Linking Consumer Health Perceptions to Consumption of Nonalcoholic Beverages

This study explored factors influencing consumers’ beverage consumption. Consumers drank greater shares of beverages perceived as healthy and, in most cases, drank smaller shares of a beverage when they perceived alternative beverages as more healthy. One exception was carbonated sugar-sweetened beverages; the share of their consumption increased as health perceptions of 100 percent juice increased and vice versa. Another important determinant of beverage consumption share was objective and subjective health knowledge. Beverage drinking habit, which was measured by whether a beverage was consumed daily or weekly, was the most significant factor in explaining a beverage’s diet share.