Dataset Information

Make It Fresh, for Less! A Supermarket Meal Bundling and Electronic Reminder Intervention to Promote Healthy Purchases Among Families With Children.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the effects of a supermarket meal bundling and electronic reminder intervention on food choices of families with children. DESIGN:Quasi-experimental (meal bundling) and randomized, controlled trial (electronic reminders). SETTING:Large supermarket in Maine during 40-week baseline and 16-week intervention periods in 2015-2016. PARTICIPANTS:English-speaking adults living with at least 1 child aged ?18 years (n?=?300) with 25% of households participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. INTERVENTION(S):(1) Four bundles of ingredients needed to make 8 low-cost healthful meals were promoted in the store through displays and point-of-purchase messaging for 4 weeks each; (2) weekly electronic messages based on principles from behavioral psychology were sent to study participants reminding them to look for meal bundles in the store. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:(1) Difference in storewide sales and individual purchases of bundled items (measured using supermarket loyalty card data) from baseline to intervention in intervention vs control groups. ANALYSIS:Regressions controlling for total food spending and accounting for repeated measures. RESULTS:There were no differences in spending on bundled items resulting from the meal bundling intervention or the electronic reminders. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS:Overall, there was little impact of healthful meal bundles and electronic reminders on storewide sales or purchases of promoted items in a large supermarket.

SUBMITTER: Moran AJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6461501 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Make It Fresh, for Less! A Supermarket Meal Bundling and Electronic Reminder Intervention to Promote Healthy Purchases Among Families With Children.

Moran Alyssa J AJ Khandpur Neha N Polacsek Michele M Thorndike Anne N AN Franckle Rebecca L RL Boulos Rebecca R Sampson Sally S Greene Julie C JC Blue Dan G DG Rimm Eric B EB

Journal of nutrition education and behavior 20190212 4

<h4>Objective</h4>To evaluate the effects of a supermarket meal bundling and electronic reminder intervention on food choices of families with children.<h4>Design</h4>Quasi-experimental (meal bundling) and randomized, controlled trial (electronic reminders).<h4>Setting</h4>Large supermarket in Maine during 40-week baseline and 16-week intervention periods in 2015-2016.<h4>Participants</h4>English-speaking adults living with at least 1 child aged ≤18 years (n = 300) with 25% of households partici ...[more]

PMID: 30765298

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Project description:BACKGROUND:In response to public concerns and campaigns, some United Kingdom supermarkets have implemented policies to reduce less-healthy food at checkouts. We explored the effects of these policies on purchases of less-healthy foods commonly displayed at checkouts. METHODS AND FINDINGS:We used a natural experimental design and two data sources providing complementary and unique information. We analysed data on purchases of small packages of common, less-healthy, checkout foods (sugary confectionary, chocolate, and potato crisps) from 2013 to 2017 from nine UK supermarkets (Aldi, Asda, Co-op, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Tesco, and Waitrose). Six supermarkets implemented a checkout food policy between 2013 and 2017 and were considered intervention stores; the remainder were comparators. Firstly, we studied the longitudinal association between implementation of checkout policies and purchases taken home. We used data from a large (n ? 30,000) household purchase panel of food brought home to conduct controlled interrupted time series analyses of purchases of less-healthy common checkout foods from 12 months before to 12 months after implementation. We conducted separate analyses for each intervention supermarket, using others as comparators. We synthesised results across supermarkets using random effects meta-analyses. Implementation of a checkout food policy was associated with an immediate reduction in four-weekly purchases of common checkout foods of 157,000 (72,700-242,800) packages per percentage market share-equivalent to a 17.3% reduction. This decrease was sustained at 1 year with 185,100 (121,700-248,500) fewer packages purchased per 4 weeks per percentage market share-equivalent to a 15.5% reduction. The immediate, but not sustained, effect was robust to sensitivity analysis. Secondly, we studied the cross-sectional association between checkout food policies and purchases eaten without being taken home. We used data from a smaller (n ? 7,500) individual purchase panel of food bought and eaten 'on the go'. We conducted cross-sectional analyses comparing purchases of common checkout foods in 2016-2017 from supermarkets with and without checkout food policies. There were 76.4% (95% confidence interval 48.6%-89.1%) fewer annual purchases of less-healthy common checkout foods from supermarkets with versus without checkout food policies. The main limitations of the study are that we do not know where in the store purchases were selected and cannot determine the effect of changes in purchases on consumption. Other interventions may also have been responsible for the results seen. CONCLUSIONS:There is a potential impact of checkout food polices on purchases. Voluntary supermarket-led activities may have public health benefits.

Project description:INTRODUCTION:The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provides financial assistance for food and beverage purchases to approximately 1 in 7 Americans, with benefits distributed once monthly. Most Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits are spent early in the month, leading to decreased caloric intake later in the month. The effects of this early benefit depletion on the types of foods and beverages purchased over the course of the month is unclear. METHODS:Using individually tracked sales data from 950 participants enrolled in 2 supermarket-based RCTs in Maine (October 2015-April 2016 and October 2016-June 2017), purchases of selected food categories by Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants (n=248) versus nonparticipants (n=702) in the first 2 weeks compared with the last 2 weeks of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit month were examined. Analyses were completed in 2019. RESULTS:For Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants, adjusted mean food spending decreased 37% from the first 2 weeks to the last 2 weeks of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit month (p<0.0001) compared with a 3% decrease (p=0.02) for nonparticipants. The decline in spending by Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants occurred in all examined categories: vegetables (-25%), fruits (-27%), sugar-sweetened beverages (-30%), red meat (-37%), convenience foods (-40%), and poultry (-48%). Difference-in-difference estimators comparing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants with nonparticipants were statistically significant (p<0.05) for all examined categories. CONCLUSIONS:In the second half of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit month, individuals reduced purchases of all examined categories. More research is needed to understand the impact of these fluctuations in spending patterns on the dietary quality of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants.

Project description:BackgroundNudging is increasingly used to promote healthy food choices in supermarkets. Ordering groceries online is gaining in popularity and nudging seems efficacious there as well, but is never comprehensively tested in real-life. We evaluated the real-life effectiveness of nudging in an online supermarket on healthy food purchases.MethodsWe conducted a multi-arm, parallel-group, individually randomized controlled trial in an online supermarket. During 1 month, all customers were randomized to (1) control condition, (2) information nudges, (3) position nudges, and (4) information and position nudges combined. Allocation was concealed and customers were not blinded, but unaware of the intervention. Mean differences between the control condition and the intervention arms in the total percentage of healthy purchases were assessed with a linear mixed model. We tested for effect modification by area-level deprivation.ResultsBased on sales data from 11,775 shoppers, no overall significant effects were detected. Yet, effects were modified by area-level deprivation (pArm 2 < 0.001). Among shoppers from deprived areas, those allocated to information nudges purchased a 2.4% (95%CI 0.8, 4.0) higher percentage of healthy products compared to controls. No significant differences were observed for position (- 1.3%; 95%CI - 2.8, 0.3) and combined nudges (- 0.1%; 95%CI - 1.7, 1.5). Shoppers from non-deprived areas exposed to information nudges (- 1.6%; 95%CI - 3.2, - 0.1) and the combined nudges (- 2.1%; 95%CI - 3.6, - 0.6), but not position nudges (- 0.9%; 95%CI - 2.4, 0.7), purchased a lower percentage of healthy products.ConclusionInformation nudges in an online supermarket can increase healthy product purchases, but only for those living in deprived areas. The adverse effects found on purchasing behaviors for those from non-deprived areas call for further research. Further research should also focus on real-life effects of online healthy food nudging as part of a broader nutrition intervention strategy, and on the equitability of the online nudging intervention within populations.Trial registrationRetrospectively registered in the ISRCTN registry at May 21, 2021 ( ISRCTN10491616 ).

Dataset Information

Make It Fresh, for Less! A Supermarket Meal Bundling and Electronic Reminder Intervention to Promote Healthy Purchases Among Families With Children.

Publications

Make It Fresh, for Less! A Supermarket Meal Bundling and Electronic Reminder Intervention to Promote Healthy Purchases Among Families With Children.

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