Rob Dillard

DocwireNews

<p>For online food shoppers, altering the default order to show foods in ascending order of saturated fat (SFA) content and subsequently offering a swap with a lower SFA food product can help facilitate healthier buying choices, according to a study <a href="https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12966-019-0810-9">published</a> in the<em> International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.</em><p>In this factorial randomized controlled trial (RCT) researchers recruited 1,088 (65% female, mean age, 38) adults from the United Kingdom (UK) who were the primary grocery shoppers for their households. The participants were prompted to select from a 10-item shopping list from an online supermarket that was custom designed solely for the purpose of the study. The list comprised:</p><ul>
<li>Milk for daily use</li>
<li>Butter or margarine for daily use</li>
<li>Cheese &ndash; for use on a sandwich or as a light meal</li>
<li>Ready-to-eat salty entire item such as <a href="https://www.docwirenews.com/docwire-pick/cardiology-picks/red-processed-meats-mortality/">cured meats</a></li>
<li>Ready-to-eat chilled dessert</li>
<li>Meat/fish/vegetarian alternative</li>
<li>Dessert as a meal for four people</li>
<li>Something to eat with a hot drink</li>
<li>A sweet snack to consume immediately</li>
<li>A salty snack to consume immediately</li>
</ul><p>The population of interest was then arbitrarily allocated to one of four groups to view products: swaps (individual-level intervention) where participants were offered an explicit swap of a product with less SFA; environmental-level intervention where participants viewed a list products in ascending order of SFA content when searching or browsing foods; a third arm which comprised both interventions; and a fourth control group with no interventions were provided. The study&rsquo;s primary outcome was stipulated as the difference in percentage energy from SFA in the shopping cart between participants assigned in each arm. Both the outcome assessors and statistician were blinded to which groups received an intervention.</p><h2><strong>Results That Online Supermarkets Can Capitalize On</strong></h2><p>Results of the study showed that compared with non-intervention where the percentage energy from SFA was 25.7% (SD 5.6%), altering the order of foods diminished SFA by -5.0% (&minus;&thinsp;6.3 to &minus;&thinsp;3.6) and offering swaps by &minus;&thinsp;2.0% (&minus;&thinsp;3.3 to &minus;&thinsp;0.6). Moreover, the combined intervention exhibited notably greater efficacy juxtaposed to swaps alone (&minus;&thinsp;3.4% (&minus;&thinsp;4.7 to &minus;&thinsp;2.1)) but no discernible efficacy when compared to altering the order alone (&minus;&thinsp;0.4% (&minus;&thinsp;1.8 to 0.9)),&nbsp;<em>p</em>&nbsp;=&thinsp;0.04.</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Online <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/shopping?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#shopping</a> interventions may help customers buy healthier foods <a href="https://twitter.com/BioMedCentral?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@biomedcentral</a> <a href="https://t.co/9yhZ5QBPXR">https://t.co/9yhZ5QBPXR</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Medical Xpress (@physorg_health) <a href="https://twitter.com/physorg_health/status/1139527382698737664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 14, 2019</a></p>
</blockquote><p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p><p>&ldquo;Finding effective ways of lowering the saturated fat in our shopping baskets, such as from meat, cheese, or desserts, may translate to eating less of it, which could help lower our risk for heart disease,&rdquo; said Dr. Dimitrios Koutoukidis, the lead author of this, in a <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-06/bc-osi061419.php">press release</a> about the study. &ldquo;This is the first randomized trial to directly compare interventions targeting the environment and the individual to encourage healthier food choices. The findings could provide effective strategies to improve the nutritional quality of online food purchases.&rdquo; Online shoppers can also save more money by using price comparison websites like <a href="https://www.hoteudeals.com">hoteudeals.com</a>.</p><p>Dr Koutoukidis continued by saying that &ldquo;these results could be capitalized by online supermarkets which could implement either or both strategies knowing that they are potentially effective for lowering the saturated fat in their customers&rsquo; shopping baskets and thus shape heathier food choices.&rdquo;</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Online shopping interventions may help customers buy healthier foods <a href="https://t.co/l0dqNb0yNm">https://t.co/l0dqNb0yNm</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Bioengineer.org (@bioengineerorg) <a href="https://twitter.com/bioengineerorg/status/1139535607871483904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 14, 2019</a></p>
</blockquote><p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Online shopping interventions may help customers buy healthier foods: <a href="https://t.co/oLgi9cnKvw">https://t.co/oLgi9cnKvw</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Freshtalk?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Freshtalk</a> <a href="https://t.co/iUxk8iMsDh">pic.twitter.com/iUxk8iMsDh</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC) (@fpcfreshtalk) <a href="https://twitter.com/fpcfreshtalk/status/1140630190600663040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 17, 2019</a></p>
</blockquote><p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></p>


MarkAlain Déry, DO

The Significant Danger Measles Pose for Unvaccinated Children

Infectious Disease

Andrew Moreno

Antithrombotic Care in Hemophilia: A Summary of Multi-Organizational Clinical Practice Guidance

Hemophilia

James Tumlin, MD

Joel M. Topf, MD, FACP

Proteinuria Remission With Sparsentan in FSGS

NKF Spring Clinical Meetings 2025

Latest News

Can Online Food Shopping Interventions Help Customers Make Healthier Choices?

Diet

Altering the default order to show foods in ascending order of saturated fat (SFA) content and subsequently offering a swap with a lower SFA food 

About Us

Editorial Policy

Advertising

Contact Us

eNewsletters

Contribute

Career Center

MashupMD

Blood Cancers Today

Cancer Nursing Today

GU Oncology Now

Urban Health Today

Bile Duct Cancer

Colorectal Cancer

Gastroesophageal Cancer

Gastric Cancer

GEP-NETs

GIST

Liver Cancer

Pancreatic Cancer

GI Oncology Now

Anemia

Deep Vein Thrombosis

Essential Thrombocythemia

Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura

Myelodysplastic Syndromes

Myelofibrosis

Myeloproliferative Neoplasms

Polycythemia Vera

Pulmonary Embolism

Sickle Cell Disease

Thrombocytopenia

Thrombophilia

Thrombosis

Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura

Venous Thromboembolism

von Willebrand Disease

Heme Today

Acute Kidney Injury

ADPKD

Anemia and Kidney Disease

Chronic Kidney Disease

COVID-19 and Kidney Disease

Diabetes and Hypertension

End-Stage Renal Disease

Gout

Hyperkalemia

IgAN

Kidney Transplantation

Metabolic Acidosis

Nephrology Times

HER2 Breast Cancer

HR Breast Cancer

Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Genetics & Breast Cancer

Breast Cancers Today

Atherosclerotic Disease

Atrial Fibrillation

Heart Failure

Hypertension

Interventional Cardiology

Lipid Management

Practice Tips With Dr. Lichaa

Preventive Cardiology

Stroke

Cardiology

Breast Cancer

Gynecologic Cancer

Head and Neck Cancer

Skin Cancer

Oncology

Sleep

Urology

Diabetes

Ophthalmology

— Demodex Blepharitis

Neurology

Rheumatology

Gastroenterology

Pulmonology

Infectious Diseases

— HIV

Health and Wellness

Lupus

Future of Medicine

Orthopedics

Pharmacology

Career News

More

Conferences

CardioNerds

The Sleep Source With Dr. Morse

Rheumatology Rounds With Dr. Maheswaranathan

Partners

Expert Interviews

Subscribe