**4. Discussion**

This paper aims to give an overall picture on the impact of age on consumer expectations about the functionality of foods based on a nationwide representative consumer survey. Besides a description of significant differences between age groups about health-related attitudes and lifestyle factors, our study analyzes the most important aspects of functionality of foods through quantification of consumer expectations and preferences.

A special focus was placed on older consumers in the analysis. The importance of the wellbeing of older adults is increasing, as their social representation grows. While there is a big variety of functional foodstuffs on the market already, their contribution to disability-free life years also depends on consumer choice. The combination of functional foods with scientifically proven health and nutrition claims and appropriate consumer perception would deliver significant social benefits.

Thirty-eight nutrition claims and 25 carrier food types were categorized with PCA to identify the most prominent decision points of older adults compared to other age groups. Respondents expressed their involvement and concerns about 19 health problems, and also gave their opinion about the appropriateness of food as a solution to prevent and/or mitigate the particular health problem. Our study also investigated the preference of the most common sustainability markers for functional foods.

Significant differences were found between age groups in consumer preferences about the functionality of foods. Results are harmonizing with previous studies, which pointed out that older adults have a more positive attitude toward functionality of foods in general [33,59–61].

"Vitamins and minerals," "protein and fiber," and claims related to sugar content were found to be the most preferred nutrition claims. Differences between preferences of age groups were significant in all cases, except nutrition claims related to protein and fiber. Respondents over 60 years typically prefer the listed claims more than younger age groups. The most important significant di fference was found about salt-related claims. A recent Italian study with similar methodology also identified significant di fferences between age groups in regard to the preference of nutrition claims, and found similarly that claims related to vitamins are the most preferred ones by the consumers [62]. The same study found a lower level of preference about salt-related claims, which can be explained by country di fferences described in previous cross-country research [36]. Moreover, previous studies indicated a connection between health status and the importance people attach to nutrition and health claims [33,35]. In this case, it is important to mention that the proportion of death caused by cardiovascular diseases—where the reduction of salt intake would be one of the most important dietetic factors—is four times higher in Hungary than in Italy [63].

Based on the opinion of respondents, the following food categories are the most suitable for a healthy diet: "fruits and vegetables," "meat, fish, and egg," "natural products," (e.g., juices, tea, honey), and "dairy products." Older adults preferred the "dairy products" and "breakfast products" significantly more than the younger respondents. Related studies mostly analyzed carrier food products combined with some particular claims that contributed for product development in a more direct manner [30,40,57,58]. These studies concluded that the type of the carrier had a greater e ffect on the acceptance of health benefits by consumers than the type of claim. Furthermore, consumers showed higher acceptance toward the functionality of foods, where the functional ingredient was inherently contained to some extent [30,40].

A Dutch study, which analyzed health claims, pointed out that health claims related to physiological health problems (e.g., heart and cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, cancer) are of greater importance among such claims stated on the labels of foodstu ffs than those related to psychological problems (e.g., stress, fatigue), which are in line with our results [35]. A recent Hungarian study which examined the effect of socio-demographic factors in the case of functional foods also highlighted the importance of age regarding to health problems [50]. Our results indicate that the Hungarian population is mainly concerned about the following health problems: vision deficiencies and disorders, dental problems, and heart and cardiovascular diseases. According to the respondents, functional foods are most suitable for the mitigation and prevention of digestive problems, high cholesterol level, lactose sensitivity, and gluten sensitivity. In the vast majority of cases where significant di fferences are detected, older adults are more a ffected or worried about health problems. After filtering the sample only for the affected/worried consumers, less significant di fferences between age groups were detected. Where significant di fferences were found, younger and middle-aged adults are more likely to accept food as a solution to prevent and/or mitigate the particular health problem.

In terms of key health-related sustainability factors of food products, domestic origin played the most important role, followed by small-scale production and animal welfare, which are in line with previous studies [64]. Animal welfare was the only factor found to be universally appreciated, while other factors are preferred by the older adults to a higher extent.

The results of this quantitative study highlighted the importance of considering the wellbeing of older adults during product development. The investigation proven that significant di fferences in attitudes and preferences do exist and might be used for product di fferentiation. The paper contains a detailed data set about possible carrier food and functionality combinations that might be used for subsequent academic studies and for field experts as well. However, it is important to consider country-level di fferences that might be reflected in the preference of carrier food and functionality combinations. In this survey, we have collected a representative sample of the Hungarian population that served the purpose of demographical comparison well, and was also able to deliver some health status specific results according to the most frequent problems. This investigation was limited to respondents in relatively good health conditions, due to the methodology of data collection, which was performed at crowded tra ffic junctions. To reach older adults who are a ffected by serious health problems, investigations must be expanded to retirement homes and hospitals. However, during our research, the main focus was on disability-free life years, which required the answers of persons with seemingly normal health conditions. The research was conducted in summer, and seasonality may e ffect consumer preference on foodstu ffs—especially in terms of locally produced fruits and vegetables—according to certain studies [65]. However, questions were aimed to measure general attitudes. Additionally, seasonality tends to be less important in the last decades, especially in the urbanized population of economically developed countries.

This explorative study can be used as a basis for a subsequent research focusing on the ageing consumers to provide an in-depth insight into their food consumption behavior and perception of the link between nutrition and health. It must be considered for further research that a larger sample size of older adults would allow the use of sophisticated multivariate statistics methods, such as cluster analysis and structural equation modelling. By this investigation, further segmentation could be conducted to identify possible gaps in education, availability of expected health-promoting products and innovation areas. This research can also reveal behavioral reasons behind health-related food consumption habits of older adults, which, besides fostering product development, could lay the foundations of social and health-related policy actions as well.

**Author Contributions:** D.S. and G.K. conceived and designed the experiments; D.S. analyzed the data; D.S., L. Ó. and G.K. contributed to conceptualization and writing the paper. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** The Project was supported by the European Union and co-financed by the European Social Fund: (1) EFOP-3.6.1-16-2016-00024 'Innovations for Intelligent Specialization on the University of Veterinary Science and the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences of the Széchenyi István University Cooperation'; (2) EFOP-3.6.2-16-2017-00012 'Development of a product chain model for functional, healthy and safe foods from farm to fork based on a thematic research network'; and (3) EFOP-3.6.3-VEKOP-16-2017-00005 'Strengthening the scientific replacement by supporting the academic workshops and programs of students, developing a mentoring process'.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
