Background: In Sweden, consumers have become more aware that certain types of food could improve their health and overall well-being. In addition, consumers, especially Swedish Millennials, are getting healthier day after day. Accordingly, manufacturers responded to this phenomenon by supplying food that offers extra health benefits (Ring & Mitchell, 2010). These types of food are called Functional Food (FF) and are defined as “food enriched with different components (such as vitamins, minerals or probiotic cultures) or modified in a way that the product provides an additional physiological benefit that might prevent disease and promote health” (Morna, 2015:336). Purpose: The study investigates the Swedish Millennials healthy lifestyle and focuses on their attitudes towards the functional food. Thus, the authors will explore the whole lifestyle and habits of the Swedish Millennials reaching to the core of the research, which is the consumption of the functional food. Method: In order to fulfil the purpose of this study an exploratory method, with qualitative and abductive approach, is chosen to understand the Swedish Millennials attitude towards the functional food. The focus group was the tool to collect the data for the study. In total, five focus groups were conducted with twenty-six participants all of them are Swedish Millennials. The reason behind choosing focus groups tool is to comprehend deeply the Swedish Millennials lifestyle and specifically their attitude towards the functional food. Conclusion: The authors concluded that the Swedish Millennials have a systematic lifestyle and they feel comfortable with the routine. The Swedish Millennial’s attitude towards the functional food is considered positive to the majority of the participants in the research. However, the minority of the Swedish Millennial’s participants have a negative attitude towards the functional food. Therefore, it was concluded that the Swedish Millennials attitude to an extent is positive towards the functional food consumption.

Overweight and obesity are influenced by many factors, however, food and beverage advertising and its influence on the dietary preferences and choices of youth is important. Models providing explanations for the association between advertising and youth outcomes have been proposed, yet few have been tested. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine how objective measures of attention to food and beverage advertising were associated with the (1) unhealthy food and beverage preferences (2) unhealthy food and beverage choices and (3) overweight/obesity status of youth, and how susceptibility to food and beverage advertising moderated these associations. Participants included 102 youth (m age = 11.6; 56.4% Caucasian; 43.1% female) who viewed 40 food and beverage advertisements on a computer and had their eye movements recorded. Attention measures included total time, total unhealthy time, fixation length (animated characters/branded logos, unhealthy food and beverage items), and fixation count (animated characters/branded logos, unhealthy food and beverage items). Participants self-reported susceptibility to food and beverage advertising, unhealthy food and beverage preferences, unhealthy food and beverage choices, and overweight/obesity. Regression models, controlling for gender, and moderation analyses were conducted. Fixation length and count for unhealthy food and beverage items were each positively and significantly associated with unhealthy food and beverage preferences. Fixation count for unhealthy food and beverage items was positively and marginally associated with unhealthy food and beverage choices. Findings indicate that individuals who look longer and more frequently at unhealthy food and beverage items appear to prefer them, and may also choose them. Susceptibility to food and beverage advertising moderated the association between fixation count for animated characters/branded logos and BMI z-score, suggesting that under conditions of high susceptibility to food and beverage advertising, those with a higher fixation count for animated characters/branded logos had a lower BMI z-score. Future research should include longitudinal studies, as well as work which examines the role of other potential moderating variables. Findings may have important implications for use in intervention programs, in the development of advertising messages for healthy food and beverage items, and/or policy initiatives aimed at changing the landscape of food and beverage advertising. / text