Purpose

Markets for free from foods have undergone extensive growth as consumers attempt to manage their health in increasingly novel ways. This research explores the making of consumer perceptions about the health of gluten-free foods.

Design/methodology/approach

This research employs qualitative methods including in-depth interviews with consumers of gluten-free foods and content analysis of online consumer comments.

Findings

Findings illustrate how consumers leverage personal responsibility, social commentary and political criticism in ways that forge essential connections with traditional medical authority. In particular, consumers blend diverse views together by expressing reverence, positioning complementarity and framing temporality.

Research limitations/implications

This research highlights the productive role of consumers in shaping what constitutes health-related concerns and widens the scope of explanatory factors beyond product- and individual-level differences. This research is set in the context of gluten-free foods and draws on interview data from a single set of consumers. Future research could consider other free from markets including, for example, soy-free foods and corn-free foods, both of which implicate some of the most common ingredients in food products and potential regional differences both within and outside of North America.

Practical implications

This research offers insights into the marketing of gluten-free foods and free from foods in general, specifically the participation of consumers in legitimising the need for these foods on the basis of health.

Originality/value

I weave together multiple streams of work across disciplines including food marketing, contested illnesses and institutional logics to further our understanding of the dynamic nature of contemporary markets for free from foods.

中文翻译：

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“如果更多人砍掉麸质，僵尸就会醒来”：无麸质食品消费者对健康的担忧

目的

随着消费者试图以越来越新颖的方式来管理自己的健康，无食品市场经历了广泛的增长。这项研究探索了消费者对无麸质食品健康的看法。

设计/方法/方法

这项研究采用定性方法，包括对无麸质食品消费者的深入采访以及在线消费者评论的内容分析。

发现

调查结果说明了消费者如何通过与传统医学权威建立必要联系的方式来利用个人责任，社会评论和政治批评。尤其是，消费者通过表达崇敬，定位互补性和框架时间性，将各种观点融合在一起。

研究局限/意义

这项研究强调了消费者在塑造与健康相关的问题上的生产作用，并扩大了解释性因素的范围，超出了产品和个人层面的差异。这项研究是在无麸质食品的背景下进行的，并借鉴了来自一组消费者的采访数据。未来的研究可能会考虑其他不受市场影响的产品，例如无大豆食品和无玉米食品，这两者都暗示了食品中一些最常见的成分以及北美内外的潜在地区差异。

实际影响

这项研究提供了对无麸质食品和不含食品的市场营销的深刻见解，尤其是消费者在健康的基础上参与使这些食品合法化的参与。

创意/价值

我将食品营销，有争议的疾病和机构逻辑等各个学科的多个工作流组合在一起，以加深我们对当代无食品市场动态的了解。