The impact of a supermarket nutrition rating system on purchases of nutritious and less nutritious foods
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15096899 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John Cawley (0000-0002-4805-9883, corresponding author), Michael Sweeney (0000-0001-7704-9580), Matthew J Sweeney, Jeffery Sobal (0000-0001-5962-5345, Cornell University), David R Just (0000-0002-7471-5178), Harry M Kaiser (0000-0002-8302-5478, Cornell University), William D Schulze (Cornell University), Elaine Wethington (0000-0002-5036-318X), Brian Wansink (0000-0003-0116-0017, Cornell University) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 8-14 |
| Publication date | 2015-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Public Health Nutrition (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1368-9800 • E-ISSN: 1475-2727 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s1368980014001529 |
| PMID | 25083948 |
| OpenAlex | W2120842938 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 19 |
| References cited | 21 |
Objective The current study examines the impact of a nutrition rating system on consumers’ food purchases in supermarkets. Design Aggregate sales data for 102 categories of food (over 60 000 brands) on a weekly basis for 2005–2007 from a supermarket chain of over 150 stores are analysed. Change in weekly sales of nutritious and less nutritious foods, after the introduction of a nutrition rating system on store shelves, is calculated, controlling for seasonality and time trends in sales. Setting One hundred and sixty-eight supermarket stores in the north-east USA, from January 2005 to December 2007. Subjects Consumers purchasing goods at the supermarket chain during the study period. Results After the introduction of the nutrition ratings, overall weekly food sales declined by an average of 3637 units per category (95 % CI –5961, –1313; P P =0·004), while sales of nutritious foods did not change significantly ( P =0·21); as a result, the percentage of food purchases rated as nutritious rose by 1·39 % (95 % CI 0·58, 2·20 %; P Conclusions The introduction of the nutrition ratings led shoppers to buy a more nutritious mix of products. Interestingly, it did so by reducing purchases of less nutritious foods rather than by increasing purchases of nutritious foods. In evaluating nutrition information systems, researchers should focus on the entire market basket, not just sales of nutritious foods
Agricultural science · Biology · Business · Environmental health · Nutrition facts label · Purchasing · Consumer Attitudes and Food Labeling · Medicine · Nutritional Studies and Diet · Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet · Food Science · Marketing
Authors’ response
Regarding the paper ‘The impact of a supermarket nutrition rating system on purchases of nutritious and less nutritious foods’ by Cawley et al
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| Unique citing works | 19 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,36 |
| Citation span | 2012 - 2025 (14) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 17 |