Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/7928
Title: Beyond labelling: What strategies do nut allergic individuals employ to make food choices? A qualitative study
Authors: Barnett, J
Vasileiou, K
Gowland, MH
Raats, MM
Lucas, JS
Keywords: Nut allergy;Food labelling;Food choices;Risk management
Issue Date: 2013
Publisher: Public Library of Science
Citation: PLOS ONE, 8(1): Article e55293, 2013
Abstract: Objective: Food labelling is an important tool that assists people with peanut and tree nut allergies to avoid allergens. Nonetheless, other strategies are also developed and used in food choice decision making. In this paper, we examined the strategies that nut allergic individuals deploy to make safe food choices in addition to a reliance on food labelling. Methods: Three qualitative methods: an accompanied shop, in-depth semi-structured interviews, and the product choice reasoning task – were used with 32 patients that had a clinical history of reactions to peanuts and/or tree nuts consistent with IgE-mediated food allergy. Thematic analysis was applied to the transcribed data. Results: Three main strategies were identified that informed the risk assessments and food choice practices of nut allergic individuals. These pertained to: (1) qualities of product such as the product category or the country of origin, (2) past experience of consuming a food product, and (3) sensory appreciation of risk. Risk reasoning and risk management behaviours were often contingent on the context and other physiological and socio-psychological needs which often competed with risk considerations. Conclusions: Understanding and taking into account the complexity of strategies and the influences of contextual factors will allow healthcare practitioners, allergy nutritionists, and caregivers to advise and educate patients more effectively in choosing foods safely. Governmental bodies and policy makers could also benefit from an understanding of these food choice strategies when risk management policies are designed and developed.
Description: This article is made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. Copyright @ 2013 Barnett et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
URI: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0055293
http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/7928
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0055293
ISSN: 1932-6203
Appears in Collections:Publications
Computer Science
Brunel OA Publishing Fund
Dept of Computer Science Research Papers

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