Skip Navigation


Health Education Research Advance Access originally published online on July 16, 2007
Health Education Research 2008 23(3):543-548; doi:10.1093/her/cym028
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
23/3/543    most recent
cym028v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (2)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Li, M.
Right arrow Articles by Eastman, C. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Li, M.
Right arrow Articles by Eastman, C. J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Can even minimal news coverage influence consumer health-related behaviour? A case study of iodized salt sales, Australia

Mu Li*, Simon Chapman, Kingsley Agho and Creswell J. Eastman

School of Public HealthUniversity of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia

* Correspondence to: M. Li. E-mail: muli{at}health.usyd.edu.au

Lack of iodine in the diet can cause a spectrum of conditions, known as iodine deficiency disorders (IDD). While iodized salt has been retailed in Australia since the 1960s, sales have remained low, at ~10% of total edible salt sales. Salt has never been promoted, advertised or discounted by retailers or manufacturers. Extensive news coverage of health issues has often been shown to influence consumer behaviour. But can even modest news coverage generate changes in consumer health-related behaviour? We report a significant increase (5.2%) in national iodized salt sales after a brief period of television and newspaper reports about IDD and the benefits of using iodized salt during and after the Australian National Iodine Nutrition Study in 2003 and 2004. We conclude that even brief news media exposure can influence health-related decisions.

Received on October 25, 2006; accepted on April 13, 2007


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 JAMAHome page
M. Hochman, S. Hochman, D. Bor, and D. McCormick
News Media Coverage of Medication Research: Reporting Pharmaceutical Company Funding and Use of Generic Medication Names
JAMA, October 1, 2008; 300(13): 1544 - 1550.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.