77 (1.48)	5.50 (1.41)	5.42 (1.44)	F(3.73, 1386.55) = 109.96, p < .001, η^2p = .228
Adequacy for athletes	3.86 (1.55)	[3.75, 3.97]	3.39 (1.59)	2.32 (1.60)	4.23 (1.53)	3.69 (1.65)	5.69 (1.38)	F(3.73, 1399.01) = 349.29, p < .001, η^2p = .484
Adequacy for children	2.87 (1.63)	[2.75, 2.99]	3.02 (1.63)	2.86 (1.88)	3.30 (1.59)	2.98 (1.66)	2.18 (1.37)	F(3.54, 1318.09) = 39.10, p < .001, η^2p = .095
Adequacy for weight-loss	3.00 (1.59)	[2.89, 3.12]	2.62 (1.45)	1.71 (1.27)	3.71 (1.71)	3.28 (1.77)	3.70 (1.75)	F(3.82, 1419.40) = 158.67, p < .001, η^2p = .299

Figure 4. Nutritional content estimates.

Table A1. Descriptive statistics of nutritional characteristics (i.e., energy in Kcal; and grams of fat, saturated fat, total carbohydrates, sugar, fiber, and protein per 100 g of product) according to type of bar.

	N	M	SD	Min	Max	F
Energy
General	45	424.44	36.64	359.00	516.00	F(4,272) = 19.09, p < .001, ηp^2 = .22
Child-oriented	11	410.00	10.66	394.00	428.00
Fruits/nuts/seeds	89	467.73	63.50	327.00	584.00
Diet	77	406.00	64.72	105.00	537.00
Energy/protein	55	385.59	69.07	168.00	532.50
Total	277	424.94	67.81	105.00	584.00
Fat
General	45	13.22	6.57	3.20	33.00	F(4,272) = 28.55, p < .001, ηp^2 = .30
Child-oriented	11	12.20	1.42	9.20	14.00
Fruits/nuts/seeds	89	25.78	9.30	3.00	41.80
Diet	77	15.69	7.96	3.20	32.00
Energy/protein	55	15.79	7.86	6.80	36.00
Total	277	18.41	9.54	3.00	41.80
Saturated fat
General	45	5.74	5.54	0.40	28.00	F(4,272) = 5.35, p < .001, ηp^2 = .07
Child-oriented	11	7.45	1.61	4.90	9.60
Fruits/nuts/seeds	89	5.15	2.85	0.20	13.70
Diet	77	8.02	4.91	1.00	25.00
Energy/protein	55	6.28	3.92	2.00	21.00
Total	277	6.36	4.31	0.20	28.00
Total carbohydrates
General	45	66.73	7.62	46.00	84.00	F(4,272) = 44.26, p < .001, ηp^2 = .39
Child-oriented	11	65.86	5.87	57.80	74.00
Fruits/nuts/seeds	89	40.84	12.74	14.00	75.20
Diet	77	54.78	16.34	5.10	79.00
Energy/protein	55	35.72	17.76	5.00	73.00
Total	277	48.89	18.06	5.00	84.00
Sugar
General	45	28.58	3.85	19.00	36.00	F(4,272) = 16.68, p < .001, ηp^2 = .16
Child-oriented	11	28.19	3.71	22.50	33.50
Fruits/nuts/seeds	89	29.64	12.60	8.10	57.00
Diet	77	19.74	13.27	0.41	42.00
Energy/protein	55	17.37	15.82	1.70	46.00
Total	277	24.22	13.38	0.41	57.00
Fiber
General	42	5.36	2.33	2.00	14.00	F(4,261) = 7.88, p < .001, ηp^2 = .11
Child-oriented	11	3.82	1.43	2.00	6.60
Fruits/nuts/seeds	87	9.01	5.45	1.00	25.00
Diet	77	9.01	6.07	1.30	24.40
Energy/protein	49	11.22	8.09	0.25	29.00
Total	266	8.63	6.08	0.25	29.00
Protein
General	45	6.46	1.41	4.70	9.60	F(4,272) = 44.37, p < .001, ηp^2 = .40
Child-oriented	11	6.40	1.11	5.20	8.40
Fruits/nuts/seeds	89	13.25	6.18	2.50	29.00
Diet	77	11.05	8.86	3.90	33.00
Energy/protein	55	24.96	11.09	4.50	38.70
Total	277	13.59	9.81	2.50	38.70
Salt
General	45	0.45	0.28	0.03	1.32	F(4,267) = 11.86, p < .001, ηp^2 = .15
Child-oriented	11	0.42	0.11	0.23	0.58
Fruits/nuts/seeds	85	0.22	0.27	0.00	1.08
Diet	76	0.52	0.28	0.02	1.30
Energy/protein	55	0.45	0.38	0.02	1.67
Total	272	0.40	0.32	0.00	1.67

Table A2. Correlations.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
1. Energy	-
2. Fat	.82***	-
3. Saturated fat	.35***	.45***	-
4. Total Carbohydrates	−.10	−.50***	−.09	-
5. Sugar	.26***	−.04	−.12*	.52***	-
6. Fiber	−.33***	−.05	−.16**	−.62***	−.51***	-
7. Protein	−.16	−.13*	−.04	−.82***	−.60***	.47***	-
8. Salt	−.09	−.16*	−.00	.08	−.18**	.01	.08	-
9. Price	−.03	.28***	.24***	−.57***	−.25***	.35***	.47***	.02

Energy value refers to Kilocalories per 100 g of product. The content of each nutrient is presented in grams per 100 g of product. Price refers to Euros per Kilogram of product.

p ≤ .050; **p ≤ .010; ***p ≤ .001.

Table A3. Nutritional profile, weight, and price of the products used in study 2 (M, SD).

Product category	Weight (per bar)	Price/kg (€)	Energy (Kcal)	Total fat	Saturated fat	Total Carbohydrates	Sugar	Fiber	Protein	Salt
General	27.83 (5.08)	18.61 (2.84)	444.17 (35.95)	14.12 (3.79)	5.80 (3.39)	65.98 (5.50)	31.38 (4.00)	4.53 (1.81)	6.28 (1.30)	0.35 (0.30)
Child-Oriented	23.00 (2.28)	17.64 (2.63)	407.67 (9.85)	11.98 (1.65)	7.83 (1.52)	65.77 (6.39)	26.18 (2.60)	4.32 (1.48)	6.47 (1.05)	0.44 (0.10)
Fruits/nuts/seeds	31.89 (7.79)	27.71 (11.81)	497.50 (68.48)	30.13 (11.73)	5.57 (0.72)	36.90 (16.06)	23.27 (5.06)	10.17 (5.32)	15.37 (5.06)	0.30 (0.30)
Diet	23.00 (3.73)	24.84 (11.15)	373.50 (32.01)	10.85 (6.09)	6.32 (2.95)	62.47 (16.06)	13.87 (12.71)	6.20 (2.55)	9.93 (8.39)	0.53 (0.16)
Energy/protein	52.50 (16.05)	35.37 (11.48)	370.88 (49.56)	11.48 (4.95)	3.88 (1.74)	39.60 (28.41)	25.38 (17.95)	16.93 (12.73)	22.23 (13.56)	0.31 (0.25)

Table A4. Impact of having (or not having) education in health-related areas on the participants’ perception of the cereal bars across evaluative dimensions.

	Education in health-related areas
	Yes (n = 107)	No (n = 159)	One-Way ANOVA
Healthiness	3.39 (0.93)	3.55 (0.99)	F(1.316) = 2.01, p = .157
Calories	5.23 (0.82)	4.97 (0.95)	F(1.316) = 6.19, p = .013, η^2p = .019
Taste	5.30 (0.91)	5.09 (0.98)	F(1.316) = 3.87, p = .050, η^2p = .012
Sugar	5.03 (0.86)	4.82 (0.96)	F(1.316) = 4.04, p = .045, η^2p = .013
Fat	4.30 (0.89)	4.13 (0.96)	F(1.316) = 2.44, p = .120
Protein	3.71 (0.89)	3.95 (1.04)	F(1.316) = 4.46, p = .035, η^2p = .014
Fiber	4.11 (0.97)	4.38 (0.96)	F(1.316) = 6.08, p = .014, η^2p = .019
Processing	5.76 (0.92)	5.33 (1.10)	F(1.316) = 13.43, p < .001, η^2p = .041
Adequate for athletes	3.94 (1.05)	3.83 (1.10)	F(1.316) = .836, p = .361
Adequate for children	2.69 (1.05)	2.98 (1.21)	F(1.316) = 4.70, p = .031, η^2p = .015
Adequate for weight-loss	2.89 (1.03)	3.06 (1.10)	F(1.316) = 1.93, p = .014, η^2p = .019

Data availability statement

The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.