Attitudes towards sweetness as predictors of liking and use of various sweet foods

Five multi‐item verbal scales were developed to measure attitudes toward sweetness, and capacity of the scales to explain the liking and use of selected sweet foods was tested. The scales of attitudes towards sweetness were labeled as “social,” “reward,” “guilt,” “health” and “restriction.” The majority of the respondents were middle‐class women (N = 136) taking part in a product test evaluating two strawberry‐flavored yogurts. The liking and frequency of use of chocolate, cookies, licorice, ice cream and soft drinks could be explained by a positive attitude towards using sweet foods in social contexts and as a reward. Sweet, flavored yogurt and soft drinks were liked less by those who thought that sugar is harmful to health. Social, health and restriction scales also affected ratings of sweetness of the strawberry flavored yogurts tested. The results confirm that social factors are important motivations underlying the liking and use of sweet foods. However, all sweet foods should not be generalized into one category; different foods have their own determinants of consumption.

Key words:

• Liking
• use
• sweetness
• attitudes
• food preferences
• Finland