Traditional versu probiotic products: the influence of socio-economic factors on probiotic product consumption in Turkey

Çelik, Ahmet Duran; Sarıoğlu, Tuğçe

doi:10.1590/0103-8478cr20250426

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FOOD TECHNOLOGY • Cienc. Rural 56 (8) • 2026 • https://doi.org/10.1590/0103-8478cr20250426 linkcopy

Traditional versu probiotic products: the influence of socio-economic factors on probiotic product consumption in Turkey

Produtos tradicionais versus probióticos: a influência de fatores socioeconômicos no consumo de produtos probióticos na Turquia

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

This study investigated the impact of socio-economic factors on the consumption of probiotic products in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Turkey, specifically focusing on three categories: probiotic yogurt and milk, traditional fermented dairy products, and probiotic supplements. Based on surveys conducted with 600 participants from the cities of Kahramanmaraş, Hatay, and Osmaniye, logistic regression analysis was employed to explore relationships between socio-economic characteristics and probiotic consumption patterns. Findings revealed that education level and gender significantly influenced the likelihood of consuming probiotic products. Traditional products such as fermented yogurt, ayran, and cheese exhibit the highest consumption rates, driven by cost-effectiveness and cultural preferences. Probiotic supplements; however, are less commonly used, primarily among individuals with higher educational attainment. This research underscores the importance of consumer awareness about the health benefits of probiotics and highlighted the dominance of traditional products in the region’s dietary habits. These findings provided valuable insights for market strategies targeting probiotic product consumption in Turkey.

Key words:
functional foods; consumer behavior; purchase intention; traditional fermented dairy products; Eastern Mediterranean region

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Universidade Federal de Santa Maria Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Centro de Ciências Rurais , 97105-900 Santa Maria RS Brazil , Tel.: +55 55 3220-8698 , Fax: +55 55 3220-8695 - Santa Maria - RS - Brazil
E-mail: cienciarural@mail.ufsm.br

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[TFN1] (^*) Data that violated normal distribution were excluded; (^**)1 USD = 8.87 TL (2021).

Variables	Frequency	Ratio (%)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Gender-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Women	309	51.5
Men	291	48.5
Total	600	100
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Age--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18-27	110	18.3
28-37	191	31.8
38-47	182	30.3
48 +	117	19.5
Total	600	100
---------------------------------------------------------------------------Marital status-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Married	390	65
Single	210	35
Total	600	100
----------------------------------------------------------------------------Education-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
High school and below	216	36
Associate degree	59	9.8
Bachelor's degree	208	34.7
Graduate	117	19.5
Total	600	100
---------------------------------------------------------------------------Occupation^*---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unemployed (student, retired, etc.)	132	25.1
Teacher/Academic	148	28.1
Independent Business (Self-employed)	110	20.9
Public Employee	136	25.9
Total	526	100
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Monthly Income^**------------------------------------------------------------------------
<5000	219	36.5
5001-7000	228	38
7001<	153	25.5
Total	600	100
------------------------------------------------------------------Monthly Food Expenditure------------------------------------------------------------------
500-1000	252	42
1001-1500	169	28.2
1501<	179	29.8
Total	600	100

Variables	Probiotic yogurt ----------consumption---------			Probiotic milk -------consumption-------			Traditional yogurt ----------consumption-----------			----Cheese consumption-----
	β	Exp (β)	sig.	β	Exp (β)	sig.	β	Exp (β)	sig.	β	Exp (β)	sig.
Income	-0.154	0.857	0.376	-0.133	0.875	0.428	-0.327	0.721	0.334	0.037	1.037	0.952
Occupation	-0.156	0.855	0.091	-0.202^*	0.817	0.025	0.231	1.260	0.276	-0.283	0.754	0.407
Age	-0.015	0.985	0.907	0.045	1.046	0.715	0.407	1.502	0.171	0.425	1.530	0.409
Food expenditure	0.269	1.309	0.075	0.172	1.187	0.243	-0.487	0.615	0.100	-0.813	0.443	0.155
Education level	0.657^*	1.930	0.000	0.552^*	1.737	0.000	-0.451^*	0.637	0.045	-0.175	0.840	0.655
Gender	-0.622^*	0.537	0.003	-0.331	0.718	0.102	0.262	1.300	0.536	0.031	1.032	0.967
Marital Status	0.41	1.507	0.090	0.398	1.489	0.089	-1.186^*	0.306	0.019	-0.615	0.541	0.480
Constant	-2.924	0.054	0.000	-2.351	0.095	0.000	5.651	284.496	0.000	6.615	746.349	0.002
-2 Log likelihood	619.814^a			654.269^a			192.778^a			77.001^a
Chi-square	9.011			6.097			3.661			9.619
Hosmer and Lemeshow Test	0.341			0.636			0.886			0.293
Nagelkerke R²	0.217			0.158			0.168			0.076
Corrents predictions	67.30%			64.60%			94.50%			98.50%
	------Ayran consumption-----			----Kefir consumption---			----Buttermilk consumption---			-------Supplement use--------
Variables	β	Exp (β)	sig.	β	Exp (β)	sig.	β	Exp (β)	sig.	β	Exp (β)	sig.
Income	0.075	1.078	0.881	0.016	1.016	0.926	-0.548^*	0.578	0.001	-0.096	0.909	0.637
Occupation	0.224	1.251	0.466	-0.006	0.994	0.945	-0.183^*	0.833	0.038	-0.157	0.855	0.169
Age	0.605	1.832	0.192	0.097	1.102	0.429	-0.019	0.982	0.873	-0.181	0.835	0.245
Food expenditure	-0.423	0.655	0.333	-0.202	0.817	0.173	0.293^*	1.340	0.043	0.338	1.403	0.057
Education level	-0.358	0.699	0.261	0.179	1.196	0.062	0.135	1.144	0.151	0.384*	1.468	0.002
Gender	-0.379	0.685	0.539	-0.786^*	0.456	0.000	0.691^*	1.995	0.001	-0.392	0.675	0.119
Marital Status	-0.421	0.656	0.578	-0.448	0.639	0.054	-0.136	0.873	0.547	0.046	1.047	0.872
Constant	4.634	102.939	0.006	0.481	1.618	0.316	-0.14	0.869	0.76	-2.746	0.064	0.000
-2 Log likelihood	105.199^a			662.929^a			695.140^a			469.428^a
Chi-square	5.148			8.213			8.047			13.847
Hosmer and Lemeshow Test	0.742			0.413			0.429			0.086
Nagelkerke R²	0.089			0.064			0.064			0.092
Corrents predictions	97.70%			65.80%			62.70%			81.70%

Variables	Mean	P value	Variables	Mean	P value
Probiotic yogurt Female Male	2.16 1.76	0.000*	Probiotic yogurt Married Single	1.87 2.15	0.014^*
Probiotic milk Female Male	2.46 1.90	0.000^*	Probiotic milk Married Single	2.09 2.37	0.032^*
Fermented yogurt Female Male	4.05 4.18	0.138	Fermented yogurt Married Single	4.31 3.74	0.000^*
Ayran Female Male	3.94 4.12	0.017^*	Ayran Married Single	4.14 3.82	0.000*
Kefir Female Male	2.95 2.28	0.000^*	Kefir Married Single	2.71 2.47	0.058
Cheese Female Male	4.81 4.69	0.027^*	Cheese Married Single	4.75 4.74	0.784
Buttermilk Female Male	1.71 2.02	0.001^*	Buttermilk Married Single	1.86 1.88	0.844
Probiotic supplement Female Male	1.56 1.35	0.017^*	Probiotic supplement Married Single	1.46 1.47	0.869

Products	Age (sig.)	Education level (sig.)	Occupation (sig.)	Food expenditure (sig)	Income (sig)
Probiotic yogurt	0.017^*	0.000^**	0.000^**	0.000^**	0.035^*
Probiotic milk	0.001^*	0.000^**	0.000^**	0.001^*	0.010^*
Fermented yogurt	0.012^*	0.005^*	0.011^*	0.114	0.115
Cheese	0.004^*	0.005^*	0.436	0.003^*	0.006^*
Ayran	0.356	0.030^*	0.010^*	0.206	0.008^*
Kefir	0.506	0.229	0.448	0.015^*	0.700
Buttermilk	0.397	0.155	0.093	0.335	0.179
Supplement	0.898	0.000^**	0.001^*	0.002^*	0.059

Products	Reference Age	Age	Mean difference	Std Error	Sig
Probiotic yogurt (Games-Howell)	18-27	28 - 37	0.213	0.165	0.571
		38 - 47	0.251	0.166	0.429
		48 +	0.552	0.171	0.008^*
	28-37	18 - 27	-0.213	0.165	0.571
		38 - 47	0.038	0.139	0.993
		48 +	0.339	0.145	0.093
Probiotic milk (Games-Howell)	18-27	28-37	0.410	0.178	0.098
		38 - 47	0.008	0.179	1.000
		48 +	0.582	0.197	0.017^*
	28-37	18-27	-0.410	0.178	0.098
		38 - 47	-0.402	0.154	0.045^*
		48 +	0.171	0.174	0.759
Fermented yogurt (Games-Howell)	18-27	28 - 37	-0.250	0.155	0.375
		38 - 47	-0.266	0.158	0.337
		48 +	-0.496	0.159	0.011^*
	28-37	18 - 27	0.250	0.155	0.375
		38 - 47	-0.016	0.112	0.999
		48 +	-0.246	0.113	0.133
Cheese (Games-Howell)	18-27	28 - 37	-0.259	0.089	0.022^*
		38 - 47	-0.092	0.099	0.788
		48 +	-0.195	0.105	0.248
	28-37	18 - 27	0.259	0.089	0.022^*
		38 - 47	0.166	0.058	0.023
		48 +	0.064	0.067	0.778

Products	Reference Education level	Education level	Mean difference	Std Error	Sig
Probiotic yogurt (Games-Howell)	High School	Associate degree	-0.269	0.167	0.378
		Undergraduate	-0.920	0.117	0.000^**
		Postgraduate	-1.001^*	0.150	0.000^**
	Associate degree	High school	0.269	0.167	0.378
		Undergraduate	-0.651^*	0.181	0.003^**
		Postgraduate	-0.732^*	0.204	0.003^**
Probiotic milk (Games-Howell)	High School	Associate degree	-0.255	0.210	0.618
		Undergraduate	-1.078^*	0.139	0.000^**
		Postgraduate	-0.758^*	0.164	0.000^**
	Associate degree	High school	0.255	0.210	0.618
		Undergraduate	-0.823^*	0.211	0.001^**
		Postgraduate	-0.503	0.228	0.123
Fermented yogurt (Games-Howell)	High School	Associate degree	0.141	0.138	0.738
		Undergraduate	0.377^*	0.108	0.003^**
		Post graduate degree	0.276	0.130	0.152
	Associate degree	High school	-0.141	0.138	0.738
		Undergraduate	0.237	0.152	0.408
		Postgraduate	0.135	0.169	0.854
Ayran (Games-Howell)	High School	Associate degree	0.025	0.103	0.995
		Undergraduate	0.172	0.086	0.185
		Postgraduate	0.280^*	0.108	0.049*
	Associate degree	High school	-0.025	0.103	0.995
		Undergraduate	0.147	0.114	0.572
		Postgraduate	0.255	0.132	0.216
Cheese (Games-Howell)	High School	Associate degree	0.108	0.073	0.454
		Undergraduate	0.212^*	0.064	0.006^**
		Postgraduate	0.195^*	0.071	0.035^*
	Associate degree	High school	-0.108	0.073	0.454
		Undergraduate	0.104	0.086	0.623
		Postgraduate	0.087	0.092	0.775
Supplement (Games-Howell)	High School	Associate degree	-0.075	0.127	0.935
		Undergraduate	-0.542^*	0.105	0.000^**
		Postgraduate	-0.274	0.110	0.065
	Associate degree	High school	0.075	0.127	0.935
		Undergraduate	-0.467^*	0.147	0.010^*
		Postgraduate	-0.199	0.151	0.554

Products	Reference Occupation	Occupation	Mean difference	Std Error	Sig
Probiotic yogurt (Games-Howell)	Unemployed	Teachers/academics	-0.366	0.166	0.124
		Self-employed	0.502	0.153	0.007^*
		Public sector	0.169	0.157	0.704
	Teachers/academics	Unemployed	0.366	0.166	0.124
		Self-employed	0.867	0.154	0.000^*
		Public sector	0.535	0.158	0.004^*
Probiotic milk (Games-Howell)	Unemployed	Teachers/academics	-0.339	0.187	0.273
		Self-employed	0.524	0.182	0.023^*
		Public sector	0.338	0.175	0.218
	Teachers/academics	Unemployed	0.339	0.187	0.273
		Self-employed	0.863	0.182	0.000^*
		Public sector	0.677	0.175	0.001^*
Fermented yogurt (Games-Howell)	Unemployed	Teachers/academics	0.441	0.145	0.013^*
		Self-employed	0.161	0.132	0.619
		Public sector	0.172	0.130	0.553
	Teachers/academics	Unemployed	-0.441	0.145	0.013^*
		Self-employed	-0.281	0.141	0.196
		Public sector	-0.27	0.139	0.216
Ayran (Games-Howell)	Unemployed	Teachers/academics	0.344	0.117	0.018^*
		Self-employed	0.064	0.102	0.924
		Public sector	0.138	0.105	0.559
	Teachers/academics	Unemployed	-0.344	0.117	0.018^*
		Self-employed	-0.28	0.112	0.062
		Public sector	-0.206	0.115	0.279
Supplement (Games-Howell)	Unemployed	Teachers/academics	-0.227	0.138	0.352
		Self-employed	0.289	0.107	0.037^*
		Public sector	0.065	0.117	0.945
	Teachers/academics	Unemployed	0.227	0.138	0.352
		Self-employed	0.516	0.128	0.000^*
		Public sector	0.292	0.137	0.145

Products	Reference Food expenditures (TL)	Food expenditures (TL)	Mean difference	Std Error	Sig
Probiotic Yogurt (Games-Howel)	500 - 1000	1001 - 1500	-0.634	0.125	0.000^*
	500 - 1000	1501 and above	-0.700	0.128	0.000^*
	1001-1500	500 - 1000	0.634	0.125	0.000^*
	1001-1500	1501 and above	-0.066	0.151	0.900
Probiotic Milk (Games-Howel)	500 - 1000	1001 - 1500	-0.505	0.148	0.002^*
	500 - 1000	1501 and above	-0.426	0.145	0.010^*
	1001-1500	500 - 1000	0.505	0.148	0.002^*
	1001-1500	1501 and above	0.080	0.168	0.883
Kefir (Tukey HSD)	500 - 1000	1001-1500	-0.166	0.148	0.502
	500 - 1000	1501 and above	0.288	0.145	0.117
	1001-1500	500 - 1000	0.166	0.148	0.502
	1001-1500	1501 and above	0.454	0.160	0.013^*
Cheese (Games-Howel)	500 - 1000	1001 - 1500	0.034	0.057	0.816
	500 - 1000	1501 and above	0.212	0.070	0.008^*
	1001-1500	500 - 1000	-0.034	0.057	0.816
	1001-1500	1501 and above	0.178	0.076	0.053
Supplement (Games-Howel)	500 - 1000	1001 - 1500	-0.310	0.107	0.011^*
	500 - 1000	1501 and above	-0.310	0.104	0.008
	1001-1500	500 - 1000	0.310	0.107	0.011^*
	1001-1500	1501 and above	0.000	0.128	1.000

Products	Reference Income level (TL)	Income level (TL)	Mean difference	Std Error	Sig
Probiotic Yogurt (Tukey HSD)	5000 and below	5001 - 7000	-0.219	0.125	0.187
	5000 and below	7001 and above	-0.349	0.139	0.033^*
	5001-7000	5000 and below	0.219	0.125	0.187
	5001-7000	7001 and above	-0.131	0.138	0.611
Probiotic Milk (Games-Howel)	5000 and below	5001 - 7000	-0.282	0.137	0.1
	5000 and below	7001 and above	-0.468	0.161	0.011^*
	5001-7000	5000 and below	0.282	0.137	0.1
	5001-7000	7001 and above	-0.186	0.163	0.491
Ayran (Tukey HSD)	5000 and below	5001 - 7000	0.257	0.084	0.007^*
	5000 and below	7001 and above	0.193	0.094	0.101
	5001-7000	5000 and below	-0.257	0.084	0.007
	5001-7000	7001 and above	0.064	0.093	0.773
Cheese (Games-Howel)	5000 and below	5001 - 7000	-0.048	0.054	0.643
	5000 and below	7001 and above	0.164	0.08	0.104
	5001-7000	5000 and below	0.048	0.054	0.643
	5001-7000	7001 and above	0.212	0.076	0.016^*