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• Consumer study in Australia with plant-based (PB) yoghurt and eggs. • Uses a combination of text highlighting and rating-based conjoint analysis. • Measures purchase intention and reasons for acceptance / rejection. • Individual variables influenced consumer purchase intent in expected ways. • improving attitudes to and familiarity could support uptake of PB yoghurt / eggs. The present research contributed new knowledge to support consumers' uptake of plant-based (PB) foods and the wider transition to flexitarian and PB diets. Focus was directed to under-investigated PB foods – PB yoghurt and PB eggs – which were studied in a sample of urban-living adult Australian consumers (n = 2114). The research strategy used a combination of text highlighting and rating-based conjoint analysis, and this generated insights that were generic to each product category (text highlighting) and those that revealed preferences for specific product characteristics (text highlighting, conjoint analysis). In text highlighting, the results for the two product categories were similar in finding that consumers responded positively to information about the environmental and personal health benefits of PB foods. Negative responses (text highlighting) were observed for information relating to certain product characteristics. In the conjoint analysis, average purchase intention ratings were 3.6 for PB yoghurt and 3.7 for PB eggs, and thus closer to 'not at all interested in buying' (1) than to 'very interested in buying' (9). For PB yoghurt, the product concept that received the highest purchase intent had the lowest price and was based on soy milk with 3 % fat content. For PB eggs, only the PB ingredients used influenced stated purchase intent significantly, with positive utility for the combination of green split peas and chickpeas (compared to the combination of mung beans and lupin beans). Individual variables influenced consumer purchase intent in expected ways, and the results identified attitude to PB diets and PB product familiarity as most important, with sex, age, educational attainment, food neophobia and type of diet (omnivore, flexitarian and vegetarian) as lesser influences. These results suggest that improving attitudes to and familiarity with PB foods could contribute to support uptake of PB yoghurt and PB eggs among Australian consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The relation between fermented dairy consumption and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in an Australian population remains to be established.Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between fermented dairy consumption and T2DM and CVD risk.Methods: The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health included Australian women (aged 45-50 y) at baseline in 2001, who were followed up through 5 surveys until 2016. Dietary intake was assessed through the use of a validated 101-item FFQ at baseline. Main study outcomes were self-reported physician-diagnosed T2DM and CVD. Logistic regression models adjusted for sociodemographic and lifestyle factors were used to estimate the association between dairy intake and T2DM and CVD risk.Results: Of 7633 women free of diabetes at baseline, 701 (9.2%) developed T2DM during a maximum 15-y follow-up period. Women in the highest tertile of yogurt intake had lower adjusted odds of T2DM than those in the lowest tertile (OR: 0.81; 95% CI: 0.67, 0.99; P = 0.041). This relation became nonsignificant after adjustment for dietary variables and total energy intake (OR: 0.88; 95% CI: 0.71, 1.08; P = 0.21). Of 7679 women free of CVD at baseline, 835 (10.9%) cases of CVD were reported during follow-up. High intake of yogurt and total fermented dairy was associated with lower CVD risk (OR: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.70, 1.00; P = 0.05, 0.80; 0.67, 0.96; 0.017, respectively) than observed in the lowest tertile of dairy product intake. Additional adjustment attenuated the relation (OR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.72, 1.04; P = 0.13, 0.83; 0.69, 1.00; 0.048, for yogurt and total fermented dairy, respectively). No associations were found with other dairy groups.Conclusion: The findings from this population-based study of Australian women suggest an inverse association between total fermented dairy intake and CVD risk, which may partly be accounted for by other dietary components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine whether the ratings from the Australian front-of-pack labelling scheme, Health Star Rating (HSR), and the ability to carry health claims using the Nutrient Profiling Scoring Criterion (NPSC) for core dairy products promote foods consistent with the Australian Dietary Guidelines.Design: The Australian nutrient profiling model used for assessing eligibility for health claims was compared with the nutrient profiling model underpinning the HSR system to determine their agreement when assessing dairy products. Agreement between the extent to which products met nutrient profiling criteria and scored three stars or over using the HSR calculator was determined using Cohen's kappa tests.Setting: The four largest supermarket chains in Sydney, Australia.Subjects: All available products in the milk, hard cheese, soft cheese and yoghurt categories (n 1363) were surveyed in March-May 2014. Nutrition composition and ingredients lists were recorded for each product.Results: There was 'good' agreement between NPSC and HSR overall (κ=0·78; 95 % CI 0·75, 0·81; P<0·001), for hard cheeses (κ=0·72; 95 % CI 0·65, 0·79; P<0·001) and yoghurt (κ=0·79; 95 % CI 0·73, 0·86; P<0·001). There was 'fair' agreement for milk (κ=0·33; 95 % CI 0·20, 0·45; P<0·001) and 'very good' agreement for soft cheese (κ=0·84; 95 % CI 0·75, 0·92; P<0·001). Generally, products tended to have HSR consistent with other products of a similar type within their categories.Conclusions: For dairy products, the HSR scheme largely aligned with the NPSC used for determining eligibility for health claims. Both systems appeared be consistent with the Australian Dietary Guidelines for dairy products, with lower-fat products rating higher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]