Why Low-Income Consumers Avoid Healthy Foods—and How to Change Their Minds

In recent years, governments and organizations have introduced policies to combat nutritional inequality, such as increasing the availability of affordable, healthy foods and taxing unhealthy options. Despite these efforts, a new Journal of Marketing study finds that such initiatives often fail to significantly change dietary habits among low-socioeconomic status (SES) consumers.

Our research team explores why these interventions fall short and discover that the issue isn’t just about access or cost—it’s about perception. Low-SES consumers prioritize different attributes in their food choices, such as fillingness and taste, over healthiness. These preferences and perceptions are shaped by their socioeconomic realities, creating unique obstacles to adopting healthier diets.

Fillingness, Taste, and Healthiness

The Role of Food Attributes in Choices

Our study highlights three key attributes—fillingness, taste, and healthiness—that shape food choices. While all consumers value taste, low-SES individuals place a much greater emphasis on fillingness, often at the expense of healthiness. In contrast, high-SES consumers prioritize healthiness, reflecting their access to more abundant and diverse food options.
Perceived Relationships Between Attributes

Low-SES consumers often associate healthy foods with being less filling and less tasty, reinforcing their preference for high-calorie, less nutritious options. These beliefs stem from limited exposure to healthy foods and fewer opportunities to experiment with cooking. High-SES individuals, who face fewer resource constraints, are less likely to hold these negative associations.
Fillingness as a Critical Factor

Fillingness, while often overlooked in public health strategies, is crucial for low-SES consumers. For individuals facing food insecurity or limited resources, satiety is a pressing concern. Policies and campaigns that ignore this dimension risk promoting foods that low-SES consumers perceive as unappealing or insufficient.

Implications for Policymakers

Our findings suggest that addressing nutritional inequality requires more than just making healthy foods affordable and accessible. Policymakers should focus on creating and promoting healthy options that are perceived as both filling and tasty.

Expand the Availability of Filling Healthy Foods: Increase access to options like whole grains, legumes, and lean proteins, which are both nutritious and satiating.
Incorporate Fillingness in Subsidies: Subsidize filling healthy foods to make them more affordable and attractive to low-SES consumers.

Public health campaigns should also work to reshape perceptions. By emphasizing the satisfying and flavorful aspects of healthy foods, marketers and policymakers can challenge the belief that “healthy equals unsatisfying or bland.”

Marketing and Industry Applications

From a marketing perspective, our research offers actionable strategies to encourage healthier eating habits:

Reframe the Narrative: Highlight the filling and tasty qualities of healthy foods through advertising and packaging.
Product Development: Design healthy food options that cater to low-SES preferences for satiety and flavor.
Retail Strategies: Promote healthy, filling meals in stores, particularly in low-income neighborhoods, to align with consumer priorities.

These approaches borrow from the tactics used to market unhealthy foods but reapply them to encourage better choices.

Nutritional inequality is a complex issue that cannot be solved by supply-side solutions alone. Our research shows that consumer preferences and perceptions—particularly regarding fillingness and taste—play a critical role in shaping dietary habits. Addressing these psychological and cultural factors is essential for making healthy foods more appealing and accessible to low-SES populations.

For policymakers, marketers, and public health advocates, the path forward lies in promoting the fillingness and flavor of healthy foods, ensuring that they meet the needs and expectations of disadvantaged communities.