Persuasion techniques can motivate patients to change eating behaviours, symposium told.

Although surveys show that Canadians are concerned about good nutrition, they also reveal that taste and price outrank health concerns when consumers fill their shopping carts. Such attitudes are among the biggest barriers for health care practitioners who are trying to persuade patients to adopt a balanced diet that is low in fat and sugar and high in fibre. A marketing-communications expert says physicians and dietitians can fight fire with fire by adopting persuasion strategies that have been used successfully by advertisers to sell food products.