Abstract:

Abstract The aim of this study is to analyse “food supplements intake behaviour” in Turkey. To do this, we aimed to identify the behaviours and the motivations of supplementary food intakes in the pre and the peri-pandemic periods. In addition, we revealed income effects on food supplements intake behaviour in the pre-, and the peri-pandemic periods. The data of the study consists of 311 individuals living in Turkey who were selected by snowball sampling. Data were collected via a virtual environment between May - June 2021. Descriptive statistics, parametric tests and concentration analyses were employed to reveal the potential motivations of the increase in food supplements intake in the peri-pandemic period. Parametric tests, concentration analysis, and logistic regressions were further performed to identify income effects on (i) food supplements taking behaviour and (ii) the increase in food supplements intake in the peri-pandemic period, respectively. We found that almost half of the respondents took food supplements. In addition, health anxiety and Covid-19 fear levels were revealed to be increasingly effective on the intake of food supplements intake in the peri-pandemic period. Furthermore, income was identified as a determinant of food supplement intake in the pre-pandemic period while no income effects were observed on the increase of food supplement intakes in the peri-pandemic period. This might imply that food supplements could be considered as compulsory food during the pandemic. To clarify this issue, further research investigating income effects on the demand of food supplements in inflationary environment in peri-pandemic period is required.

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