Daniel Kopasker, Ourega-Zoé Ejebu, Patricia Norwood, Anne Ludbrook
Journal: BMJ nutrition, prevention & health 2022;5(1):62-71
PMID: 35814721
The European Commission and WHO have updated their approach to addressing obesity and promoting healthy eating among the general population. Foods that are high in calories, fat, sugar, and salt provide little nutritional value and are calorie dense. Price interventions, like the levy introduced by the UK government, have effectively reduced consumption of alcohol, tobacco, and sugary drinks. Both the UK and Scottish governments have recently proposed legislation to restrict the promotion of unhealthy foods. This longitudinal regression analysis assessed the consumer microdata over time to determine the effectiveness of price, price promotions, and volume promotions in predicting reductions in household purchases of high-fat, salt, and sugar (HFSS) foods. The results revealed that in-store promotions led to a significant increase in household purchasing. Volume promotions were more effective than price promotions, but they resulted in greater calorie intake per household. Additionally, there were significant differences in purchasing behaviour and income levels of households. Households with children tended to purchase more than those without. These findings suggest that policies aimed at limiting promotions may help reduce household purchases and consumption of HFSS foods. Healthcare professionals can utilise the outcomes of this review to comprehend the correlation between price and volume promotions on household buying and consumption of HFSS foods.
OBJECTIVES
Taxes and restrictions on promotions have recently been proposed as policy instruments to reduce consumption of unhealthy foods. The objective of this study is to add to the limited evidence on the comparative effectiveness of price changes, price promotions and volume promotions in changing household purchasing of unhealthy foods, using biscuits, crisps and savoury snacks as examples.
DESIGN
Longitudinal regression analysis of consumer microdata.
SETTING
Secondary data on itemised household purchases of biscuits, crisps and savoury snacks from 2006 to 2012.
PARTICIPANTS
Sample of 3024 households in Scotland.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Changes in the number of calories (kcal) purchased in the product category by a household caused by changes in the price for the product category, any temporary in-store price promotions and any temporary in-store volume promotions. Changes are measured at the mean, median, 25th percentile and 75th percentile of the household purchasing distribution for the full sample. Subgroup analyses were conducted by household income band and for households with and without children.
RESULTS
Between product categories, the scale of purchasing response to incentives varies significantly. Within product categories, the mean calories (kcal) purchased by a household are more responsive to any volume promotion than to price or any price promotion for all product categories. As the volume of items purchased increases, households are less responsive to price, less responsive to any volume promotion and more responsive to any price promotion. Statistically significant differences are observed between household income groups in their response to price and promotion incentives within the biscuits category only. In cases where statistically significant differences are observed, households with children are more responsive to promotion and price incentives than households without children.
CONCLUSIONS
For all product categories analysed (biscuits, crisps and savoury snacks), household purchasing is most responsive to any volume promotion. Therefore, assuming the response of consumers to incentives remains constant following legislation, the most effective policy instrument to reduce the calorie intake from these products may be a ban on volume promotions.
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.
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