Taste always wins?

The Journal of Public Policy and Marketing recently published a study designed by researchers from Kiel University in Germany to investigate the decisional conflict between health and taste. Groups of volunteers were presented with a variety of yogurts with different quantities of fat and sugar, as well as different types of information about each product.

Information intended to encourage the healthiest choice was generally ineffective, especially for those who could benefit the most from such a decision. Even the more health-conscious participants insisted that the least healthy yogurts tasted the best. Ultimately, taste was the tipping point for most of them, whether they tended to be healthy or unhealthy eaters.