Changing Salty Food Preferences with Visual and Textual Explanations in a Search Interface

TL;DR

This study explores how visual and textual explanations in a search interface can influence users to prefer less salty foods, aiming to reduce salt intake and improve health outcomes.

Contribution

It introduces a novel interface feature—a visual taste map with salt-replacer herbs—that can effectively alter salty food preferences in online search results.

Findings

Visual taste maps significantly reduce preference for salty foods.

Textual explanations complement visual cues to influence choices.

The approach demonstrates potential for health-focused dietary interventions.

Abstract

Salt is consumed at too high levels in the general population, causing high blood pressure and related health problems. In this paper, we present results of ongoing research that tries to reduce salt intake via technology and in particular from an interface perspective. In detail, this paper features results of a study that examines the extent to which visual and textual explanations in a search interface can change salty food preferences. An online user study with 200 participants demonstrates that this is possible in food search results by accompanying recipes with a visual taste map that includes salt-replacer herbs and spices in the calculation of salty taste.