Abstract
In an effort to help consumers make more healthful food choices, government agencies have passed measures specifically aimed at strictly limiting misleading health claims used on food packages. The way consumers use, interpret and attend to both health claims and nutrition information has received considerable research attention due to the significance of the topic to packaged food marketers as well as public policy makers. This study seeks to extend the literature on consumers' interpretation and use of health claims and nutrition information by connecting it to the literature on counterfactual thinking. The study argues that consumers engaged in an elaborate processing of information through attempting to mentally construct alternative realities to a past negative event are more likely to scrutinize subsequently encountered information.