Dataset Information

Impact of low and no alcohol beers on purchases of alcohol: interrupted time series analysis of British household shopping data, 2015-2018.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE:To assess the impact of new low and no alcohol beers and reformulated beers in Great Britain on household purchases of grams of alcohol. DESIGN:Interrupted time series analysis. SETTING:Purchase data from Kantar Worldpanel's household shopping panel for 2015-2018. PARTICIPANTS:64?286 British households. INTERVENTIONS:Introduction of new no and low alcohol beers during 2017-2018 and reformulation of existing beers to contain less alcohol during 2018. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:Average alcoholic strength of beer and number of grams of alcohol purchased by households. RESULTS:As assessed by British household purchase data, 46 new low and no alcohol beer products were introduced during 2015-2018, with a step-jump in volume purchased occurring at the beginning of March 2017 (event 1). During 2015-2018, 33 beer products were reformulated to contain less alcohol, with a step-jump in volume purchased occurring during mid-March 2018 (event 2). Interrupted time series analyses found a combined associated impact of both events with relative reductions of alcohol by volume of beer between 1.2% and 2.3%; purchases of grams of alcohol within beer between 7.1% and 10.2%; and purchases of grams of alcohol as a whole between 2.6% and 3.9%. The reductions were greater for reformulation than for the introduction of new low and no alcohol products. Reductions were independently higher for younger age groups of shoppers and for households that bought the most alcohol. CONCLUSIONS:Even though the events were associated with significant beneficial changes, the volume of purchases of new low and no alcohol beer products (2.6% of the volume of all beers purchased during 2018) and of new reformulated beer products (6.9% of the volume of all beers purchased during 2018) was very small. This indicates that there are future opportunities to increase the volume of such products so as to reduce the harm done by alcohol.

SUBMITTER: Anderson P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7552865 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Impact of low and no alcohol beers on purchases of alcohol: interrupted time series analysis of British household shopping data, 2015-2018.

Anderson Peter P Jané Llopis Eva E O'Donnell Amy A Manthey Jakob J Rehm Jürgen J

BMJ open 20201012 10

<h4>Objective</h4>To assess the impact of new low and no alcohol beers and reformulated beers in Great Britain on household purchases of grams of alcohol.<h4>Design</h4>Interrupted time series analysis.<h4>Setting</h4>Purchase data from Kantar Worldpanel's household shopping panel for 2015-2018.<h4>Participants</h4>64 286 British households.<h4>Interventions</h4>Introduction of new no and low alcohol beers during 2017-2018 and reformulation of existing beers to contain less alcohol during 2018.< ...[more]

PMID: 33046462

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Project description:BackgroundSugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption is positively associated with obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The World Health Organization recommends that member states implement effective taxes on SSBs to reduce consumption. The United Kingdom Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) is a two-tiered tax, announced in March 2016 and implemented in April 2018. Drinks with ≥8 g of sugar per 100 ml (higher levy tier) are taxed at £0.24 per litre, drinks with ≥5 to <8 g of sugar per 100 ml (lower levy tier) are taxed at £0.18 per litre, and drinks with <5 g sugar per 100 ml (no levy) are not taxed. Milk-based drinks, pure fruit juices, drinks sold as powder, and drinks with >1.2% alcohol by volume are exempt. We aimed to determine if the announcement of the SDIL was associated with anticipatory changes in purchases of soft drinks prior to implementation of the SDIL in April 2018. We explored differences in the volume of and amount of sugar in household purchases of drinks in each levy tier at 2 years post announcement.Methods and findingsWe used controlled interrupted time series to compare observed changes associated with the announcement of the SDIL to the counterfactual scenario of no announcement. We used data from Kantar Worldpanel, a commercial household purchasing panel with approximately 30,000 British members that includes linked nutritional data on purchases. We conducted separate analyses for drinks liable for the SDIL in the higher, lower, and no-levy tiers controlling with household purchase volumes of toiletries. At 2 years post announcement, there was no difference in volume of or sugar from purchases of higher-levy-tier drinks compared to the counterfactual of no announcement. In contrast, a reversal of the existing upward trend in volume (ml) of and amount of sugar (g) in purchases of lower-levy-tier drinks was seen. These changes led to a -96.1 ml (95% confidence interval [CI] -144.2 to -48.0) reduction in volume and -6.4 g (95% CI -9.8 to -3.1) reduction in sugar purchased in these drinks per household per week. There was a reversal of the existing downward trend in the amount of sugar in household purchases of the no-levy drinks but no change in volume purchased. At 2 years post announcement, these changes led to a 6.1 g (95% CI 3.9-8.2) increase in sugar purchased in these drinks per household per week. There was no evidence that volume of or amount of sugar in purchases of all drinks combined was different from the counterfactual. This is an observational study, and changes other than the SDIL may have been responsible for the results reported. Purchases consumed outside of the home were not accounted for.ConclusionsThe announcement of the UK SDIL was associated with reductions in volume and sugar purchased in lower-levy-tier drinks before implementation. These were offset by increases in sugar purchased from no-levy drinks. These findings may reflect reformulation of drinks from the lower levy to no-levy tier with removal of some but not all sugar, alongside changes in consumer attitudes and beliefs.Trial registrationISRCTN Registry ISRCTN18042742.

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:BackgroundPricing policies have been shown to be an effective lever for promoting healthier dietary choices in consumer food environments. It is not yet well understood how pricing can be used to encourage healthier substitute purchases. The aim of the study was to assess the effect of a retailer-led relative pricing intervention on weekly purchases of targeted snack foods and beverages.MethodsThis was an ecological analysis in a real-world large tertiary hospital consumer food environment setting in urban Canada, comprised of four retail outlets: two large cafeterias, one smaller cafeteria, and one grab-and-go café. An interrupted time series analysis was designed to evaluate the effect of Snacking Made Simple, a retailer-led relative pricing intervention applied to 10 popular snack foods and beverages (n = 87 weeks, 66 weeks baseline and 21 weeks intervention, April 2018 to December 2019), on weekly purchase differences between healthier and less healthy targeted items, adjusted for weekly sales volume. Five healthier items were price discounted, alongside a price increase for five less healthy items. The intervention was actively merchandised in keeping with behaviour change theory.ResultsWeekly purchases of targeted snacks became healthier during the intervention period (β = 21.41, p = 0.0024). This followed a baseline period during which weekly purchases of less healthy targeted snacks had outpaced over time those of healthier targeted snacks (β = -11.02, p = 3.68E-14). We estimated that, all else being equal, a hypothetical 9.43 additional weeks of the intervention would be required to transition to net-healthier targeted snack purchases in this environment. The effects of the intervention varied by retail outlet, and the outcome appears driven by specific food items; further, examining merchandising implementation, we posited whether direct versus indirect substitution may have affected purchasing outcomes.ConclusionsRelative pricing may be a promising way to incentivize healthier substitute purchasing in the consumer food environment. Added attention to merchandising strategy as well as value-add factors within food categories and their effects on price salience may be an important factor in effective intervention design.

Dataset Information

Impact of low and no alcohol beers on purchases of alcohol: interrupted time series analysis of British household shopping data, 2015-2018.

Publications

Impact of low and no alcohol beers on purchases of alcohol: interrupted time series analysis of British household shopping data, 2015-2018.

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