Objective:

To know the perception of the concept of "healthy" and its relationship with food brands in a group of adolescents from the city of Medellin, Colombia.

Methodology:

For this, an investigation was developed under the analytical empirical approach, with a quasi-experimental design and a transversal scope. The 159 adolescents participated (88 men, 70 women, 1 other), with an average age of 16 years, students from two private educational institutions.

Results:

It was found that adolescents perceive foods independent of the brand as healthy, but the brand that is conceived as healthy determines their choice over a food that may not even have nutritional benefits.

Limitations:

The study's limitations were identified as the socioeconomic stratum of the sample, since all the participants belonged to a high socioeconomic level (5 and 6), which allows us to infer that their experience with certain foods may be influenced by access to food. Themselves, which determines consumer habits and behavior.

Conclusions:

The concept of "healthy", which was the object of study of this research, is strongly permeated by the marketing activities of the food industry. The concept is little supported by the real nutritional quality of food, likewise this. The concept is built to the extent that consumers, depending on the socioeconomic level, have the possibility of accessing or having experiences with certain products.

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