Consumers’ attitudes and intentions toward functional beverages: a lesson for producers and retailers

Abstract

Functional foods and drinks benefit human health beyond adequate nutritional effects. The rising popularity of functional beverages (FBs) is associated, among others, with their convenience and capacity to meet consumer needs. This research study aimed to explore the predictors of consumers’ intentions toward functional beverages FBs and develop guidelines for how producers and retailers could develop adequate strategies regarding the products. The online questionnaire survey examined consumers’ willingness to purchase (WTP) FBs in three categories: (i) yogurts, kefirs; (ii) isotonic, hypertonic, and hypotonic drinks; (iii) smoothie drinks, and fruit/vegetable cocktails. The questionnaire considered consumers’ values, attitudes, and intentions toward FBs. A four-stage hierarchical multiple regression was undertaken. Predictors of WTP products from the selected groups differed. Women were more willing to buy fruit and vegetable-based FBs than men. Reward from using functional foods was the strongest predictor of consumers’ WTP dairy FBs and sports drinks. We suggest conducting an experimental study in the future, which should allow us to best determine cause-and-effect relationships between values and attitudes and WTP FBs. Food habits are essential determinants of consumer intentions toward FBs; hence, we suggest promoting healthy nutrition habits within public–private partnerships. Retailers that offer health foods and employ societal retailing may disclose this information in sustainability reporting. The originality of this study resides in designing a model for assessing consumers’ attitudes and intentions toward FBs belonging to three selected categories. Previous studies were usually focused on the functional food market in Asian countries. We examined consumers’ WTP FBs in a European country.

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https://doi.org/10.1007/s40622-024-00395-y
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Consumers’ attitudes andintentions towardfunctional
beverages: alesson forproducers andretailers
AleksandraKowalska · KrzysztofLeoniak ·
BartoszGrzegorzSołowiej
Accepted: 30 July 2024 / Published online: 20 August 2024
© The Author(s) 2024
more willing to buy fruit and vegetable-based FBs
than men. Reward from using functional foods was
the strongest predictor of consumers’ WTP dairy FBs
and sports drinks. We suggest conducting an experi-
mental study in the future, which should allow us to
best determine cause-and-effect relationships between
values and attitudes and WTP FBs. Food habits are
essential determinants of consumer intentions toward
FBs; hence, we suggest promoting healthy nutrition
habits within public–private partnerships. Retailers
that offer health foods and employ societal retailing
may disclose this information in sustainability report-
ing. The originality of this study resides in designing
a model for assessing consumers’ attitudes and inten-
tions toward FBs belonging to three selected catego-
ries. Previous studies were usually focused on the
functional food market in Asian countries. We exam-
ined consumers’ WTP FBs in a European country.
Keywords Functional food· Health claims·
Willingness to purchase· Marketing strategy·
Consumption
JEL Classification L66· D91· I12
Introduction
There is a close link, a feedback loop, or both between
food consumption and health. It is widely known that
a healthy diet and regular physical activity prevent
Abstract Functional foods and drinks benefit
human health beyond adequate nutritional effects.
The rising popularity of functional beverages (FBs)
is associated, among others, with their convenience
and capacity to meet consumer needs. This research
study aimed to explore the predictors of consum-
ers’ intentions toward functional beverages FBs and
develop guidelines for how producers and retailers
could develop adequate strategies regarding the prod-
ucts. The online questionnaire survey examined con-
sumers’ willingness to purchase (WTP) FBs in three
categories: (i) yogurts, kefirs; (ii) isotonic, hyper-
tonic, and hypotonic drinks; (iii) smoothie drinks,
and fruit/vegetable cocktails. The questionnaire
considered consumers’ values, attitudes, and inten-
tions toward FBs. A four-stage hierarchical multiple
regression was undertaken. Predictors of WTP prod-
ucts from the selected groups differed. Women were
A.Kowalska(*)
Institute ofEconomics andFinance, Maria Curie-
Skłodowska University, pl. Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej 5,
20-031Lublin, Poland
e-mail: aleksandra.kowalska@umcs.pl
K.Leoniak
Institute ofPsychology, Maria Curie-Skłodowska
University, ul. Głęboka 45, 20-612Lublin, Poland
B.G.Sołowiej
Department ofDairy Technology andFunctional Foods,
Faculty ofFood Sciences andBiotechnology, University
ofLife Sciences, ul. Skromna 8, 20-704Lublin, Poland

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several lifestyle diseases, including diabetes, obesity,
heart disease, and cancer (Patwardhan and Parantha-
man 2021). Resource scarcity, environmental degra-
dation, biodiversity loss, and climate change reinforce
mutual problems. Furthermore, the food system influ-
ences and depends on the environment. Hence, the
health of humans cannot be isolated from the health
of ecosystems. The United Nations (UN) Decade of
Action on Nutrition 2016–2025 focuses on the trans-
formation of food systems to promote healthy diets
that are sustainably produced (Burlingame et al.
2022). The pandemic, emerging armed conflicts
worldwide, and the deteriorating economic situation
in many countries impede progress toward sustain-
able food systems and food and nutrition security.
However, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic
has also led to a greater awareness of healthy diets
and food waste (O’Meara etal., 2022).
Functional food satisfactorily demonstrates to
have a beneficial effect on one or more target func-
tions in the body, beyond adequate nutritional effects,
in a way that is relevant to either an improved state
of physical, mental health, or both and well-being,
a reduction in disease risk, or both (Birch and Bon-
wick 2019). However, there is no universal definition
of functional food within the world: various countries
have adopted different concepts in terms of definition
and regulatory frameworks comprising the bioavaila-
bility of active ingredients, clinical effect, the permit-
ted nutrition, health claims, and other relevant vari-
ables (Birch and Bonwick 2019). The lack of clarity
on the definition has probably influenced consumer
preferences and behavior in the functional food mar-
ket and the efficiency of the marketing strategy devel-
oped by producers and retailers.
The first functional food regulation, called “foods
for specified health uses” (FOSHU), was introduced
in Japan in 1991 (Iwatani and Yamammoto, 2019).
A new Japanese system called “foods with func-
tion claims” has become more flexible than FOSHU
regarding health claims, the protocol for clinical
studies, and the required results in 2015. As a result,
functional food sales in Japan started to rise sharply
again (Iwatani and Yamamoto 2019). So far, a coher-
ent regulatory framework for functional food has
been lacking in the USA and the EU, but legislation
on nutrition and health claims has been developed.
As specified in Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 on
nutrition and health claims made on foods, nutrition
claims refer to what a food "contains" (nutrients or
other substances) and "provides" (energy, caloric
value), and health claims refer to what a food "does"
in terms of human health. Three types of health
claims, i.e., “function health claims,” “risk reduction
claims,” and “claims referring to children’s devel-
opment,” are often used by producers of functional
foods.
Functional beverages (FBs) are a very heterogene-
ous category, and there is a lack of classification of
FBs in the literature. Therefore, we suggest dividing
FB’s category into two major sub-categories, i.e.,
non-dairy beverages (e.g., energy, isotonic, hyper-
tonic, hypotonic drinks, fortified bottled water, plant-
based probiotic beverages) and dairy beverages (e.g.,
fermented milk, yogurt). Sports drinks help people
rehydrate during or after exercise, replenish min-
erals lost during workouts, boost metabolism, and
generate energy (Dini 2019). Energy drinks stimu-
late action, strengthen the brain and body by provid-
ing instant energy, and improve cognitive responses
such as awareness and response swiftness. The point
is that the energizing effects of these beverages are
owed to caffeine or caffeine-adjacent ingredients
like L-theanine, which is not always good for health,
especially teenagers’ health. High sugar content is
another concern around energy drinks and some other
FBs. Plant-based probiotic beverages are cereal, fruit,
and vegetable based (Min et al. 2018). They have
health benefits similar to dairy probiotic beverages
(Wiśniewska etal. 2022), and they can be marketed
to consumers having lactose intolerance, milk pro-
tein allergy (Lillo-Pérez etal. 2021), problems with
cholesterol levels or too high body mass index (BMI),
vegans, and other consumers who avoid animal-based
products for various reasons.
The global market for functional foods and bev-
erages has grown in the twenty-first century and
reached USD 162 billion in 2018 (Alongi & Anese
2021). It was more than the world’s organic food
retail sales worth USD 115.3 billion in 2018 (FiBL
Statistics, 2022; NBP, 2022). The popularity of FBs
has been rapidly growing thanks to their convenience
and capacity to meet the consumers’ needs regarding
contents (including texture), size, shape, and appear-
ance, as well as more facilitated distribution and stor-
age (Corbo etal. 2014; Maleš et al. 2022). Consum-
ers’ increasing awareness of the benefits of healthy
eating should contribute to the further growth of the

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functional food market. There are multiple reasons
for buying and consuming functional foods, drinks,
or both, and the findings are not always consistent.
Numerous studies show that functional food accept-
ance relates to consumer belief in its health benefits,
convenience, safety, sensory properties (hedonic and
utilitarian considerations), and consumer self-efficacy
(Chen 2011; Chang etal. 2020; Nystrand & Olsen
2020; Salleh and Noor 2018). The point is that most
of the authors have conducted their research surveys
among consumers from Asia, which can be because
Japan is the cradle of functional foods. Most of the
studies have referred to the whole category of func-
tional foods or the selected individual products, while
we have examined Polish consumers’ attitudes and
intentions toward functional beverages belonging
to one of the three selected categories (functional
yogurts, kefirs, or both; isotonic, hypertonic, hypo-
tonic drinks, or all; smoothie drinks, fruit/vegetable
cocktails). Identifying the differences in consumer
acceptance of these beverages is our contribution to
the literature and could support producers and retail-
ers in developing their marketing strategies. Fur-
thermore, it is crucial to conduct market research in
various contexts again and again since the market for
functional food and drink is growing fast (Alongi and
Anese 2021; Maleš etal. 2022) and, partly due to this,
consumer attitudes and intentions change over time.
Consumers may have some reservations about
mechanisms for the sustainability of FBs produc-
tion because these are often ultra-processed prod-
ucts, which are ready-to-eat industrially formulated
products that are made from substances derived from
foods and additives, with little if any intact unpro-
cessed or minimally processed foods (Braesco etal.
2022). Another issue is that liquids are typically con-
sumed quickly and have a low satiation/satiety value
(De Graaf 2012). Energy density and eating at a
faster rate have both been shown to increase energy
intake and promote increased body weight adiposity
in short-term and excessive body mass index (BMI)
in the long run (Teo etal. 2021), which is crucial at a
time when about 40% of adults are overweight glob-
ally, with an additional a dozen or so percent being
obese (WHO 2021). When considering the environ-
mental sustainability of FBs production, we have
decided to test the influence of green consumption
values of consumers on their willingness to purchase
FBs, which is the novelty of the research.
FBs permit to include desirable nutrients and
bioactive compounds, including vitamins, miner-
als, antioxidants, ω-3 fatty acids, plant extracts,
fiber, prebiotics, and probiotics, in order to preserve
human hydration and to have antiaging, energy-sup-
plying, relaxing, or beauty-enhancing effects as well
as potential health benefits (Dini 2019). Therefore,
FBs might be, in a simplified manner, called "health
drinks". We suppose that, in this context, the health
values of consumers, alongside other factors, deter-
mine their willingness to purchase FBs. This research
study aimed to explore the predictors of consumers’
intentions toward functional beverages and develop
guidelines for how producers and retailers could build
adequate strategies regarding the products covered.
The main research question is: Are there any com-
mon predictors of willingness to purchase dairy and
non-dairy FBs?
The key results of our research study include: (1)
food habits are critical factors influencing young
consumer choices on the FBs market in Poland; (2)
the set of predictors of WTP FBs belonging to three
selected categories was different and consisted of
both value and attitude variables; (3) the perceived
reward from using functional foods related to the
improvement in consumer health was a significant
predictor of willingness to purchase (WTP) all bev-
erages considered. Corporate social responsibility
appeal strategies could be appropriate for FBs since
their health benefits are a vital factor influencing con-
sumer choice.
The article is structured as follows: the second part
presents a review of the related concepts and intro-
duces the theoretical framework and hypotheses that
guide the research; the third part outlines the research
methodology, including scale design and data collec-
tion; the fourth part shows the in-depth analysis of
the results of the survey conducted among consum-
ers studying in Poland; sect. "Discussion" discusses
the results; and sect. "Conclusions" provides conclu-
sions, draws management implications, and high-
lights the main findings, which should be of value to
the interested producers and retailers. Limitations and
directions for future research are provided in the para-
graphpreceding sect. “Conclusions”.

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Literature review andconceptual framework
Functional foods are also called “health foods” and
dietetic foods, food supplements, fortified foods,
nutraceuticals, and herbal products (Nasri etal. 2014;
Patwardhan and Paranthaman 2021). It could be stated
that "health foods" are known/proved to have physi-
ological benefits and the capacity to reduce the risk
of chronic diseases, delay the aging process, increase
life expectancy, or support the structure or function
of the body beyond essential nutritional functions. It
is worth mentioning that there are several pitfalls and
oversimplifications of the dichotomic classification
of foods into healthy and unhealthy products (Visioli
etal. 2022). Furthermore, foods and drinks might be
classified as relative vices (or “wants” or “unhealthy
foods”), relative virtues (or “shoulds” or “healthy
foods”), and neither vice nor virtue. “Wants” are
hedonic products that provide immediate pleasurable
experiences (e.g., melt-the-mouth chocolate truffles)
but contribute to adverse long-term outcomes (such
as gaining weight). “Shoulds” are less gratifying
and appealing in the short run but have less negative
long-term consequences than vices and, therefore, are
a more cautious choice (e.g., tomatoes) (Van Doorn
and Verhoef 2011).
Categorizing foods as healthy or unhealthy and
virtue versus vice may lead consumers to conflict
between achieving a taste or health goal in their pur-
chase decisions (Haws and Liu 2016). However, the
final purchase decision also depends on the individual
value placed on addressing taste versus health goals
(Liu et al. 2015). It is interesting to choose func-
tional foods because a vast amount of research has
established that consumers’ health orientation is a
primary driver of this choice (Topolska etal. 2021).
In particular, consumers with a higher level of con-
sideration for the health aspects of food are not only
more willing to consume functional foods but are also
willing to discard food characteristics such as taste or
price for the sake of its health attributes (e.g., Henson
et al. 2008; Moro et al., 2018; Verbeke, 2005). For
example, Chen (2011) revealed that the joint mod-
erator of health consciousness and a healthy lifestyle
impacted Taiwanese consumers’ willingness to use
functional foods, whereas healthy life-attentive (ver-
sus inattentive) groups of consumers had more posi-
tive attitudes toward functional foods. In the case of
functional beverages, Chang etal. (2020) found that
consumers who valued health, were health-oriented,
and were interested in healthy foods were most will-
ing to purchase them. On the other hand, this may
also vary across functional beverage categories, as
Jeżewska-Zychowicz (2009) showed that young Pol-
ish consumers with more positive attitudes toward
health are less willing to consume energy drinks.
In general, health values can be defined as the
extent to which a person cares about their health
status (Tudoran et al. 2009), a powerful motivator
of consumer behavior. From this perspective, buy-
ing functional foods could be viewed as a means to
attain healthiness (i.e., desirable end-state according
to health values), which could explain different con-
sumer preferences (Lusk and Briggeman 2009).
Therefore, we propose the following hypotheses:
H1. Consumers’ health values positively relate to
the willingness to purchase functional beverages of
the chosen categories.
Nevertheless, it has been found that beyond seek-
ing healthiness, other values may drive consumers
of functional foods; for example, they may relate to
food naturalness or food safety (Pappalardo and Lusk
2016). Much talk is about the growing tendency to
prioritize environmental outcomes via purchasing and
consumption behavior (Kowalska etal. 2021). Haws
etal. (2014) proved that a greater preference for green
products was related to consumers’ green consump-
tion values. Production and consumption of ultra-pro-
cessed food, including numerous FBs, are associated
with adverse sustainability outcomes through many
negative environmental impacts across food systems,
from sourcing ingredients to industrial processing
those inputs to then disposing of their waste (Burl-
ingame etal. 2022). However, using food industry by-
products, such as dietary fiber, to prepare functional
foods reduces economic and environmental produc-
tion costs and is embedded in the circular economy
concept (Capozzi 2022; Sharma etal. 2016). It is not
very easy to decide how environmentally sustainable
these particular FBs are. However, it is justified to
formulate the following hypotheses:
H2. Green consumption values positively relate to
consumers’ willingness to purchase functional bever-
ages of the chosen categories.
The continuing rise in popularity of health-pro-
moting functional foods can also be attributed to the
quick pace of technological development in the food
processing industry, which consists of the increasing

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analytical capabilities (Sharma et al. 2016), three-
dimensional food printing (Kewuyemi et al. 2022),
etc.; and looking for nutrients that provide rapid sus-
tenance in circumstances where many people live
hectic lives. Using data collected via an online sur-
vey in France, Germany, Poland, Spain, and the UK,
Macready et al. (2020) observed quite a low level
of consumers’ confidence that currently used food
technologies are safe, healthy, and sustainable. Since
innovative processing technologies are essential for
developing novel functional foods and drinks (Gra-
nato etal., 2020), running safety tests of new ingredi-
ents and potential functional foods is essential to pro-
tect consumers’ interests. Food safety concerns might
be shaped by the fear of food hazards (generally and
specifically), food risk information acquisition (Ha
etal. 2019), innovative and/or untested food technolo-
gies. Corbo et al. (2014) pointed out that concerns
about FBs’ safety were raised. Hence, we propose the
following hypotheses:
H3. Food safety concern is positively related to the
consumer’s willingness to purchase functional bever-
ages of the chosen category.
It is well established that beyond consumers’
health values, green consumption values, or food
safety concerns, another crucial predictor of func-
tional food buying behavior is consumer attitudes
(Baker etal. 2022; Bekoglu etal. 2016; Nystrand and
Olsen 2020; Topolska etal. 2021). However, attitudes
toward functional foods are shaped by a variety of
factors, starting with taste (or pleasure) perception
of functional foods, through to nutritional knowledge
or food neophobia, and ending with trust in the food
industry, social pressure, or perception of marketing
activities used for promoting functional foods (Baker
etal. 2022; Topolska etal. 2021). For these reasons,
researchers view attitudes toward functional foods
not only as a unidimensional construct (i.e., overall
“favorableness–unfavorableness” evaluation of an
object) but rather as an interplay of distinctive attitu-
dinal dimensions (i.e., addressing particular evalua-
tion aspect of an object) whose importance varies in
predicting consumer behavior across functional food
categories (Urala and Lähteenmäki 2007). Based on
a series of studies, Urala and Lähteenmäki (2003;
2004; 2007) established four unique (but complemen-
tary) attitudinal dimensions predicting willingness to
use functional foods: (1) perceived reward from using
functional foods; (2) necessity for functional foods;
(3) confidence in functional foods; and (4) safety of
functional foods.
As the strongest predictor of willingness to use
functional foods, perceived reward focuses on the
level of consumers’ personal pleasure and/or positive
consequences resulting from using functional foods.
Importantly, this dimension reflects not only consum-
ers’ perceptions of functional food’s health benefits
but, more precisely, the improvement in mood and
performance that results from using functional foods.
On the other hand, confidence in functional foods
regards the consumer’s level of trust in claims and
information about functional foods (and their bene-
fits). The necessity of the functional foods dimension
concerns the perception of these products as essential
for the particular consumer and people in general.
Lastly, the safety of functional foods concerns the
perception of possible nutritional risks when func-
tional foods are used (Urala and Lähteenmäki 2003;
2004; 2007).
Although previous studies unequivocally revealed
that consumers who score high on the dimensions
mentioned above are more willing to consume func-
tional foods (Jeżewska-Zychowicz 2009; Carrillo
etal. 2013; Bekoglu et al. 2016; Baker etal. 2022),
it is worth noticing that each dimension predicts
consumers’ evaluations differently depending on the
type of functional product. For example, Landström
etal. (2007) explored Swedish consumers’ perceived
need for functional foods (in general). Their results
revealed that although interviewees declared no need
for functional foods for themselves, they acknowl-
edged that these products are primarily for consum-
ers in real need (e.g., health related) when no other
lifestyle changes could improve a person’s health. On
the other hand, Jeżewska-Zychowicz (2009) predicted
Polish respondents’ willingness to buy different func-
tional food products and found that the necessity of
functional foods primarily affected the willingness
to consume probiotic yogurt. At the same time, the
surveyed students who were most willing to use the
yogurts and cholesterol-lowering spread expected
benefits/rewards from using functional foods to a
greater extent, whereas the willingness to use low-fat
mayonnaise was affected by the confidence in func-
tional foods and their safety. These examples show (in
line with the view of Urala and Lähteenmäki 2007)
that consumers see functional foods as a heteroge-
neous product group and, therefore, differ in how

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attitude dimensions predict their usage. Thus, we
decided to explore further the importance of attitude
dimensions regarding functional beverages (as a dis-
tinctive sub-category of functional foods) and devel-
oped the following hypotheses:
H4. Rewards from using functional foods are
positively associated with a willingness to purchase
selected functional beverages.
H5. Necessity for functional foods is positively
associated with willingness to purchase selected func-
tional beverages.
H6. Confidence in functional foods is positively
associated with willingness to purchase selected func-
tional beverages.
H7. Attitude toward the safety of functional foods
is positively associated with willingness to purchase
selected functional beverages.Fig.1 presents a visual
representation of the conceptual model.
Materials andmethods
Participants
A total of 784 university students in Eastern Poland
voluntarily participated in this study. The partici-
pants’ age averaged 21.8, with a standard deviation of
3.4, and ranged between 18 and 49years. There was
a higher proportion of female students than male stu-
dents. It reflects what is currently observed in Poland,
as shown by Poland’s Central Statistical Office (Sta-
tistics Poland 2023). Moreover, gender disproportions
occur in general tertiary education across most mem-
ber nations in the Organization for Economic Co-
operation and Development (Stoet and Geary 2020).
Most participants enrolled in Bachelor’s degree pro-
grams; however, the sample also consisted of students
from Master’s and Long-cycle Master’s programs.
Participants came from majors associated with a
wide variety of science disciplines across five distinc-
tive fields of science (humanities, engineering, and
technology, medical and health sciences, social sci-
ences, and natural sciences), and this classification is
Fig.1 Full conceptual
model with hypotheses
explaining willingness
to purchase functional
beverages (ovals are latent
constructs—own graph)

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specific to Polish higher education. We surveyed stu-
dents from various fields to gather data that were not
biased with the knowledge gained during the studies.
The frequency of sports activity among participants
varied; however, more than half of the sample (i.e.,
58%) declared attending sports activities from ’almost
regular” to “regular” (Table1).
Materials and procedure
The study was conducted as an online questionnaire
using a dedicated internet platform, Profitest®. Stu-
dents were asked to participate in the study voluntar-
ily via e-mail invitations from the university admin-
istration. After providing consent to participating in
the study, respondents were presented with detailed
instructions, which included a brief definition of func-
tional beverages (i.e., "Functional beverages belong
to a group of products that, in addition to their nutri-
tional value, benefit health, or reduce the risk of dis-
ease”). Participants were also asked to indicate how
often (never; several times a year; 1–3 times a month;
weekly; several times a week) they buy products of
a given sub-category: 1) functional yogurts, kefirs, or
both; 2) isotonic, hypertonic, hypotonic drinks, or all;
3) smoothie drinks, fruit/vegetable cocktails, or both.
In the following step, participants responded to
the questions. Most scale items were verified using
a 5-point Likert scale (1—strongly disagree to
5—strongly agree). Questionnaire items that were
used to measure constructs of interest in this study are
presented in Table2. The first three measured con-
structs regarding health values (HV), green consump-
tion values (GCV), and food safety concern (FSC).
Right after, attitude dimensions toward FBs were
measured [reward (REW), necessity (NES), confi-
dence (CON), and safety (SAF)]. Next, participants
indicated the extent to which they would be willing
to purchase products from each sub-category of FBs
(dependent variables). The survey items were usually
adapted from other studies (see Table2). Question-
naire items were translated into Polish and back-trans-
lated into English to reflect the original versions of
subsequent items adapted from the original sources.
Lastly, participants answered questions regarding
their demographic characteristics and provided infor-
mation about the study programs they were engaged
in. The questionnaire used only one open-ended
question regarding the participants’ field of study.
Respondents also provided declarations regarding
their frequency of engaging in sports activities. The
questionnaire included questions regarding partici-
pants’ native language and student status, which were
used to filter out possible non-student participants and
students whose native language differed from Polish.
Overall, the questionnaire consisted of 44 items.
Results
Before statistical analyses, post hoc power analyses
were conducted with a sample size of 784 using the
software package G*Power 3.1 (Faul etal. 2009). The
significance level used for this analysis was p < 0.05.
The post hoc analyses revealed that the statistical
power for this study was 0.78 for detecting a small
effect, whereas the power exceeded 0.99 for detect-
ing a moderate to large effect size. Thus, there was
adequate power (i.e., power 0.80) at the moderate to
significant effect size and almost adequate statisti-
cal power at the small effect size level (Cohen 1988;
Tabachnick and Fidell 2001). All of the following sta-
tistical analyses were performed with IBM® SPSS®
28.
The declarations of students regarding the fre-
quency of buying FBs belonging to the three ana-
lyzed categories differed (Table 3). The differences
in students’ declarative indications of buying each FB
Table 1 Participants’ demographic characteristics
Variable Category N (%)
Sex Male 235 (30%)
Female 549 (70%)
Studies program Bachelor 489 (62.4%)
Master’s 131 (16.7%)
Long-cycle Master’s 164 (20.9%)
Fields of sci-
ence related
to educational
program
Humanities 207 (26.4%)
Engineering and technology 146 (18.6%)
Medical and health sciences 71 (9.1%)
Social sciences 276 (35.2%)
Natural sciences 84 (10.7%)
Declared
frequency of
sports activity
(SA)
Never 39 (5%)
Seldom 253 (32.3%)
Irregular 37 (4.7%)
Almost regular 290 (37%)
Regular 165 (21%)

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Table 2 Constructs and measuring items included in the questionnaire with reliability coefficients
Study measure (Reference) Measurement Item Cronbach’s α
Health values
(HV)
Chang etal. (2020)
1. I often think about my health .76
2. I think of myself as a person who is interested in
healthful food
3. Good health is important to me
Green consumption values
(GCV)
Haws etal. (2014)
1. It is important to me that the products I use do not
harm the environment
.86
2. I consider the potential environmental impact of my
actions when making many of my decisions
3. My purchase habits are affected by my concern for our
environment
4. I am concerned about wasting our planet’s resources
5. I would describe myself as environmentally responsible
6. I am willing to be inconvenienced in order to take
actions that are more environmentally friendly
Food safety concern
(FSC)
Talwar etal. (2021)
1. I am very concerned about the amount of artificial
additives and preservatives in food
.85
2. The quality and safety of food nowadays concerns me
Reward from using functional foods
(REW)
Urala & Lähteenmäki (2007)
1. Functional beverages help improve my mood .82
2. My performance improves when I drink functional
beverages
3. Functional beverages make it easier to follow a healthy
lifestyle
4. I can prevent disease by drinking functional beverages
regularly
5. Functional beverages can repair the damage caused by
an unhealthy diet
6. I am prepared to compromise on the taste of a drink if
the product is functional
Necessity for functional foods
(NEC)
Urala & Lähteenmäki (2007)
1. Functional beverages are completely unnecessary. (R) .73
2. Functional beverages are a total sham. (R)
3. The growing number of functional beverages on the
market is a bad trend for the future. (R)
4. For a healthy person, it is worthless to use functional
beverages. (R)
5. I only want to drink beverages that do not have any
medicine-like effects. (R)
Confidence in functional foods
(CON)
Urala & Lähteenmäki (2007)
1. Functional beverages promote my well-being .60
2. The safety of functional beverages has been very thor-
oughly studied
3. I believe that functional beverages fulfill their promises
Safety of functional foods
(SAF)
Urala & Lähteenmäki (2007)
1. If used in excess, functional beverages can harm human
health. (R)
.73
2. In some cases, functional beverages may harm healthy
people. (R)
3. Using functional beverages is completely safe
4. The new properties of functional beverages carry
unforeseen risks. (R)

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sub-category were analyzed with univariate repeated
measures ANOVA. The FB sub-category was set as
a within-subject factor, whereas declarative purchase
frequency was set as a dependent variable. Results
showed a strong main effect of FBs sub-category,
F(2, 1566) = 244.88; p < 0.001; η2 = 0.24. Follow-
up post hoc analyses with a Bonferroni correction
revealed statistically significant differences between
each of the three FB sub-categories. In the acquired
student sample, functional yogurts, kefirs, or both
(M = 3.36) were bought more often than isotonic
drinks (M = 2.22) or smoothie drinks (M = 2.72).
Results also showed that isotonic, hypertonic, hypo-
tonic drinks, or all, were, on average, students’ least
often used products. It seems helpful for producers
and retailers who develop or re-think their marketing
strategy considering functional foods.
Before conducting hierarchical multiple regres-
sions, the relevant assumptions of these statistical
analyses were tested. An overview of the intercor-
relations, means, and standard deviations of the
variables used in this study is presented in Table4.
Within the sub-category of functional yogurts, kefirs,
or both, all of the predictors (SA, HV, GCV, FSC,
REV, NEC, CON, SAF, see Tables 2 and 4) were
significantly associated with willingness to purchase
the products (WTP yog), and these findings confirm
H1-7. Among predictors toward a willingness to buy
isotonic, hypertonic, hypotonic drinks, or all (WTP
iso), only HV, GCV, and FSC were not significantly
Note: (R)—reverse coded item
Table 2 (continued)
Study measure (Reference) Measurement Item Cronbach’s α
Willingness to purchase functional yogurts and/or kefirs
(WTP yog)
Kumar etal. (2023)
1. I intend to purchase functional yogurts and/or kefirs in
the future
.87
2. I am usually interested in buying functional yogurts
and/or kefirs
3. I always intend to look for functional yogurts and/or
kefirs, even though it is inconvenient
Willingness to purchase isotonic, hypertonic, and/or
hypotonic drinks
(WTP iso)
Kumar etal. (2023)
1. I intend to purchase isotonic, hypertonic, and/or hypo-
tonic drinks in the future
.86
2. I am usually interested in buying isotonic, hypertonic,
and/or hypotonic drinks
3. I always intend to look for isotonic, hypertonic, and/or
hypotonic drinks, even though it is not convenient
Willingness to purchase smoothies and/or fruit/vegetable
cocktails
(WTP smo)
Kumar etal. (2023)
1. I intend to purchase smoothies/fruit or vegetable cock-
tails in the future
.85
2. I am usually interested in buying smoothies/fruit or
vegetable cocktails
3. I always intend to look for smoothies/fruit or vegetable
cocktails, even though it is inconvenient
Table 3 Declared
frequency of purchasing
functional beverages in the
research sample (n = 784)
Category Yogurts and/or
kefirs N (%)
Isotonic, hypertonic, and/
or hypotonic drinks N (%)
Smoothie drinks and/or
fruit/vegetable cocktails
N (%)
Never 55 (7%) 244 (31.1%) 69 (8.8%)
Several times a year 158 (20.2%) 277 (35.3%) 296 (37.8%)
1–3times a month 221 (28.2%) 151 (19.3%) 261 (33.3%)
Weekly 151 (19.3%) 67 (8.5%) 101 (12.9%)
Several times a week 199 (25.4%) 45 (5.7%) 57 (7.3%)
M(SD) 3.36 (1.25) 2.22 (1.15) 2.72 (1.04)

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Table 4 Descriptive statistics and intercorrelations
WTP yog willingness to purchase yogurts and other functional dairy drinks, WTP iso willingness to purchase isotonic and other sports drinks, WTP smo willingness to purchase
smoothie and other fruit/vegetable drinks, SA sports activity, HV health values, GCV green consumption values, FSC food safety concern, REW reward from using functional
food, NEC necessity of using functional food, CON confidence in functional foods, SAF safety of functional foods, USE yog previous buying frequency of yoghurts, etc., USE iso
previous buying frequency of isotonic drinks, etc., USE smo previous buying frequency of smoothie, etc. The word USE codes the consumption; such an approach comes from the
term "use-by date."
*p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001
n = 784 M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
1. WTP yog 3.26 0.95 –
2. WTP iso 2.57 0.96 .27*** –
3. WTP smo 3.26 0.95 .36*** .19*** –
4. SA 3.37 1.26 .22*** .17*** .04 –
5. HV 3.78 0.72 .27*** .01 .20*** .27*** –
6. GCV 3.52 0.69 .17*** − 03 .28*** .01 .28*** –
7. FSC 3.95 0.87 .18*** − 02 .23*** .07* .30*** .28*** –
8. REW 2.87 0.70 .34*** .45*** .19*** .10** .12*** .14*** .13*** –
9. NEC 3.34 0.58 .18*** .37*** .05 .05 − 04 − 01 − 09** .48*** –
10. CON 3.03 0.55 .25*** .45*** .17*** .09** .09** .07* − 03 .59*** .46*** –
11. SAF 2.53 0.56 .06* .16*** .04 − 08* − 08* .01 − 07* .23*** .27*** .30*** –
12. USE yog 3.36 1.25 .58*** .18*** .21*** .28*** − 002 − 07* − 01 .26*** .24*** .27*** .03 –
13. USE iso 2.22 1.15 .16*** .69*** .05 .21*** − 002 − 07* − 01 .26*** .24*** .27*** .03 .23*** –
14. USE smo 2.72 1.04 .20*** .06 .56*** .12*** .23*** .19*** .20*** .10** .06 .09** − 04 .29*** .12***

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associated with WTP iso, and this confirms H4-7.
There was a statistically significant relationship
between most of the selected value and attitude vari-
ables and the willingness to buy a product from the
category of smoothie drinks and/or fruit/vegetable
cocktails (WTP smo). No significant association was
identified between SA and WTP iso. There was also
no relationship between the two attitude dimensions
and WTP iso (i.e., NEC and WTP iso; SAF and WTP
iso) (Table4), confirming H5 and H7. Despite having
insignificant correlations between particular predic-
tors and dependent variables, they were not dropped
from subsequent hierarchical multiple regression
analyses (Thompson and Levine 1997). Descriptive
statistics and intercorrelations also revealed that some
of the predictors were correlated with each other.
However, an examination of the collinearity statis-
tics revealed that each predictor fell within acceptable
boundaries of tolerance (> 0.20) and the VIF coef-
ficient (< 5.0), ruling out potential multicollinearity
problems (O’Brien 2007).
Predicting willingness to purchase functional yogurts
and/or kefirs
A four-stage hierarchical multiple regression was
conducted with WTP yog as the dependent variable
(Table 5). Participants’ sex and declared frequency
of sports activity were entered at stage one of the
regression, which served as a baseline model. Results
show that only sports activity is a significant predic-
tor, explaining 5% of the variance in WTP yog, F(2,
781) = 20.75, p < 0.001, adjR2 = 0.05. Introducing
the health values (HV), green consumption values
(GCV), as well as food safety concern (FSC) in the
second step explained an additional 7% of the vari-
ation in the dependent variable, F(3, 778) = 19.91,
p < 0.001, adjR2 = 0.11. The third step tested whether
attitudes toward FBs explain any additional vari-
ance while controlling for predictors entered in pre-
vious steps. Inspection of beta weights revealed that
among attitude variables, only reward from using
functional foods (REW) was a statistically signifi-
cant predictor, explaining an additional 8% of the
variance in the dependent variable, F(4, 774) = 20.37,
p < 0.001, adjR2 = 0.19. Finally, the addition (step 4)
of declared frequency of buying functional yogurts,
kefirs, or both (USE yog) explained on a statistically
significant level an additional 22% of the variance,
F(1, 773) = 286.13, p < 0.001, adjR2 = 0.41.
Predicting willingness to purchase smoothie drinks
and/or fruit/vegetable cocktails
A four-stage hierarchical multiple regression was
conducted with WTP smo (Table 6). Participants’
sex and declared frequency of physical activity (SA)
were entered at stage one of the regression, serving
as a baseline model. Results show that both vari-
ables are significant predictors, explaining 12% of the
variance in WTP smo, F(2, 781) = 53.75, p < 0.001,
adjR2 = 0.12. Introducing the health values (HV),
green consumption values (GCV) as well as food
safety concern (FSC) in the second step explained an
additional 6% of the variation in the dependent vari-
able, F(3, 778) = 17.83, p < 0.001, adjR2 = 0.17. The
third step tested whether attitudes toward FBs explain
any additional variance while controlling for pre-
dictors entered in previous steps. Inspection of beta
weights revealed that among attitude dimensions,
only reward from using functional foods (REW) and
confidence in functional foods (CON) are statistically
significant predictors, explaining an additional 3% of
Table 5 Hierarchical regression analysis for variables predict-
ing willingness to purchase functional yogurts and/or kefirs
The dependent variable is a willingness to purchase functional
yogurts and/or kefirs (WTP yog). Entries are standardized beta
coefficients; sex was coded as: 1—male, 2—female
*p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001
Independ-
ent vari-
ables
Step 1 (β) Step 2 (β) Step 3 (β) Step 4 (β)
Sex 0.04 − 0.04 − 0.02 0.001
SA 0.23*** 0.16*** 0.14*** 0.04
HV – 0.18*** 0.16*** 0.05
GCV – 0.10** 0.07 0.07*
FSC – 0.10** 0.09* 0.09**
REW – – 0.22*** 0.14***
NEC – – 0.04 0.06
CON – – 0.07 0.05
SAF – – 0.004 0.03
USE yog – – – 0.51***
adj R20.05 0.11 0.19 0.41
ΔR2– 0.07 0.08 0.22
Fchange 20.75*** 19.91*** 20.37*** 286.13***

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the variance in WTP smo, F(4, 774) = 8.10, p < 0.001,
adjR2 = 0.20. Finally, the addition (step 4) of declared
frequency of buying smoothies and other fruit/vegeta-
ble drinks (USE smo) explained on a statistically sig-
nificant level an additional 20% of the variance, F(1,
773) = 256,39, p < 0.001, adjR2 = 0.40.
Predicting willingness to purchase isotonic,
hypertonic, and/or hypotonic drinks
A four-stage hierarchical multiple regression was
conducted with willingness to purchase isotonic,
hypertonic, hypotonic drinks, or all (WTP iso) as the
dependent variable (Table 7). Participants’ sex and
declared frequency of physical activity (SA) were
entered at stage one of the regression, serving as a
baseline model. Results show that both variables are
significant predictors, explaining 3% of the variance
in WTP iso, F(2, 781) = 13.99, p < 0.001, adjR = 0.03.
Introducing health values, green consumption values
as well as food safety concerns (HV, GCV, FSC) in
the second step did not explain any additional vari-
ation in the dependent variable, F(3, 778) = 19.91,
p = 0.89, adjR2 = 0.03. The third step tested whether
attitudes toward FBs explain any additional variance
while controlling for predictors entered in previous
steps. All attitude dimensions except the safety of
functional foods are statistically significant predic-
tors, explaining an additional 26% variance in will-
ingness to purchase, F(4, 774) = 70.57, p < 0.001,
adjR2 = 0.28. Finally, the addition (step 4) of declared
frequency of buying isotonic drinks explained on a
statistically significant level an additional 30% of the
variance, F(1, 773) = 559.79, p < 0.001, adjR2 = 0.58.
Discussion
The results of our research showed that the set of
predictors of willingness to purchase functional
Table 6 Hierarchical
regression analysis for
variables predicting
willingness to purchase
smoothie drinks and/or
fruit/vegetable cocktails
The dependent variable is
a willingness to purchase
functional smoothie
drinks and/or fruit/
vegetable cocktails. Entries
are standardized beta
coefficients; sex was coded
as: 1–male, 2–female
*p < .05, **p < .01,
***p < .001
Independent variable Step 1 (β) Step 2 (β) Step 3 (β) Step 4 (β)
Sex 0.35*** 0.26*** 0.28*** 0.20***
SA 0.07* 0.03 0.02 − 0.02
HV – 0.08* 0.07 0.01
GCV – 0.16*** 0.14*** 0.10***
FSV – 0.10** 0.10** 0.05
REW – – 0.10* 0.10**
NEC – – − 0.03 − 0.05
CON – – 0.12** 0.08*
SAF – – 0.01 0.03
USE smo – – – 0.47***
adjR20.12 0.17 0.20 0.40
ΔR2– 0.06 0.03 0.20
Fchange 53.75*** 17.83*** 8.10*** 256.39***
Table 7. Willingness to purchase isotonic, hypertonic, and/or
hypotonic drinks
The dependent variable is a willingness to purchase isotonic,
hypertonic, and/or hypotonic drinks. Entries are standardized
beta coefficients; Sex was coded as: 1–male, 2–female
*p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001
Independ-
ent vari-
ables
Step 1 (β) Step 2 (β) Step 3 (β) Step 4 (β)
Sex − 0.08* − 0.07 − 0.04 0.08**
SA 0.16*** 0.17*** 0.12*** 0.03
HV – − 0.03 − 0.05 − 0.02
GCV – – – − 0.03
FSC – − 0.01 − 0.002 − 0.02
REW – – 0.25*** 0.18***
NEC – – 0.14*** 0.07*
CON – – 0.23*** 0.14***
SAF – – 0.004 0.04
USE iso – – – 0.60***
adj R2 0.03 0.03 0.28 0.58
ΔR2 – 0.001 0.26 0.30
Fchange 13.99*** 0.21 70.57*** 559.79***

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beverages belonging to three selected categories was
different and consisted of both value and attitude vari-
ables, i.e.,
WTP yog was mainly determined by (1) reward
from using functional foods, (2) green consumption
values, and (3) food safety concerns; WTP smo was
determined by (1) sex, (2) green consumption values,
(3) reward from using functional foods, (4) confi-
dence in functional foods; WTP iso was mainly deter-
mined by the following attitudes: (1) reward from
using functional foods, (2) the necessity of using
functional foods, and (3) confidence in functional
foods.
Reward from using functional foods, mainly asso-
ciated with their health benefits (see Table2), was a
significant predictor of WTP functional beverages in
each selected category. This finding is in line with
the results of the survey conducted in Germany and
China by Siegrist et al. (2015). It can be assumed
that health motivations are related to WTP functional
foods regardless of the consumer’s cultural back-
ground, and this point should be taken into account by
both marketers and retailers in developed countries.
Our findings regarding the role of reward from
using functional foods in shaping consumer inten-
tions toward FBs confirmed the results of research
conducted by Urala and Lähteenmäki (2007), and this
is the answer to the main research question. Perceived
reward from consuming functional foods, which
reflected the perceived effect of food consumption
on health, mood, and performance, was the strongest
predictor of WTP dairy beverages and sports drinks.
It is the contribution of our study to the literature.
The expected rewards from using FBs, which include
health protection and promotion, disease prevention,
well-being, good performance and mood, and great
taste, might be used for marketing and communicat-
ing messages.
Our survey showed that women were more willing
to buy smoothie drinks and fruit/vegetable cocktails
than men, which is new in the literature on consumer
behavior. Marketers could take into account this new
finding. However, sales and marketing staff should
be inclusive and respectful in their advertising and
marketing campaigns because European societies are
increasingly diverse. It requires the ability to reach
consumers from different social groups and cultures.
Another common predictor of WTP yog, WTP
smo, and WTP iso was the former buying frequency
of a product, which answers the main research ques-
tion and contributes to the literature on functional
foods consumption. This factor exerted a somewhat
more substantial impact on WTP. Thus, food habits
are critical determinants of young consumer choices
in the FBs market in Poland. We suggest continu-
ously educating young consumers by promoting
healthy nutrition habits through dedicated mobile
applications run by retailers. It is crucial to increase
the nutrition literacy of young adults since it has been
proved before that nutrition literacy influences their
healthy food selection, preparation, and consumption
(Kalkan 2019). Another idea is to develop applica-
tions within public–private partnerships (PPPs) devel-
oped by producers, retailers, state bodies, NGOs, etc.
Effective PPPs would allow sharing resources and
ideas and reach a wider audience so activities can
be undertaken on a larger scale than individual ini-
tiatives (Hernandez-Aguado and Zaragoza, 2016;
Kowalska and Manning 2022). It is imperative when
young people face the global pandemic of overweight
and obesity.
We are aware that the list of predictors explored
is not exhaustive. The differences in WTP products
from specific categories might have been caused
by various properties of the products and different
characteristics of consumers for whom they were
addressed. Another thing is that there might have
been a moderating role of selling cues on consum-
ers’ purchase intentions, as was previously explored
by Das etal. (2018). Smoothie drinks, fruit/vegetable
cocktails, or both are perceived as hedonic products
where the scarcity cue encourages consumers to buy
the product. In contrast, functional yogurts, kefirs, or
both are probably more often perceived as utilitarian
products where the popularity cue enhances consum-
ers’ purchase intentions. However, further studies are
needed to confirm this. Retailers also promote FB
aesthetics (Lin and Chang 2021) and create product
displays for certain functional foods, which might be
another moderating factor for consumer choices.
The FBs’ characteristics support the view that
they are virtue products but also have some features
of vice goods. FBs might be perceived as produc-
ers and retailers to make an appeal that potentially
performs better. It seems that functional corporate
social responsibility appeals (CSRAs) are appropri-
ate for FBs as virtue products, but symbolic CSRAs
might also be used in the case of FBs, which have

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the characteristics of vice products. Since FBs are
to improve both the physical and mental health and
well-being of users, CSRA marketing, which is a
form of societal retailing, could be the way to com-
bine the interests of consumers, producers, sellers,
society, and the state (Choi etal. 2023). We believe
that offering healthy food and employing societal
retailing might contribute to achieving the UN Sus-
tainable Development Goals. It may be a part of sus-
tainability information about the retailers’ business
activities.
Limitations and future research
One of the limitations of our study is that we did not
assess consumers’ knowledge about the benefits and
risks associated with using FBs because we tried to
prevent excessive cognitive load on respondents when
completing the survey, which could otherwise affect
the data quality. Furthermore, the convenience sam-
pling approach was used, which means we cannot
be sure if our sample is representative, even if it is
big enough. Hence, we suggest conducting a similar
research based on probability sampling among con-
sumers from Poland and other European countries.
One of the limitations of our study is a lack of con-
fidence in the generalizability of the study’s findings.
Another point is that we asked the participants about
their biological sex. Future studies could be more
gender inclusive. We suggest conducting an experi-
mental study in the future which should allow us to
best determine cause-and-effect relationships between
values and attitudes and WTP FBs, as well as pos-
sibly other variables (e.g., information provided on
various FBs’ packaging). The authors of future ques-
tionnaire surveys, experimental studies, or both could
consider FBs’ brands and different sales channels
through which functional food is retailed.
Conclusions
Exploring consumers’ attitudes and behaviors lets
retailers build an efficient marketing communica-
tion strategy for FBs. The originality of this study
resides in designing a model for assessing consum-
ers’ attitudes and intentions toward FBs. Most of
the surveys conducted before were focused on the
functional food market. In this case, we examined
consumers’ willingness to purchase functional
drinks. Furthermore, we have divided the beverages
into three product groups and found common and
different issues related to the product categories,
which might be the lesson learned from this study.
The result of the study, which showed that sports
drinks were, on average, the least often used type of
product by students, might be helpful for producers
and retailers who decide which market segment they
should choose for their FBs and how to get there. It
is also vital information for those deciding on the
design and functionality of FB packaging.
On the one hand, it can be concluded that there
is no point in developing one common strategy for
all types of FBs since there are different predic-
tors explaining consumers’ WTP various functional
drinks; however, CSRA marketing seems to be
the right common approach for most FBs. Defin-
ing functional food in the EU legislation would be
a step forward in building effective retail strategies
regarding this group of food products as a whole,
given that FBs share some features and there are
common predictors of consumers’ WTP the prod-
ucts (such as food habits and expected reward from
using functional foods). Since young adults (includ-
ing students) are highly nutritionally vulnerable,
providing them with an attentive food education is
crucial to making them food and nutrition literate
and improving their dietary habits. Food retailers
have a role here because of their strong position in
the global market.
Acknowledgements Not applicable
Author contributions Conceptualization was performed
by AK, KL, BS; data curation by KL; formal analysis by
KL; funding acquisition by AK; investigation by AK, KL,
BS; methodology by AK, KL; project administration by AK;
resources by AK, KL, BS; software by KL; supervision by AK,
BS; validation by KL; visualization by KL; roles/writing—
original draft—by AK, KL; and writing—review & editing—
by AK, KL, BS.
Funding This study was funded by the Lublin Universities
Association (Związek Uczelni Lubelskich) under the ”Staż za
Miedzą” Program.
Data Availability The data that support the findings of this
study are available from the corresponding author upon reason-
able request.
Declarations

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Conflict of interest All authors certify that they have no af-
filiations with or involvement in any organization or entity with
any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject mat-
ter or materials discussed in this manuscript.
Ethical approval The questionnaire and methodology for this
study was approved by the ethics committee from Maria Curie-
Sklodowska University in Lublin, Poland (Reference number
3/2023, dtd 03/22/2023).
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits
use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any
medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the
original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative
Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The
images or other third party material in this article are included
in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated
otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not
included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your
intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds
the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly
from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
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