“THE STUDY OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR REGARDING CONSUMPTION OF DIET PRODUCTS DUE TO INCREASED HEALTH AWARENESS IN

ISLAMABAD CITY”

A SURVEY BASED STUDY OF CHOSEN SECTORS OF

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN

Submitted by

Ali Iftikhar

01-122081-013

Supervised by

Syed Ijlal Haider

Thesis submitted as a partial requirement for the award of the degree of Masters of Business Administration

2010

Bahria Institute of Management & Computer Sciences

Dedication

This thesis is dedicated to my parents who have always been

encouraging. It is also dedicated to my teachers who taught me

several courses and I learnt really a lot during my MBA. My

teachers helped me become a better man. Without their guidance I

couldn’t possibly develop the capabilities to complete this

thesis.

Abbreviations used

BMI – Body mass index

WHO – World health organization

Acknowledgements

I hereby would like to thank my thesis supervisor Mr. Ijlal

Haider. He has been really supportive and helpful. He has always

boosted me morally. Without his advices and encouragement I could

have not completed my research work.

I would also like to thank the citizens of Islamabad who actively

participated in my research and filled the questionnaires on such

a short notice.

I’d also want to acknowledge Bahria’s faculty members Mr. Shahid

Haq, Mr. Qamar Riaz, Dr. Kashif, and Dr. Shafqat Mehmood. They

supported me morally and gave me suggestions whenever I required.

Executive Summary

This research was carried out to study the consumer behavior

regarding diet products due to increased health awareness in

Islamabad city. As we it is quite evident that being fat is

fairly common nowadays, not only in Islamabad but in whole

Pakistan. Almost 4 crore people of the total population are

either overweight or obese. Nowadays, because of the emergence of

media and people wanting good looks and feel good about

themselves, the consumption of diet products has risen to a great

extent especially in Islamabad city. This research emphasizes

this issue and studies the consumer behavior to figure out what

are the needs and wants of consumers, what is the general trend

regarding dietary consumption, in what way consumers can be

satisfied to the maximum level, and how local diet products

industry can flourish.

This research has thus stressed upon the consumers of Islamabad

city to get the inside information that how well the diet

products are serving the needs of consumers, to what level they

are satisfying the desires of consumers, and why still people are

not using diet products, and why people are not satisfied with

what’s provided by the local industry. The consumer buying

behavior is judged with the help of a number of variables and

methods in order to understand the myths and rituals behind

dietary consumption. And on the current issue, a problem

statement was created.

The literature review was worked out from a number of previously

conducted researches. This literature review helped to improve

the understanding level towards this particular issue. From the

various numbers of previously conducted researches different

other factors were worked out in order to assess the impact of

factors other than health awareness on the consumer behavior

regarding diet products.

The dependent variable in this research was the consumer behavior

regarding diet products. It included the consumer behavior

towards different diet products like the consumer behavior

towards low-fat products, low-sugar products, and low-cholesterol

products. On the other hand, the independent variable was the

health awareness. This included a number of things like awareness

regarding weight loss/gain, body image, and diabetic/cardiac

awareness. The awareness of weight lose/gain denotes the fitness

awareness. Body image implies the importance of self-esteem and

what a person feels about him/her or how he/she wants to present

him/herself in front of other people. And lost but not the least

is awareness of diabetes or cardiac problems. This includes the

awareness about different diseases where a person has to maintain

a healthy diet otherwise the consequences are going to be very

severe.

The rational of the study, objectives of the research,

definitions of different terms used in thesis were discussed.

Hypotheses were developed. What were the motives of this

research? What was the background of research were discussed in

the first chapter of thesis.

The research design, types of philosophies, approaches, level of

analysis, form of explanation, used in this thesis were explained

in the third chapter. A sample size of 120 people was taken.

Islamabad city was divided into 5 divisions i.e. Division I for

the Sector I/8, I/9, and I/10, Division H for the sector H/8 and

H/10, Division G for the sector G/6, G/9, and G/10, Division F

for the sector F/6, F/7, F/8, and F/10, Division E for the sector

E/6 and E/7. A sample of 20 people each sector was chosen from

sector I, H, and G. whereas a sample size of 30 people each

sector was taken from sector G and F. Reason being, the amount of

purchases made from sectors G and F are much higher than the

purchases made in the other sectors of Islamabad. In order to get

the maximum reliable data this ratio of sample size was

considered.

Questionnaire contained 17 questions, all related to the topic.

The scale used was the likert scale method on a scale of 1-5,

where 1 represented “strongly disagree” and 5 represented

“strongly agree”. These questionnaires were mostly given by hand

and respondents filled it right on the spot. Several

questionnaires were filled online through different live chatting

tools. The questions were related to the hypothesis and to the

general consumer behavior. They were asked about the amount of

diet products they use, the benefits they perceive from those

products, the availability of diet products, the impact of health

awareness, and the causes behind the less growth of local diet

industry.

The result of the questionnaires was represented in a number of

pie charts, diagrams, tables, figures, charts, etc. This helped

understanding the general behavior of consumers in percentages

and averages. These analyses lead the way through to the findings

such as the awareness regarding diet products, the preferences of

consumers, the perceived benefits of consumers, the demands from

local industry, the causes behind the growth of local diet

industry, why international products are preferred, what are the

causes of increased diet consumption.

At the end the research was summaries and concluded. Several

recommendations were given in chapter 5. In the appendix part,

the questionnaire was also attached and the APA style references

were given in alphabetical order.

Table of contents

Ch 1) INTRODUCTION............................................13

Broad Problem area/Background................................14

Rational of the study........................................15

a. Motivation for research problem.........................15

b. Importance of the proposed work/why the project is worth

doing......................................................15

c. Author’s contribution/originality to existing knowledge on

the topic..................................................16

Problem statement............................................16

Theoretical framework........................................17

Dependent Variable...........................................18

Independent Variable.........................................21

Objectives of the study......................................26

Hypothesis development.......................................28

Definition of the terms......................................29

Ch 2) Literature review.......................................32

Literature review............................................33

Ch 3) Method.................................................50

Research design..............................................51

Study Design.................................................53

Population/Sample............................................54

Procedures...................................................56

Type of Data.................................................57

Ch 4) Results & Discussion...................................58

Ch 5) Conclusion & Recommendations...........................82

Conclusion...................................................83

Recommendations..............................................84

Appendices....................................................90

References....................................................91

Questionnaire................................................97

Table of figures

Table 1.......................................................24

Diagram 1.....................................................25

Table 2.......................................................55

Table 3.......................................................56

Table 4.......................................................60

Diagram 2.....................................................60

Table 5.......................................................61

Diagram 3.....................................................61

Table 6.......................................................62

Diagram 4.....................................................62

Table 7.......................................................63

Diagram 5.....................................................63

Table 8.......................................................65

Diagram 6.....................................................65

Table 9.......................................................66

Diagram 7.....................................................66

Table 10......................................................67

Diagram 8.....................................................67

Table 11......................................................69

Diagram 9.....................................................69

Table 12......................................................71

Diagram 10....................................................71

Table 13......................................................72

Diagram 11....................................................72

Table 14......................................................73

Diagram 12....................................................73

Table 15......................................................74

Diagram 13....................................................74

Table 16......................................................76

Diagram 14....................................................76

Table 17......................................................77

Diagram 15....................................................77

Table 18......................................................78

Diagram 16....................................................78

Table 19......................................................79

Diagram 17....................................................79

Table 20......................................................80

Diagram 18....................................................80

Table 21......................................................81

Diagram 19....................................................81

Table 22......................................................82

Table 23......................................................82

Diagram 20....................................................83

Diagram 21....................................................83

Table 24......................................................84

Table 25......................................................84

Diagram 22....................................................85

Diagram 23....................................................86

Ch 1) INTRODUCTION

Broad Problem area/Background

Obesity is a growing problem in Pakistan and other parts of the

world as well. But nowadays with the emergence of global media

and enhanced social exposure the awareness about health is also

increasing. People are now more conscious about their body image

than ever before. That’s why the consumption of dietary products

also rose to a higher level. Especially in Islamabad, people are

very much conscious about their health and fitness that even the

teenagers are using dietary products to keep themselves in a good

shape. Although a lot of people are using dietary products but

many people still don’t care about their health like that.

Reasons for not consuming dietary products are mostly the less

awareness about health and the low availability of dietary

products.

This research explores reasons for the lack of awareness in the

minds of people which will resultantly increase the health

awareness and people will consume more and more dietary products.

This research also encourages the local industry to produce

dietary products on higher level as the current consumption level

is really high but very limited product categories are available

in Pakistan.

There are a few Pakistani & International companies which produce

different diet products such as, Low-fat cereals, Low-fat milk,

sugar-free drinks, low cholesterol oils, low calories sweeteners,

etc. This study explores new ideas regarding introduction of new

diet products. This research gives those companies a basis for

the execution of their marketing plans according to customer’s

interest and to provide quality products to their consumers.

Rational of the study

a. Motivation for research problem

Everyone wants to carry him/herself in an acceptable way. With

the emergence of fashion sense and global trends, people are more

conscious about their health and body image than ever before.

This research problem is a personal area of interest as well. But

there is very little research available regarding consumption of

diet products and the behavior of consumers (Williams, 2008). The

focus of this research is to enhance the sense of a common man

regarding the importance of dieting and body image consciousness.

b. Importance of the proposed work/why the project is worth doing

A person feels good about him/herself if he/she is looking good.

Obesity, for sure, is not a pleasant state to be in. This

research work is important because it will help people to do “the

right thing” by maintaining a good health and feeling good about

themselves. People have limited knowledge regarding the

importance of dieting and the consumption of the suitable product

for their specific purposes. This research work directs a

layman’s attention on carrying him/herself in an acceptable way.

This will also improve the self esteem of consumers.

c. Author’s contribution/originality to existing knowledge on the topic

Trend of using diet products is developing in Pakistan but people

still don’t know much about what products to consume and how to

consume. This study justifies the raise of diet product’s

consumption in Pakistan. Different consumption patterns are

explored on the course of research i.e. for which disease what

kind of product is suitable. For instance, a diabetic patient

drinks a sugar-free soft drink and a cardiac patient eats low-

cholesterol food.

Problem statement

Almost 1 quarter of the Pakistani population is overweight or

obese (Warraich, Javed, Faraz-ul-Haq, Khawaja, Saleem, 2009). And

this problem will continue to rise if necessary measures are not

taken by people i.e. to consume diet products and focus more on

their health and body image. To puzzle out this problem, this

particular research is conducted.

Another issue that has brought into consideration for this

research is the lack of knowledge regarding the importance of

dieting and what are the right products to use for a particular

problem. This research will play an important part to enhance the

knowledge of people and encourage them to use diet products on

more regular basis and pay attention towards their health and

body image.

Pakistani companies are not really focusing on producing diet

products. If we go into any store then there are very few diet

products that are produced by Pakistani companies. This research

highlights the causes behind it and provides those companies some

practical reasons to start producing Diet products.

People are becoming more and more conscious about their body

image and health nowadays. Even the teenagers are using diet

products and avoiding high-calories food. They are consuming

different diet products due to witting awareness of health & body

image. This research is conducted to justify the ritual of

consuming diet products and to enhance a layman’s awareness

regarding dieting and body image.

For the purpose of collecting Quantitative Data, a hypothesis is

to be tested in our research: “Lack of growth in Dietary products

in Pakistan is due to decreased awareness.” Another hypothesis

that is to be tested is: “Consumption of Diet products is less

because of the low availability of dietary products.”

Theoretical framework

The theoretical framework is the fundamental basis for a research

study and the whole research work is based on that framework. It

is a logically formulated, reported and worked out network of

connection among variables that have been described through many

types of methods such as interviews, observations and literature

studies. All of these variables are applicable to solution of

research problem.

These variables have two major types that are to be described

here.

Dependent variable

Independent variable

Dependent Variable

The dependent variable carries a great importance. Goal of

identifying a dependent variable is to elaborate and anticipate

the variance in the dependent variable. After analyzing the

dependent variable the answers to questions are provided and the

problems become possible to be solved.

The consumption of diet products has been defined as the

dependent variable in this research work.

Consumer behavior regarding diet products

The Consumer behavior is a subject area where different actions &

procedures, commenced when individuals or groups choose, buy,

consume, or handle merchandise, services, thoughts, or several

experiences to satisfy customer needs and wants, are examined

(Solomon, 2009, p.33).

Although it’s important to define the term consumer here in order

to understand the whole concept of consumer behavior. A consumer

is defined as an individual or a group of people who recognizes a

need or want, buys a product or service, and then uses that

product (Solomon, 2009, p.34).

If a person is not satisfied with his/her current physical

condition and wants to improve the physical appearance or body

fitness then he/she opts for dieting. The process of dieting is

the exercise of having food in a regularized manner to attain or

sustain a controlled weight (en.wikipedia.org).

It is also important to explain that what dietary products mean

in order to gain the essence of the consumer behavior regarding

dietary products. Dietary products denote any food or drink whose

recipe/formula has been changed in some manner to make it

component of a body alteration diet. Usually the purpose behind

it is weight reduction and modification in physical features, on

certain occasions the aim is to help gaining weight or muscle

such as the use of muscle building supplements, or it can be

related to the prevention of some disease or as a cure to some

disease as well(en.wikipedia.org).

The consumer behavior refers to the mutual action between buyers

and manufacturers at the time of making the particular purchase.

The discipline of consumer behavior is characterized by more than

one other field of studies so it is known as an interdisciplinary

field. Study of consumer behavior is not only related to the time

of purchase but it also studies the factors that influenced a

person’s buying decision and it also studies the feedback or

response that a consumer provides or has in the back of his head.

So the consumer behavior is not all about paying money through

cash or debit card and getting some products or services in

return.

There are various stages in the process of consumer behavior.

First stage comes before the actual purchase. 2nd step is the

process of actual purchase. And last but not the least step is

the response of customers after purchase (known as post-purchase

scenario).

First stage that comes before the actual purchase is also known

as pre-purchase scenario. In this stage it’s to be studied that

what factors/issues influenced a person to opt for the purchase.

How did the consumer hear about the particular product/service?

And why did he choose a particular brand over different types of

brands? And other issues like that, which are likely to occur

before the time of purchase, are studied in the pre-purchase

scenario.

After that comes the stage of making the purchase, also known as

the purchase scenario. At this stage a person has a certain

behavior and mindset related to the product he is going to

purchase. It is to be studied that what consumer thinks about the

purchase, whether he found it a pleasant or a stressful

experience and what is the image that product carries about the

buyer of that particular product.

Last but not the least stage of the consumer behavior is the

scenario after the purchase is completed, also known as post-

purchase scenario. This step checks whether the product/service

delivered what it promised to deliver or not. Why this product

was given preference over other products? And is there a

behavioral change in consumer after using this product or not?

And how often consumer repurchases that product? (Solomon, 2009)

Therefore the consumer behavior is influenced by many issues and

factors. The actual purchase decision is taken after considering

the available information. There are two types of information

available, one is the internal information and the other is

external search for information. A person usually seeks for

information internally by going through his memory, also known as

memory scanning. External search is basically the concept of

going through different methods of seeking information before the

purchase decision is made.

The study of consumer behavior intends to focus solely on the

external search factors and usually internal search factors are

not considered. When considering external search of information a

researcher attempts to answer the following questions like how

much search was undertaken by the consumer? What was known

already in the process of pre-purchase information seeking? What

are the reasons for the fluctuation in the quantity of search?

What do these findings stand for? (Moore, Lehman, 1980)

Independent Variable

The independent variable is a variable which affects the

dependent variable either positively or negatively whenever both

of these variables are present in a same place. And with the

increment of each unit in the independent variables, there is

either an increment or decrement in the dependent variable as

well. The variability in dependent variable is explained by the

independent variable.

The health awareness is used as the independent variable in this

research study. The other independent variable is the

availability of diet products.

Health awareness

The term Health awareness stands for being mindful of in which

way your body appears and feels and what is suitable for you and

to acknowledge any modifications (www.multikulti.org.uk).

Body image is what a person thinks about his or her own body

(Grogan, 2006). A person is either satisfied or dissatisfied

with his body image (Markey, 2010). People watch a lot of T.V.

nowadays and are updated about media personalities. Those

celebrities have better bodies i.e. females are so thin and

males are so muscular. That makes people want to be like them

and that caused the body image awareness (Levine & Murnen,

2009).

Different health related issues require dieting. For instance,

weight reduction, weight stability, diabetes, heart diseases,

high blood pressure, etc. It is said that prevention is better

than cure and dieting is the main source of prevention. Every

person alive is in need of dieting. If a person is fat then

he/she needs to reduce weight. If a person is very think then

he/she needs to increase weight. If a person is fit then he/she

needs to sustain his/her good weight. So the need of dieting is

absolutely evident. But still many people, especially in Pakistan

do not go for dieting. That is because of the lack of awareness

regarding health.

Since the globalization is into process and media is emerged into

the lives of people so the awareness regarding health has also

improved to a higher level. People are conscious about how they

are perceived in the eyes of other people, so that they take care

of their diet to meet the increasing expectations.

Health awareness includes awareness regarding weight, Diabetes,

Cardiac diseases, and several other diseases as well. This

research’s focus is mainly on the awareness regarding weight and

the usage of dietary products to reduce weight or stabilize

weight.

The three attributes of this independent variable are the

awareness about diet products, awareness about nutritional facts,

and diet-health relationship. There are various kind of diet

products are available in market but mostly customers don’t know

about those products and that is the main reason of the less

consumption of dietary products. There are food labels visible on

almost every product but people don’t really bother to check

those nutritional facts.

Availability of diet products

Availability of diet products include attributes such as

handiness, local diet industry, and the quality. Handiness of

these products means the level of comfort while finding those

products in the nearby areas. The role of local diet industry is

very important in the availability of diet products. If there is

enough production of local diet products then the availability

won’t be an issue but it is evident that the local industry lacks

in growth and development. Availability also includes the quality

aspect. It is highly questionable that what quality those

products possess which are available in market. Is the quality

sufficient enough and will it satisfy the wants of consumers?

Health Awareness(Independent variable)

Diet products awareness

Nutritional facts

awareness

Diet-health relationship

Availability of Diet products(Independent variable)

Handiness

Local diet industry

Quality

Consumer behavior regarding diet products(Dependent Variable)

Habitual consumption

Geographic & Demographic factors

Preferences

Table 1

Independent variable (IV)Health awareness

Dependent variable (DV)Consumer behavior regarding diet products

Independent Variable (IV)Availability of diet products

Diagram 1

Objectives of the study

The main objective of this research is to increase the

awareness regarding Diet products. Pakistan being an under-

developed country has a high illiteracy rate. So the awareness

about many health related issues is very limited. This study

seeks to enhance that awareness in the minds of consumers that

dieting is important in our daily life and we should consume

dietary products instead of consuming unhealthy food.

This study will have an impact on Pakistani Companies to start

producing diet products. Consumers go to stores but they barely

find a local dietary product. Reasons behind this issue are

straight forward i.e. the lack of knowledge or lack of enthusiasm

for dieting.

Another objective is to provide Pakistani Dietary industry a

couple of practical reasons to grow their product lines of

Dietary products. Islamabad city, in recent years, has seen an

ample increase in the consumption of dietary products. And people

also prefer buying local products if they have the same quality

as an international product. These are the reasons that might

change the course of action by local industry and they might

start producing more diet products.

Consumer behavior of Diet products buyer will be studied in

Pakistani context. People purchase unhealthy food where they have

low calories or low cholesterol alternatives but they mostly

don’t even know about those alternatives. This study will enhance

the consumption pattern and consumers will know what to buy and

what are the benefits or losses of this purchase.

There have been other researches as well on the consumption of

dietary products. This study seeks to enhance the current body of

knowledge regarding consumer behavior towards dietary products

and to add on to the previous research findings in this

particular domain.

A common man in Pakistan just wants to feed himself no matter

what junk food he is eating. This study is supposed to direct a

layman’s attention towards dieting. This study highlights the

importance of dieting. Even if a person is physically fit, he/she

needs diet products to remain fit. Importance of dieting can’t be

denied in any situation. If a person is healthy at present and

keeps on consuming junk food then very soon he might get into

trouble so the importance of dieting prevails.

As discussed above, the consumption of diet products is on the

go. What are the reasons behind this raise? This study intends to

provide Justification regarding raise of Diet products

consumption in Pakistan. And to explore that what are the factors

that influence a consumer’s buying decision when he buys a

dietary product.

Health awareness is increasing because of the globalization

and the media emergence. So many articles are published on

increasing health awareness. TV media and internet is

highlighting the importance of dieting to remain healthy. This

study throws light on the integration of Dieting and Health

awareness.

This study will also provide the grounds and practical reasons

to make a marketing plan particularly for the promotion of Diet

products. Even if local industry is producing diet products, they

are not promoting it properly. This study will highlight the fact

that people will be attracted towards diet products if they see

pocketful of benefits in the consumption of diet products. So

there is a lot of improvement needed in the current promotional

strategies related to dietary products.

This research also intends to make local industry understand

the Need for introducing diet products in various product

categories. For example, there is no sugar-free local chocolate

product in market. If they try to introduce this product then it

will give them a lot of financial returns considering the

consumer behavior regarding dietary products at present.

Hypothesis development

This research has keyed out several crucial variables inside the

theoretical framework of the research problem and it has

constituted the relationships among those variables via

legitimate reasoning in the theoretical framework. Hypothesis

stands for a guesstimate about the solution of the problem. It is

a logically theorized relationship between two or more than two

variables stated in a testable course. These relationships among

variables are hypothesized on the footing of the network of

affiliations demonstrated in the theoretical framework

articulated for the particular research work.

These accompanying hypotheses have been produced for the research

study and afterwards examined in the fundaments of the data

collected from all origins.

H1 It is expected that there is a relationship between the

consumer behavior regarding diet products and health awareness.

H2 It is expected that there is a relationship between the

consumer behavior regarding diet products and availability of

diet products.

Definition of the terms

Consumer behavior

The Consumer behavior is a subject area where different

actions & procedures, commenced when individuals or groups

choose, buy, consume, or handle merchandise, services, thoughts,

or several experiences to satisfy customer needs and wants, are

examined (Solomon, 2009, p.33).

Consumer

It is defined as an individual or a group of people who

recognizes a need or want, buys a product or service, and then

uses that product (Solomon, 2009, p.34).

Overweight

Overweight is broadly delineated to have greater body fat

than what is considered healthy (en.wikipedia.org).

Obesity

Obesity is a physical state in which a person’s body weight

starts providing fundamental grounds to different physical

ailments (Garrow, 1988).

Body mass index

The body mass index (BMI) is a tool to measure the body

weight of a person grounded on his/her weight & height. It is

calculated by dividing a person’s body weight/mass by the square

of that person’s height (en.wikipedia.org).

Diet products

Dietary products denote any food or drink whose

recipe/formula has been changed in some manner to make it

component of a body alteration diet. Usually the purpose behind

it is weight reduction and modification in physique, on certain

occasions the aim is to help gaining weight or muscle such as the

use of muscle building supplements (en.wikipedia.org).

Dieting

The process of dieting is the exercise of having food in a

regularized manner to attain or sustain a controlled weight

(en.wikipedia.org).

Health awareness

The term Health awareness stands for being mindful of in

which way your body appears and feels and what is suitable for

you and to acknowledge any modifications (www.multikulti.org.uk)

Body image

Body image is what a person thinks about his or her own body

(Grogan, 2006). A person is either satisfied or dissatisfied with

his body image (Markey, 2010). People watch a lot of T.V.

nowadays and are updated about media personalities. Those

celebrities have better bodies i.e. females are so thin and males

are so muscular. That makes people want to be like them and that

caused the body image awareness (Levine & Murnen, 2009).

Ch 2) Literature review

Literature review

Overweight and obesity are a worldwide phenomenon these days

(Warraich, Javed, Faraz-ul-Haq, Khawaja, & Saleem, 2009, p.17). A

large number of people are overweight or obese in the world.

Consorting to the 2005 statistics from the World Health

Organization (WHO), there are 1,600,000,000 (1.6 billiosn)

overweight adults (age 15 and over) in the world. That number is

projected to grow by 40% over the next 10 years. Which means that

in next 10 years there will be 2,240,000,000 (2.24 billion)

overweight people in the world (World Health Organization, 2008).

In the 2005 statistics provided by the World Health Organization

(WHO), a list is given which represents the percentage of

overweight adults in various countries. Highest ranked country,

with an overweight percentage of as high as 94.5%, is Nauru (A

little island in the central Pacific Ocean 2,800 miles to the

south-west of Hawaii). United States is to be ranked 9th in that

list but it is, by a considerable margin, the most populated

country amongst the top 20 most overweight countries of the

world. Pakistan is ranked number 165th in that list but the

obesity rate in the country has increased to a greater extent

than before. Other famous countries in that particular list are

as follows: Australia at 21st, United Kingdom is at 28th, Saudi

Arabia is ranked 29th, Germany is the 42nd populated country,

Turkey is placed at 54th number, Russia is graded at 92nd number,

Italy got the 111th rank, France at 128th, China is ordered at

148th, Japan is identified as 163rd most populated nation, and

India is rated at 176th number (World Health Organization, 2008).

Overweight is broadly delineated to have greater body fat than

what is considered healthy (en.wikipedia.org). Being heavy is a

usual state, particularly when food items and cuisines are ample

and lifestyles require minimum effort and people are more

inactive. As higher as 64% of the U.S. grownup population is

conceived to be overweight or obese, and this percentage has been

increasing over the last four decennaries. As stated earlier that

more than a billion people are fat in today’s world and this

percentage is considerably increasing in every part of the world

and in every age group.

Obesity is the extreme degree of being overweight and it is more

like a disease to human beings. Currently, 300 million people in

this world are considered to be obese (World Health Organization,

2008). With obesity different diseases also come into play and

affect the human body. These deceases are e.g. heart problems,

diabetic problems, and other health problems so and so forth.

With the help of all those gadgets, software, computers,

machines, technological advancements in every field, and easy

work philosophies have brought an enormous reduction in the

activity level of human beings. People spend minimum effort to

perform their duties because of the emergence of technology. It

saves them time and is more cost effective but the physical

activity level is near to zero. Mostly people keep sitting behind

their desks and every work, assignment is done on computers these

days. People don’t really walk much and they use cars for even

going to nearest market. So because of the reasons like lower

activity level and more restful nature of human beings, the

obesity rate is increasing. And it is now a phenomenon which

needs proper attention and people need to work out the solutions

for this ever growing problem (Markey, 2010).

Obesity is defined as a medical problem in which the body fat of

a person increases to a higher degree that it may have an

untoward consequence on health, leading to decreased life

expectancy rate and/or enhanced health difficulties. If we put it

differently, then it is specified as a condition of not normal or

extravagant fat aggregation in the fatty tissue, which is termed

as adipose tissue, to a certain degree that health of a human

being may be afflicted. In simple words, we can say that Obesity

is a physical state in which a person’s body weight starts

providing fundamental grounds to different physical ailments

(Garrow, 1988).

Obesity enhances the likeliness of different diseases,

specifically heart problems, diabetic problems, trouble in

breathing while sleeping, various kinds of cancer, and. Obesity

is usually induced by a collection of inordinate dietary

calories, reduction in the physical functions, and genetic

susceptibleness , even though a few examples are caused

fundamentally by genes, harmonic disarrays, use of medicines, or

psychiatric ailments. Many people believe that some obese persons

eat very less and still they put on weight due the slow

metabolism system of their bodies. This point of view is not

considered very authentic as it has very little evidence over it.

On the average, obese persons have bigger energy consumption than

the normal weighted people due to the energy requirement which is

essential to sustain an enhanced body mass (Kushner, Robert,

2007, p.158).

Previously, obesity wasn’t considered bad at all. As a matter of

fact, obesity was considered to be a symbol of richness and a

high social status. Still in different areas of the world, people

have a myth that an obese person is obese because of the great

amount of wealth he possess. The Greeks were the first nation to

distinguish obesity as a medical unhinges (Haslam, 2007, p.13).

However, in the modern world, this myth is changing and people

are now condemning the obesity state in human beings. It is now

considered more as a problem than a symbol of filthy richness.

Especially in the western world, obesity is a problem which is

highly denounced by the people (Woodhouse, 2008, p.271).

There have been many deaths reported in world that were caused by

the immense level of obesity in human body. However it is a cause

of death which is still curable and is not unpreventable. Obesity

is not a problem which arises only in the older age but it has

been observed in adults, adolescents, and even children as well.

People have been affected by obesity and getting more and more

affected by obesity, that is why obesity is to be considered as a

major threat to human health and is the emerging health issue in

the era of 21st century (Barness, Opitz, & Gilbert-Barness,

2007).

Obesity is usually caused by over eating and less physical

activity. Keeping in mind the above statement, it is perceived

that developed nations should have more obesity and over weight

problems than developing nations, because of the excessiveness of

food items and higher level of consumption due to higher income

level. But studies show that the obesity is now prevailing to a

greater degree in the developing nations of the world as well

(Bharmal, 2000).

Pakistan, being a developing nation, is also facing the same

problem as other parts of the world. Although many people in

Pakistan are having lack of food availability due to the extreme

level of poverty, still a great percentage (around 25%) of people

is overweight. According to a recent study conducted in 2009

shows that almost 1 quarter of the Pakistani population is

overweight or obese. It means that around 42.5 million people in

Pakistan are either obese or overweight which is a huge number

(Warraich, Javed, Faraz-ul-Haq, Khawaja, Saleem, 2009).

Pakistan is facing a double load in the shape of under-nutrition

and over-nutrition. A large number of people don’t get to fulfill

the physical requirement of daily food intake because of the high

poverty level and low availability of food. Study shows that most

of the children in Pakistan are facing the problem of under-

nutrition than over-nutrition (Rehman, Rizvi, Siddiqui, Ahmad, et

al. 2003). Keeping in view this higher level of under-nutrition,

it is hard to understand the high percentage of overweight people

in Pakistan (National Health Survey of Pakistan, 1997).

Obesity doesn’t only causes different diseases but it also causes

much psychological insecurity as well in the mind of an obese

person. Being overweight during immature time of life also has

socio, economic, and psychological aftermaths, including burdens

on academic functioning and psychosocial operations. An obese kid

is a centre of guying at his school by other fellows, which

affects the academic development of that kid. This blackguarding

in the earlier age and adolescent age caused an emotional

insecurity as well, that person is more likely to stay at home

and is afraid to go outside and face the people. Obesity has

large socially associated outcomes in posterior life such as

decreased salaries, lessened likeliness of marriage, and

education to a lesser extent (Gortmaker, Must, Perrin, 1993).

Obesity, with all those social impacts, also has a firm economic

impact as well on the lives of obese persons. Obese person is

likely to have an improper body shape and the looks are faded

mostly in obese people. Some inquiries show that obese people are

usually not employed for a job and are unlikely to be upgraded in

their jobs. Obese people are also likely to have lower wages than

their “thin” competitors for the same job. Weighty adult females

on the average make 6% lesser and weighty adult males’ make 3%

lesser than the normal weight people (Puhl, Brownell, 2001).

Generally the caused for being overweight or obesity are over

eating and less activity. If a person ingests more calories than

what is required by the body and what is consumed by the body

then he/she is likely to face the problem of being overweight.

Other causes of being overweight include having a lifestyle which

requires limited activity. A person with an inactive lifestyle

doesn’t burn calories as much as a person with an active

lifestyle. So that the calories intake will be higher than what

is consumed and ultimately will cause the problem of being

overweight. Genetic problem is also a cause for obesity. As if a

person’s parents or grandparents are obese then he is likely to

gain weight even after eating normal food and with normal

routine. People, with no family obesity history, gain weight or

develop a tummy which is mostly caused by the overeating.

Overeating ruins good genes. Eating disorders, alcoholism, and

stress are the other causes for overweight problem. If a person

is having insulin pendant diet and he starts dosing too heavily

the amount of insulin then that may cause obesity as well.

Obesity and overweight problems are usually countered with

dieting and physical exercise. Physical exercise is supposed to

have long term effect on weight loss and it doesn’t affect human

body that much. When a person exercises then his body consumes

more energy than routine, which resultantly burns the calories in

the body. Leg muscles are the largest in body so that bringing

these muscles more into use causes more consumption of energy.

The best ways to use leg muscles are observed to be walking,

cycling, and running. These physical exercises cause reduction in

the obesity level and help a person to reduce weight. But

exercising on regular basis in today’s busy world is quite tough.

People are not able to spare time for exercising. That is why

they give more attention to their daily calorie intake and use

diet products. A person who is concerned about his/her weight is

likely to go for dieting (Markey and Markey 2005).

It is perceived that if weight loss is achieved with non surgical

measures, like the consumption of dietary products, then the

person is likely to regain the weight. Perception is that if the

person stops himself/herself from high calories intake then

he/she might lose some weight but when they go back to normal

eating routine then all the lost weight will be regained in no

time. But a study conducted by the NWCR (National weight control

registry) confirmed that it is not always implied that a person

will must regain weight if he/she loses weight without surgical

treatment and it’s quite possible to maintain that low weight if

the person keeps that low calorie intake going on (Bond DS,

Phelan S, Leahey TM, et al., 2009).

This study, conducted by NWCR, also demonstrated that how did

people lose weight without surgical treatment. Majority of those

people i.e. 68% people used professional help to lose weight.

They hired a physical trainer or got hooked up with some

physician’s diet chart or joined a professional gym, etc. other,

32% of those people, didn’t use any formal weight-loss

assistance. Those 32% people lost weight without seeking

professional help, without following a professional’s diet chart

and without hiring a professional trainer. And those people

successfully maintained that low weight for more than a year and

continuing (Bond DS, Phelan S, Leahey TM, et al., 2009).

An overweight person has different motives behind losing weight.

Some people are self motivated and want to feel good about them

by losing weight and others are being pressurized by the society.

As stated above that people make fun of an obese person on very

regular basis and the parents, friends and people around that

obese person usually advise him and pressurize him to lose

weight. While bearing this kind of pressure a person is likely to

reduce weight by using some unhealthy weight control measures

which are not recommended by the specialists and it may cause

eating disorders and other health problems (Striegel-Moore,

Bulik, 2007).

A monolithic weight reduction is very seldom observed in an

unhealthily obese person and even more unlikely, weight reduction

is affirmed without using any kind of surgical procedures. But

there have been few cases in the world about a person losing

weight without any surgical treatment. A case report published in

2009 shows the example of a patient with extreme obesity who

attained huge weight reduction (170 kg) predominately without

seeking any professional guidance and without any surgical

treatment and now has been sustaining weight reduction for almost

2 years (Marzocchi, Cappellari, Grave, Marchesini, October 2009).

This case is about a person who has an obesity problem since his

childhood. When this person was of the age of 20 years, he

weighed 200 kg with a body height of 177 cm and a body mass index

of 63.8 kg/ m2. At the age of 32, this person increased his

weight up to 270 kg with a body mass index of 86.2 kg/ m2. Then

he faced two problems which emotionally affected him badly. He

lost his job as a dental technician and started living with his

sick mother for one year and after that his mother died as well.

But during that time he stopped overeating and his appetite was

genuinely reduced and he was self motivated to follow a strict

low-calorie intake diet. In the next 5 months, he lost 43 kg to a

body weight of 227 kg. He suffered from vitamin deficiency

problem and was admitted into a hospital as well.

That person kept a normal food routine of eating as low as 800

calories per day with a two hours exercise on bike every day.

That person kept on losing weight on regular basis with the help

of strict dieting and low calories intake followed by aerobic

exercises. In June 2009, that person was reported to have a body

weight of 101.4 kg on a daily 2500 calories intake on average.

This weight loss is being maintained by that person for around 2

years now and he is determined to keep it up for the rest of his

life (Marzocchi, Cappellari, Grave, Marchesini, October 2009).

Once losing the excessive body weight doesn’t meant that the

person can eat whatever he wants for the rest of his life and go

back to the same inactive lifestyle as before. Sustaining the

weight loss is a very critical issue which must be closely

monitored and one must take care of his/her diet to maintain that

weight loss. This weight loss can be sustained with the help of

three activities. First activity is to keep following the active

lifestyle: maximize the physical activity, exercise regularly,

use aerobics, move more often, try to keep the body active, try

not to keep sitting on sofa or laying on bed all day, walk as

much as one can, etc. and the second thing that one can do to

maintain the body weight loss is to a eat balanced food: consume

a diet which has low-fat and low-calories, don’t eat junk food,

avoid chocolates & ice creams, and don’t overdose the appetite

level more than what is the physical requirement according to the

height and age of that person. Third strategy or the activity one

person should do to keep the less body weight is to measure it

regularly: measure and keep track of the body weight daily or

weekly and in case of a weight increment, more the normal

fluctuation, that person could instantly undertake some actions

to prevent the weight regain (Wing RR, Phelan, 2005).

People don’t like consuming dietary products because usually they

are not as tasty as unhealthy food and resultantly gain more body

weight by eating non-dietary products. The non-dietary food is

usually unhealthy and has hapless nutritional values. It has

higher fats level and sugars level than dietary products. Usually

non-dietary products are very appealing because usually these

products are very colorful and full of taste and flavor while

dietary products usually are not too sweet and salty thus lack in

taste (Glanz, Basil, Maibach, Goldberg, Snyder, 1998).

Non-dietary foods, on the other hand, are mostly tasty and full

of flavor but these products mostly don’t have the ingredients

that are necessary for maintaining a good health check. These

products usually lack in the level of proteins, vitamins,

minerals, and fiber, among other important nutrients. While these

proteins and vitamins are considered necessary for the physical

growth and sustainment of a good health (Agte, Tarwadi, Mengale,

Hinge, Chiplonkar, 2002).

Super obesity is an alarming global health issue. Presently, the

number of people dying because of obesity is almost equal to the

number of people dying from starvation and lack of food. The

combination of an inactive lifestyle, a rich fat, rich caloric

Western-style appetite, has been proposed as the main reasons for

this unhealthy state (Frazao, Allshouse, 2000).

Food, that we eat, also has its impact on our brain. Instability

or deficiency of necessary nutrients will have a dandy wallop on

everyday performance, behavior, feelings, and cognitive and

physical actions. When a person starts eating extra amount of

calories with coincidental nutrient inadequacies will result in

the lack of ability to consume these calories efficiently results

in advancement of body weight, depression, disorders in the

eating behavior, metabolic complexities, tiredness, and much

more. And all of these are common features in the ghoulishly

obese population of today’s world (Lonsdale D, et al. 1994).

In this research study, there are several other factors as well

other than health awareness that enhance the use of dietary

products. For instance, if a person is into exercise and he/she

regularly exercise whether in gymnasium or at home then he/she is

more likely to use dietary products and it is not always related

with health awareness. People going to gym and working out are

more likely to consume vitamin supplements too as these products

increase the body size and a person remains fit.

If a consumer is concerned about any harmful chemicals or

ingredients in a product then he/she will use dietary products on

more regular basis. These people usually read the food labels

before purchasing a product and they have some perceived benefits

related to that information. On the basis of that food label,

they make a decision of whether buying a diet product of a non-

diet product.

Demographics also play its part in purchasing dietary products or

not. Research shows that females are more likely to go for buying

a diet product than males (Nayga, 1996). And a person from teen

age is less likely to buy a diet product than a mature person. Or

if someone comes from a village then he/she is less likely to

make variations in his/her appetite and purchase dietary

products. If a person is generally suffering from some health

problem then he/she will consume diet products more than a

healthy person.

Having a belief in low-fat diet is also very important. Usually

people think that exercise is the only solution to obesity and

dieting has no importance. But if a person beliefs in the

importance of dieting and he agrees to the relationship between

diet and health then he/she is more likely to buy diet products

(Kristal, Patterson, 1999)

If a person is obese and people around him/her always keep on

pinching, sooner or later that person decides to lose weight. If

an obese person tries to lose weight then he/she will purchase

diet food on more regular basis than others. A person who has a

desire inside him to reduce his/her weight then he/she will read

food labels and opt for diet food rather than non-diet food

(Kreuter & Brennen, 1997)

The Consumer behavior is a subject area where different actions &

procedures, commenced when individuals or groups choose, buy,

consume, or handle merchandise, services, thoughts, or several

experiences to satisfy customer needs and wants, are examined

(Solomon, 2009, p.33).

Although it’s important to define the term consumer here in order

to understand the whole concept of consumer behavior. A consumer

is defined as an individual or a group of people who recognizes a

need or want, buys a product or service, and then uses that

product (Solomon, 2009, p.34).

If a person is not satisfied with his/her current physical

condition and wants to improve the physical appearance or body

fitness then he/she opts for dieting. The process of dieting is

the exercise of having food in a regularized manner to attain or

sustain a controlled weight (en.wikipedia.org).

It is also important to explain that what dietary products mean

in order to gain the essence of the consumer behavior regarding

dietary products. Dietary products denote any food or drink whose

recipe/formula has been changed in some manner to make it

component of a body alteration diet. Usually the purpose behind

it is weight reduction and modification in physical features, on

certain occasions the aim is to help gaining weight or muscle

such as the use of muscle building supplements, or it can be

related to the prevention of some disease or as a cure to some

disease as well(en.wikipedia.org).

The consumer behavior refers to the mutual action between buyers

and manufacturers at the time of making the particular purchase.

The discipline of consumer behavior is characterized by more than

one other field of studies so it is known as an interdisciplinary

field. Study of consumer behavior is not only related to the time

of purchase but it also studies the factors that influenced a

person’s buying decision and it also studies the feedback or

response that a consumer provides or has in the back of his head.

So the consumer behavior is not all about paying money through

cash or debit card and getting some products or services in

return.

There are various stages in the process of consumer behavior.

First stage comes before the actual purchase. 2nd step is the

process of actual purchase. And last but not the least step is

the response of customers after purchase (known as post-purchase

scenario).

First stage that comes before the actual purchase is also known

as pre-purchase scenario. In this stage it’s to be studied that

what factors/issues influenced a person to opt for the purchase.

How did the consumer hear about the particular product/service?

And why did he choose a particular brand over different types of

brands? And other issues like that, which are likely to occur

before the time of purchase, are studied in the pre-purchase

scenario.

After that comes the stage of making the purchase, also known as

the purchase scenario. At this stage a person has a certain

behavior and mindset related to the product he is going to

purchase. It is to be studied that what consumer thinks about the

purchase, whether he found it a pleasant or a stressful

experience and what is the image that product carries about the

buyer of that particular product.

Last but not the least stage of the consumer behavior is the

scenario after the purchase is completed, also known as post-

purchase scenario. This step checks whether the product/service

delivered what it promised to deliver or not. Why this product

was given preference over other products? And is there a

behavioral change in consumer after using this product or not?

And how often consumer repurchases that product? (Solomon, 2009)

Therefore the consumer behavior is influenced by many issues and

factors. The actual purchase decision is taken after considering

the available information. There are two types of information

available, one is the internal information and the other is

external search for information. A person usually seeks for

information internally by going through his memory, also known as

memory scanning. External search is basically the concept of

going through different methods of seeking information before the

purchase decision is made.

The study of consumer behavior intends to focus solely on the

external search factors and usually internal search factors are

not considered. When considering external search of information a

researcher attempts to answer the following questions like how

much search was undertaken by the consumer? What was known

already in the process of pre-purchase information seeking? What

are the reasons for the fluctuation in the quantity of search?

What do these findings stand for? (Moore, Lehman, 1980)

Consumer behavior regarding dietary products depends on the

information that is received from TV advertisements and

Newspaper/Magazine Advertisements, Relatives, acquaintances and

also from Internet research, the trend of which has been on a go

(Koc, Ceylan 2009). Information gained from electronic and print

media is majorly the source of the awareness of consumers (Avsar

et al., 2006).

Study of consumer behavior includes consumer perceptions towards

origin of product, brand equity, and the relationship between

price & quality and it also comprises of consumer loyalty towards

the brand or store and 3rd part of consumer behavior study would

be the attention paid to the customer orientation (Raju 1995).

Consumption of dietary products globally is on increase. People

tend to spend a lot on healthy products. Such as in United States

of America, people buy dietary products worth $40 billion to $100

billion. People getting medical attention to their obesity

problem spend around $78.5 billion which is 9.1% of overall

medical expense in US. Not only in the US but in Canada, people

is spending money on medical treatments regarding obesity around

CA$2 billion which is the 2.4% of total Canadian health cost.

Consumer behavior in developing countries like Pakistan is

dissimilar from developed countries because of the influences

from factors such as socio-political or economical conditions

(Raju, 1995).

Availability of dietary products is another issue in Pakistan.

That is mainly because of the ineffectiveness of the retail

outlet systems and establishments in the developing countries

like Pakistan. Retail outlets in such countries are usually

considered as deficient, untempting, time consuming and

bedeviling (Quelch et al., 1991). Third World countries share

this problem, although there is a slow and gradual trend toward

modernization in the form of self-service stores and

supermarkets. However, factors such as the small number of

potential customers, low income levels, acute income disparities,

and traditional lifestyles in third World countries tend to

hinder the toleration of supermarkets (Kaynak and Cavusgil,

1982).

Ch 3) Method

Research design

To carry out any research, it is important to firstly figure out

that how the researcher is going to think about things in

research (Philosophy of research). The philosophy of Research

used in this research is a mix of Interpretivism and Realism.

Interpretivism philosophy is a philosophy that focuses on the

reality related to human behaviors. It covers the subjective

aspects of human behavior. As this research is a study of

consumer behavior regarding consumption of dietary products so

that Interpretivisim philosophy is the most appropriate choice

for this research.

Interpretivism philosophy encourages field research and the study

of the behaviors of human beings. This research explores the

myths and the logics behind the use of dietary products or, on

the other hand, why the people are not using dietary products.

After studying the consumer behavior a meaning is given to the

activities people perform in this consumption process. And equal

value is given to all the behaviors and the point of views of

people regarding dietary products consumption, which gave more

comprehensive outlook to this research.

This research is also linked with the Realism philosophy of

research as well because it is acquitted to bring a change in

people by increasing awareness regarding the use of dietary

products and provide a justification to the current rise in the

consumption of dietary products. At the end of the thesis,

recommendations are also given to people as well as to the

industry of Pakistan. The real reasons behind usage of dietary

products or not using dietary products are highlighted and that

relates the research to the Realism philosophy.

After choosing a research philosophy the question of adopting a

research approach arises. The research approach is used to decide

that what research strategies we are going to utilize. This study

uses Inductive approach as it is used when we move from some

concrete evidence to more abstract concepts. Usually

Interpretivism philosophy is followed by Inductive research

approach. Interpretivism approach is used when the researcher has

obscure ideas about conducting the research and when it’s a more

generalized topic.

The level of analysis for this research is micro as we are not

studying the consumer behavior regarding consumption of Dietary

products in the whole world or country. The focus of this

research was just the city of Islamabad. And the stress of this

study was only on diet products, not the other type of products.

We have observed and heard that people in Islamabad are really

conscious about their health and fitness. Even the teenagers here

have started consuming diet products. This research will bring

out the causes behind this increment in the consumption and what

logics and myths lay behind it.

The form of explanation of this research is flexible as this

study used previous researches, previous findings, questionnaire

techniques, one on one interviews, and observation of different

behaviors. The research approach being used is Inductive approach

and it emphasizes on using a bit more flexible form of

explanation towards research. Reason being, behaviors of people

are flexible in nature so that the research approach should also

be flexible in nature.

Study DesignThis research is about studying the consumer behavior of people

that use dietary products. The intention of this research is to

explore the causes behind this consumer behavior and to highlight

the causes that why local industry is not really producing

dietary products while there is a lot of demand for those

products. These reasons are like less availability and scarce

resources etc. Availability of Dietary products is a major issue

in the local society; one has to go to specific stores to buy

dietary products which are not available in every store or

kiosks. This is a type of research which will have its impact on

both consumers and the industry. Impact on consumers will be that

the level of awareness will be enhanced and the level of

consumption will also increase due to the increased awareness.

The knowledge of consumers is increased through the findings of

this research. On the other hand, the impact on industry will be

to bring out causes that why the industry is not really producing

Dietary products in Pakistan and what causes the people to

purchase international brands while consuming diet products.

The research focuses on people with different backgrounds and

with different Income levels. The sample chosen for this research

is going to be persons from teenage to old age. The way to

approach them is to reach out to shops where they are buying

things or approach people in their offices or houses according to

the situation.

The main method used for this research was questionnaire method.

These questionnaires were filled by a total sample size of 120

people. These questionnaires included the basic information about

the responder i.e. the Gender, height and weight of those people.

Then the BMI (Body mass index) of that person is calculated

through its formula. Then a mixture of closed ended and open

ended questions was asked. The focus while preparing these

questionnaires was that these should not require a lot of time to

get filled. As we will be getting responses from practical

persons, so the questionnaire should not require a lot of time to

fill it, because that may embarrass them as well as the

researcher. The scale to be used in these questionnaires is the

likert scale in order to measure the relationship of variables.

Close-ended questions were different statements and the

respondent was to agree, disagree, highly agree, highly disagree

or neither agrees nor disagrees with the statement.

Data analysis was executed by using the descriptive analysis. And

the SPSS software was used to calculate percentages and other

facts.

Population/Sample

Population for this research was the people living in Islamabad

City. Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and it was built

almost 50 years ago therefore the residents living in this city

mostly belong to other areas of Pakistan and truly represent the

whole nation. This research was conducted to study that how many

people of that population are concerned about using dietary

products and what are the reasons/myths behind the increased

consumption. The local industry was asked a question that why

they are not really producing dietary products to meet the high

demands of these products.

Inductive approach usually requires a small sample because we

have to move towards abstract concepts not the empirical evidence

itself. So the sample number chosen for this research work is

120. This sample consists of people from different demographic

profiles. But same sample sized is taken from different sectors

of Islamabad.

To carry out the research, the city of Islamabad was divided into

five divisions. “Division I” contained the people from sector

I/8, I/9, and I/10. “Division H” contained the people from

sectors H/8, and H/10. “Division G” contained the people from the

sectors G/6, G/9, and G/10. “Division F” contained the people

from F/6, F/7, F/8, and F/10. Last but not the least is “Division

E” which contained people from E/6 and E/7.

Division I Division H Division G Division F Division E

I/8

I/9

I/10

(Sectors)

H/8

H/10

(Sectors)

G/6

G/9

G/10

(Sectors)

F/6

F/7

F/8

F/10

(Sectors)

E/6

E/7

(Sectors)

Dividing Islamabad into 5 divisions

Table 2

The samples of same sizes are most practical and useful if we

want to compare the behavior of different subgroups (Gay and

Airasian, 2000). The sample size was 20 persons each from

Division I, H, and E. Sample size was 30 persons each from the

Division G and F. This sample size was being taken in accordance

with the amount of purchases made in these divisions. As it is

observed that most purchases are made in G/9, F/6, F/7 and F/10,

even the people from other divisions buy from these divisions. So

the sample size of Division G and F is higher than other three

divisions.

Division Sample Size (Persons)

Division I 20

Division G 30

Division H 20

Division F 30

Division E 20

Sample size per division

Table 3

Procedures

This research intended to seek information regarding the

consumption pattern of the consumers of Dietary products and the

reasons in the consideration of local industry for not producing

dietary products in different product categories. What are the

causes of the rise in the consumption of dietary products? What

are the reasons of low awareness in the minds of people regarding

dieting? What are the reasons for low availability of dietary

products in every store of town? These are some questions that

were gone through in this research.

The course of action chosen was to use the research procedure of

questionnaires. In which researcher intended to get the real

myths behind using or not using the dietary products and what

reasons lies behind not producing many dietary products in

Pakistan and how much importance is given to dietary products.

Type of Data

There are two types of data used in research studies. One type is

the primary data and the other is secondary data. Primary data is

usually collected first hand and directly, using own

observational skills. And the secondary data stands for the data

collected second hand, means the data collected from different

books or previous research articles etc.

In this research study the primary data was collected from the

people of Islamabad by using research techniques like

questionnaires, interviews and observing their behaviors and

consumption patterns towards dietary products. And the secondary

data was collected with the help of previous researches, previous

findings, research articles, books, internet, etc.

Ch 4) Results & Discussion

Chapter 4: Results & discussion

Questionnaire:

The research method used in this thesis was questionnaire. It was

designed in such a way that it is easy to understand for the

respondents. The questions were aimed to gather information about

the consumer behavior regarding diet products. The variables used

in the questionnaire where previously mentioned in theoretical

framework. The hypotheses of this research were included in the

questionnaire as questions. Also this questionnaire provided the

general perceptions and preferences given by customers of diet

products. What are the actual needs and desires were worked out

through these questions. This questionnaire also helped to figure

out the scope for local diet products industry of Pakistan as

well.

This questionnaire measured the level of awareness in the minds

of people about diet products and diet-health relationship. It

also measured the consumption pattern of diet products. Last but

not the least, it measured the handiness of diet products and the

role of local diet industry and the satisfaction level of

consumers.

The results are shown according to the descriptive analysis

technique with the help of pie charts, column charts, tables,

percentages and ratios while using 3-d graphics. The results were

assisted by descriptive calculations in SPSS software and Micro

Soft Office Excel 2007.

a) Body mass index

GenderTotalMale Female

BMI Underweight Normal Overweight ObeseTotal

46116384

6264036

1087203

120

Table 4

Underweight Normal Overweight Obese0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

BMI

Diagram 2

This shows that the majority of the citizens of Islamabad have

normal BMI i.e. 72.5 %. And the overweight/obesity rate is 19.2%.

However the overweight/obesity rate in Islamabad city is lesser

in females than males as it was calculated that 11.1 % females

are overweight or obese and 22.6 % males are overweight or obese.

b) Age

BMI

Totalunderweight normal overweight obese

Age 18-25 years 9 80 17 2 108

26-40 years 0 7 2 1 10

41-60 0 0 1 0 1

60 or older 1 0 0 0 1

Total 10 87 20 3 120Table 5

18-25 26-40 41-60 60 or older0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Respondent's age

Diagram 3

People falling into the age group of 18-25 years are 74 % normal

weight and 17.59 % overweight or obese. This overweight/obesity

rate is little higher in the age group of 26-40 years i.e. 20 %.

Q - Are you aware that there are diet products available in market?

Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Strongly disagree 2 1.7 1.7 1.7

Disagree 16 13.3 13.3 15.0

Neither agree nor

disagree11 9.2 9.2 24.2

Agree 72 60.0 60.0 84.2

Strongly agree 19 15.8 15.8 100.0

Total 120 100.0 100.0

Table 6

2%13%

9%

60%

16%

Awareness of diet products

Strongly disagreeDisagreeNeither agree nor dis-agreeAgreeStrongly agree

Diagram 4

This diagram shows that 75.8 % people are fully aware about the

diet products in market. But 15 % people are not aware about diet

products even in a very happening city like Islamabad.

Q - Do you use Dietary products on regular basis?

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

strongly disagree 18 15.0 15.0 15.0

disagree 35 29.2 29.2 44.2

neither agree nor

disagree27 22.5 22.5 66.7

agree 37 30.8 30.8 97.5

strongly agree 3 2.5 2.5 100.0

Total 120 100.0 100.0

Table 7

34%

26%

36%

3%

Consumption

DisagreeNeither Agree nor Dis-agreeAgreeStrongly Agree

Diagram 5

The research showed that 33.3 % people use diet products. And

22.5 % use dietary products often. But 44.2 % people in Islamabad

city don’t use diet products on regular basis. So the higher

percentage people are not regular diet products consumers.

Q - Why do you use dietary products?

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

weight reduction 32 26.7 26.9 26.9

weight stability 37 30.8 31.1 58.0

weight gain 11 9.2 9.2 67.2

diabetes 11 9.2 9.2 76.5

heart disease 6 5.0 5.0 81.5

other 22 18.3 18.5 100.0

Total 120 100.0Table 8

27%

31%9%

9%

5%

18%

Reason for consumption

Weight reductionWeight stabilityWeight gainDiabetesHeart diseaseOther

Diagram 6

The data collected through questionnaire showed that 26.7 %

people buy diet products for the purpose of weight reduction. As

the majority of the sample was normal weight people so that 31.1%

people intend to stabilize their weight whereas 9.2% people aim

to gain weight. 14.2 % people consume diet products to prevent

diseases. 18.5 % people have other reasons and this percentage

also include the people who don’t consume diet products at all.

Q - Does Islamabad have more trend of dieting than any other city of Pakistan?

Trend of dieting more in Islamabad?

Total

strongly

disagree disagree

neither

agree nor

disagree agree

strongly

agree

Divisio

n

I 0 3 5 10 2 20

H 0 2 1 12 5 20

G 5 3 4 16 2 30

F 2 6 2 15 5 30

E 0 3 4 11 2 20

Total 7 17 16 64 16 120Table 9

Strongly dis-agree

Disagree Neither agree nor disagree

Agree Strongly agree

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Trend of Dieting in Islamabad

Diagram 7

The research showed that 66.6 % people agree or strongly agree to

the fact that trend of dieting is more in Islamabad than any

other city of Pakistan.

Q - Did health awareness increase the consumption of diet products?

Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Strongly disagree 3 2.5 2.5 2.5

Disagree 14 11.7 11.7 14.2

Neither agree nor

disagree15 12.5 12.5 26.7

Agree 68 56.7 56.7 83.3

Strongly agree 20 16.7 16.7 100.0

Total 120 100.0 100.0Table 10

3%12%

13%

57%

17%

Diet-Health Relationship

Strongly disagreeDisagreeNeither agree nor dis-agreeAgreeStrongly agree

Diagram 8

This diagram represents the fact that 73.4 % people either agree

or strongly agree to the role of health awareness in the

increased consumption of diet products.

Q - Do you check the Nutritional facts before purchasing a product?

Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

strongly disagree 13 10.8 10.8 10.8

disagree 24 20.0 20.0 30.8

neither agree nor

disagree24 20.0 20.0 50.8

agree 45 37.5 37.5 88.3

strongly agree 14 11.7 11.7 100.0

Total 120 100.0 100.0

Table 11

Strongly dis-agree

Disagree Neither agree nor disagree

Agree Strongly agree

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Nutritional facts

Diagram 9

The research showed that 49.2 % people always check nutritional

facts whereas 20 % people sometimes check the food labels. But

30.8 % people don’t check nutritional facts, which show the lack

of awareness as well.

Q - While buying a product you look for:

Reason Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

calories 38 31.7 31.7 31.7

fats 25 20.8 20.8 52.5

sugar 15 12.5 12.5 65.0

cholesterol 10 8.3 8.3 73.3

other 32 26.7 26.7 100.0

Total 120 100.0 100.0Table 12

32%

21%13%

8%

27%

Reason for purchase

CaloriesFatsSugarCholestrolOther

Diagram 10

The research showed that consumers pay most attention to

calories, then fats, sugar, and cholesterol respectively. Other

reasons also included the people who don’t consume diet products.

Q - Which Gender consumes more diet products?

Which Gender consumes more?

TotalMale Female

Answered by: Male 18 66 84

Female 7 29 36

Total 25 95 120Table 13

Male Female0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Male or Female?

Diagram 11

The research showed that 79.2 % people from Islamabad think that

females consume diet products more regularly than males. Even

80.5 % females think that their gender consumes more diet

products. Whereas 78.5 % males think that females consume more

diet products than males.

Q - Which brand of diet products do you buy mostly?

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

International

brand84 70.0 70.0 70.0

Local brand 36 30.0 30.0 100.0

Total 120 100.0 100.0Table 14

30%

70%

Local or International?

Local brandsInternational brands

Diagram 12

The research indicated that majority of people in Islamabad

prefer purchasing international brands when it comes to the diet

products i.e. 70 %. On the other hand a slightly low percentage

of 30 % people buy local diet products. This shows the level of

un-comfort in the minds of people for local diet brands.

Q - Are you satisfied with the Local diet industry’s quality?

Local product’s Quality

Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Strongly disagree 8 6.7 6.7 6.7

disagree 47 39.2 39.2 45.8

neither agree nor

disagree33 27.5 27.5 73.3

agree 30 25.0 25.0 98.3

strongly agree 2 1.7 1.7 100.0

Total 120 100.0 100.0Table 15

Strongly dis-agree

Disagree Neither agree nor disagree

Agree Strongly agree

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

8

47

3330

2

Citizens of Islamabad

Diagram 13

The research showed that 45.8 % people were not happy with local

diet product’s quality and 27.5 % people were moderate about it.

However 26.7 % people were satisfied with the local product’s

quality.

Q - Lack in growth of local diet industry is because of the less knowledge of consumers about dieting?

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

strongly disagree 2 1.7 1.7 1.7

disagree 15 12.5 12.5 14.2

neither agree nor

disagree29 24.2 24.2 38.3

agree 65 54.2 54.2 92.5

strongly agree 9 7.5 7.5 100.0

Total 120 100.0 100.0Table 16

2%13%

24%

54%

8%

Growth Vs. Awareness

Strongly disagreeDisagreeNeither agree nor dis-agreeAgreeStrongly agree

Diagram 14

This data shows that 61.7 % people accepted the fact that local

diet industry is not growing because of the less awareness of

consumers about diet products. 24.2 % didn’t pass extreme

comments. But 14.2 % thought that there are other factors,

instead of awareness, that caused the lack of growth in local

diet industry.

Q - Will you prefer buying local diet products if they have desired qualities?

Preference to good local products?

Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent Cumulative Percent

strongly disagree 4 3.3 3.3 3.3

disagree 9 7.5 7.5 10.8

neither agree nor

disagree17 14.2 14.2 25.0

agree 64 53.3 53.3 78.3

strongly agree 26 21.7 21.7 100.0

Total 120 100.0 100.0Table 17

3%8%

14%

53%

22%

Any chance for local products?

Strongly disagreeDisagreeNeither agree nor dis-agreeAgreeStrongly agree

Diagram 15

The research depicted that 75 % people will prefer consuming

local diet products if they have the desired qualities whereas

only 10.8 % people will still stick with international brands.

That is a very good opportunity for local diet industry.

Q - What do you think is the advantage of consuming an international diet product?

Why buy international product?

Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent Cumulative Percent

Quality 58 48.3 48.3 48.3

Cost effective 5 4.2 4.2 52.5

Honest nutritional

facts45 37.5 37.5 90.0

Brand loyalty 9 7.5 7.5 97.5

Other 3 2.5 2.5 100.0

Total 120 100.0 100.0Table 18

48%

4%

38%

8%

3%

Advantage of International product?

QualityCost effectivenessHonest nutritional factsBrand loyaltyOther

Diagram 16

This study exhibited the reasons for consuming international diet

products. 48.3 % people purchase these products because of good

quality and 37.5 % people go for international products because

of the honest nutritional facts. This might encourage the local

diet industry to excel in these areas.

Q - Do you find diet products easily in your nearby stores?

Handiness of diet products

Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

strongly disagree 6 5.0 5.0 5.0

disagree 40 33.3 33.3 38.3

neither agree nor

disagree17 14.2 14.2 52.5

agree 51 42.5 42.5 95.0

strongly agree 6 5.0 5.0 100.0

Total 120 100.0 100.0Table 19

Strongly dis-agree

Disagree Neither agree nor disagree

Agree Strongly agree

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Availability

Diagram 17

The table shows that 38.3 % citizens of Islamabad face trouble in

finding diet products in nearby stores. And 47.5 % citizens

easily find diet products in nearby markets. 14.2 % have limited

products available in their areas.

Q - Do you think that low availability is the main cause of less consumption of dietary products?

Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

strongly disagree 3 2.5 2.5 2.5

disagree 13 10.8 10.8 13.3

neither agree nor

disagree26 21.7 21.7 35.0

agree 75 62.5 62.5 97.5

strongly agree 3 2.5 2.5 100.0

Total 120 100.0 100.0Table 20

Strongly dis-agree

Disagree Neither agree nor disagree

Agree Strongly agree

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Is low availability the cause?

Diagram 18

The research pointed that 65 % people agreed to the fact that low

availability is the main cause of people whereas 12.7 neither

agreed nor disagreed. Only a small percentage of 13.3 % people

think that low availability is not the main cause.

Q - Which factor has most influence on increased diet products consumption?

Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Health awareness 51 42.5 42.5 42.5

Self-esteem 18 15.0 15.0 57.5

Influence from media

celebrities17 14.2 14.2 71.7

To attract people 26 21.7 21.7 93.3

Availability of diet

products8 6.7 6.7 100.0

Total 120 100.0 100.0Table 21

43%

15%14%

22%7%

Reason for dieting?

Health awarenessSelf-esteemInfluence from media celebritiesTo attract peopleAvailability of diet products

Diagram 19

The research proved that 42 % people use diet products because of the health awareness. And only 6.7 % think that availability of diet products is a reason for the increased consumption.

Test of hypotheses:

The hypotheses were designed with the help of independent and

dependent variables that were described in theoretical framework.

Both the hypotheses are tested with the descriptive analysis

technique. The data collected through chosen questions in the

questionnaire provide the basis for approval or rejection of

hypotheses.

6. Did health awareness increase the consumption of diet products?

Strongly disagree

Disagree Neither agree nor disagree

Agree Strongly agree

1 2 3 4 5Table 22

This question was asked from 120 people and their responses were

recorded. This data is shown in the following table.

Frequency PercentValid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Strongly disagree 3 2.5 2.5 2.5

Disagree 14 11.7 11.7 14.2

Neither agree nor disagree

15 12.5 12.5 26.7

Agree 68 56.7 56.7 83.3

Strongly agree 20 16.7 16.7 100.0

Total 120 100.0 100.0

Table 23

3%12%

13%

57%

17%

Diet-Health Relationship

Strongly disagreeDisagreeNeither agree nor dis-agreeAgreeStrongly agree

Diagram 20

This diagram represents the fact that 73.4 % people either agreed

or strongly agreed to the impact of health awareness on the

increased consumption of diet products. Therefore we accept the

hypothesis.

This hypothesis is further testified with the responses from

Question 17.

17. Which factor has most influence on increased diet products consumption?

a. Health awarenessb. Self-esteemc. Influence from media

celebrities

d. To attract peoplee. Availability of Diet

products

43%

15%14%

22%7%

Reason for dieting?

Health awarenessSelf-esteemInfluence from media celebritiesTo attract peopleAvailability of diet products

Diagram 21

This graphical representation shows that 42 % people think that

health awareness is the most influential factor for the increased

dietary consumption. And that supports our hypothesis.

H1 It is expected that there is a relationship between the

consumer behavior regarding diet products and health awareness.

16. Do you think that low availability is the main cause of less consumption of dietary products?

Strongly disagree

Disagree Neither agree nor disagree

Agree Strongly agree

1 2 3 4 5Table 24

The answers are shown in the following table.

Frequency PercentValid Percent

Cumulative Percent

strongly disagree 3 2.5 2.5 2.5

disagree 13 10.8 10.8 13.3

neither agree nor disagree 26 21.7 21.7 35.0

agree 75 62.5 62.5 97.5

strongly agree 3 2.5 2.5 100.0

Total 120 100.0 100.0

Table 25

Strongly dis-agree

Disagree Neither agree nor disagree

Agree Strongly agree

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Is low availability the cause?

Diagram 22

The research pointed that 65 % people agreed to the fact that low

availability is the main cause of people whereas 12.7 neither

agreed nor disagreed. Only a small percentage of 13.3 % people

think that low availability is not the main cause. Thus we accept

the hypothesis.

H2 It is expected that there is a relationship between the

consumer behavior regarding diet products and availability of

diet products.

Ch 5) Conclusion & Recommendations

Conclusion

People living in Islamabad are mostly normal weight. But the

trend of using diet products is higher in Islamabad than any

other city of Pakistan. Females here use more diet products than

males.

The local industry is not satisfying the consumer need of quality

product. Customers are extremely willing to buy local diet

products if they have desired qualities. It’s not totally the

fault of local diet industry but they are not growing because

consumers have less knowledge about dieting and diet products.

The major intent of consumers while consuming diet products is

related to body weight. This provides the grounds for the local

diet industry to target the specific need of consumers.

People rely on international diet products mostly. Reasons are

like quality, honest nutritional facts, brand loyalty, etc.

Therefore consumers prefer buying international brands over local

brands in order to get the maximum satisfaction.

Availability of diet products remain an issue. People couldn’t

find these products easily in nearby stores. This issue is raised

because of the low production of diet products at local level.

There is a big influence from media and celebrities on the

consumer behavior regarding diet products. People follow those

actors and wish to have a physic like them in order to attract

other people. This caused the raise in diet products consumption.

Recommendations

It is quite evident that mostly Pakistani population is not into

dieting because they don’t believe in the concept that dieting

plays a vital role in maintaining a good health. People think

that dieting has side effects as a person reduces the calories-

intake to minimum when he/she is dieting and that affects his/her

health. These wrong perceptions that lie in the minds of people

should be written off. That is the idea of this research study

that people should be aware about the importance of dieting.

Focus of this research study was Islamabad city but as stated

above that Islamabad’s population is a great mix of people from

all over Pakistan. After getting the questionnaires filled and

observing the general consumer behavior, it is apparent that

people don’t really have knowledge about diet products. Many

people didn’t know about the characteristics of skimmed milk.

Many people didn’t know about the amount of calories they take by

eating any general routine food. This knowledge of consumers

should be improved and that will certainly affect the consumer

buying behavior over night.

These days watching Television and listening to radio while

driving or working in kitchen is a very common activity. People

are more influenced by what they see or hear in Television/Radio

than anything else. These mediums should be used to educate

people. The importance of dieting and the relationship between

health and diet should be told to the general consumers so that

they look out for diet products and utilize the maximum benefits

out of those products and live a healthier life.

There are social events like Green week or feed-the-poor week

around the world as well as in Pakistan. There could be another

social event called the Diet week. People should focus on their

personal health and eat a balanced diet. People should learn

about the amount of calories in a product. People should try to

avoid the junk food completely in this week. People should visit

their health consultants in this week, if they have one. People

should teach their young guns to opt for dieting in this week.

People should go to parks for exercise, walk, yoga, etc. Such

social activities will create a great interest in the minds of

people towards dieting. This step could be a role model step for

the rest of the world and people might gain interest in dieting.

One problem that lies in every city of Pakistan, where Islamabad

is no exception, is the lack of availability of dietary products.

Stores or kiosks have 1, 2 diet products only and some don’t even

have a single diet product. A person has to go to a specific

store to buy a diet product. This lack of availability is caused

by immobilization of the sales team of local diet products

industry. Once diet products are easily available at the arm’s

length then consumers will also buy these products even by

impulse buying.

Every local company that produces diet products with other normal

products has a sales team or a marketing time. But there should

be a sales team particularly for the diet products as it’s a

different product category and it requires a lot of attention.

Allotting a specific sales team for dietary products will also

improve the availability in stores as well.

Talking about the nation as whole, diet products industry

shouldn’t only focus on the availability in Islamabad but they

should also give importance to making the diet products available

in other parts of Pakistan as well. Consumers usually complain

about the less availability of diet products. If these products

are easily approachable then the purchase rate will also go up.

A separate section should be allotted to diet products in big

stores. Or a shelf should be allocated to place diet products

only. This will help consumers to locate diet products and also

encourage them to buy a diet product which is not currently on

their wish-list. It has been observed that some stores have a

separate shelf for dietary products but this practice is not very

common in Islamabad. These shelves should by at eye-catching

level where consumer is made to pay attention. Along with this

marketing strategy, banners should also be there to assist

consumers in knowing about the diet products. This separate

section could be named as “The diet products section” or “For

health conscious people”, etc.

Separate store particularly for diet products could be a nice

idea to attract the one quarter population of Pakistan. As stated

above, almost a quarter of Pakistan’s total population is

overweight or obese. It is a very large number for a target

audience. There should be stores not only in Islamabad but all

over Pakistan where only diet products are available. This is a

kind of idea that is not applied in the whole world on regular

basis but it should be brought into practice as it has a great

scope of success. People are always looking for a shop where they

can easily find diet products. If they have a specific store

which offers all kinds of diet products whether local or

international then they will be more than happy to make purchases

from those stores.

Doctors usually ask patients to prevent junk foods but that

advice is usually not given any attention. Research shows that if

a person maintains a good diet then he/she is more likely to stay

safe from many diseases. It is said that prevention is better

than cure. Many people consult doctors for diseases like obesity

as well and they are given a food chart which is very difficult

to follow. Doctors or health consultants should know about what

the patient is currently eating and then ask the patient to

prevent certain items and to start eating certain items. Apart

from that, while writing a prescription doctor should also

emphasize on the importance of dieting along with medication.

Local industry is producing very cliché diet products. And the

packaging is usually not very attractive. If local industry is

ought to see a better response from consumers then they must

bring more innovation into the production of dietary products.

That innovation could be related to introducing more diet

products or could be related with the packaging of those diet

products.

Various marketing campaigns are running related to the food

industry but we can barely see a commercial advertisement

regarding diet food. Advertisement is very vital to influence a

consumer’s buying decision. Local industry should commence proper

marketing campaigns for their diet products. That will bring a

change in the consumer buying behavior and people are more likely

to go for purchasing dietary products.

Different issues like global warming, green planet, save water,

save electricity, etc are paid a lot of attention by today’s

media which includes electronic and print media. But there is not

such importance given to the issue of obesity. The growing number

of fat people manifests a low level of importance given to the

issue. Obesity is a very alarming situation for any individual.

Media should also give attention to the obesity problems and the

importance of dieting. People really follow what media presents.

If they watch something related to the importance of dieting then

the consumer behavior towards dietary products will be changed in

a positive way.

Another way to increase the awareness is to arrange a few

seminars. These seminars should contain lectures from health

specialists and some activities which evoke a person to start

using dietary products. These seminars should give a message to

people that obesity itself is a disease and it is so dangerous

that it is, as a matter of fact, a door step to countless other

diseases.

Health-diet relationship should be explained on different forums

such as colleges, schools, and university so that Pakistan’s next

generation doesn’t have 42 million fat people. There should be

health clubs at the university or college level where students

could take part. This healthy activity will increase the

awareness which is a key to bring a change related to the

consumption of diet products.

Importance of dieting should be included in children’s course

books. There are a few things written about balanced diet in the

General Science’s book for Kids but there should be more material

related to the importance of diet in our lives. Once learnt

something in the early age is a learning forever.

A few measures can be taken by Government regarding the issue of

obesity and dieting. These measures could be like reducing the

taxes on the imports of diet products, and encouraging the local

industry, with different incentives, to produce diet products as

much as possible. CDA should also work on making more parks and

jogging tracks in Islamabad city. Also in the other areas of

Pakistan, Government should work on making those parks that will

help to improve the country’s infrastructure as well along with

more facilities given to people.

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Questionnaire

Bahria Institute of Management and Computer Sciences

Bahria University, Islamabad

This research thesis intends to study the consumer behavior regarding consumption of diet products due to increased health awareness as a survey based report of chosen sectors of Islamabad, Pakistan. This questionnaire has thus been projected to attain the spacious and particular objectives of the research study.

Dear responder,

We are accosting your most profound cooperation in the completion of all parts of the questionnaire. This will indeed assist a significant contribution to the research work, which is being undertaken for a noble cause of learning.

Questionnaire

Your good name: _________________________________ (Optional)

Sector _____ Gender: __________ (M/F)

Height: __’__ Weight: ___ (Kg) Waist: ___ (Inches)

Body Mass Index (To be calculated by researcher)

o Underweighto Normal

o Overweighto Obese

1. Age (Years)

f. 18-25g. 26-40

h. 41-60i. 60 or older

2. Are you aware that there are diet products available in market? (Please check the appropriate scale of 1-5)

Strongly disagree

Disagree Neither agree nor disagree

Agree Strongly agree

1 2 3 4 5

3. Do you use Dietary products on regular basis?

Strongly disagree

Disagree Neither agree nor disagree

Agree Strongly agree

1 2 3 4 5

4. Why do you use dietary products?

a. Weight reductionb. Weight stabilityc. Weight gain

d. Diabetese. Heart diseasef. Other

5. Does Islamabad have more trend of dieting than any other city of Pakistan?

Strongly disagree

Disagree Neither agree nor disagree

Agree Strongly agree

1 2 3 4 5

6. Did health awareness increase the consumption of diet products?

Strongly disagree

Disagree Neither agree nor disagree

Agree Strongly agree

1 2 3 4 5

7. Do you check the Nutritional facts before purchasing a product?

Strongly disagree

Disagree Neither agree nor disagree

Agree Strongly agree

1 2 3 4 5

8. While buying a product you look for:

a. Caloriesb. Fatsc. Sugar

d. Cholesterole. Other

9. Which Gender consumes more diet products?a. Maleb. Female

10. Which brand of diet products do you buy mostly?a. International brandsb. Local brands

11. Are you satisfied with the Local diet industry’s quality?

Strongly disagree

Disagree Neither agree nor disagree

Agree Strongly agree

1 2 3 4 5

12. Lack in growth of local diet industry is because of the less knowledge of consumers about dieting?

Strongly disagree

Disagree Neither agree nor disagree

Agree Strongly agree

1 2 3 4 5

13. Will you prefer buying local diet products if they have desired qualities?

Strongly disagree

Disagree Neither agree nor disagree

Agree Strongly agree

1 2 3 4 5

14. What do you think is the advantage of consuming an international diet product?

a. Qualityb. Cost effectivec. Honest nutritional facts

d. Brand loyaltye. Other

15. Do you find diet products easily in your nearby stores?

Strongly disagree

Disagree Neither agree nor disagree

Agree Strongly agree

1 2 3 4 5

16. Do you think that low availability is the main cause of less consumption of dietary products?

Strongly disagree

Disagree Neither agree nor disagree

Agree Strongly agree

1 2 3 4 5

17. Which factor has most influence on increased diet products consumption?

a. Health awarenessb. Self-esteemc. Influence from media

celebrities

d. To attract peoplee. Availability of Diet

products