Exhibiting fruits and vegetables at supermarket entrances improves diet, says study

Research has shown for the first time how a simple shift in the position of items in supermarkets can influence healthier choices for customers and increase fruit and vegetable consumption by up to six extra servings a week.

Having ultra-processed foods with excess sugar and fat, such as chocolates, candies and other sweets in the back of the stores and switching to fresh food at the entrance and in the aisles in front of the cashiers, increased the purchase of the latter by up to 10 thousand units per week.

The sale of sweets and candies was reduced by up to 1,500 units weekly.

The study, published in the journal PLoS Medicine in September, provided for the first time evidence of how the arrangement of products on the shelves of markets leads to more or less healthy choices by consumers.

The experiment, conducted by researchers at the University of Southampton, looked at consumption in six popular supermarket stores in the UK — three that received the “treatment”, that is, in them ultra-processed foods were put in the back of the stores, while fruits and vegetables fresh and frozen were moved closer to the boxes, and three from the control group, without the change—in a period of six months.

To eliminate random effects in the research, the scientists recruited 150 participants, women aged 18 to 45, who had a loyalty card in stores and always shopped at the same store. The decision to include women in the research was mainly because they are the main responsible in a home environment for food choices for their children and other residents.

The study pointed to an increase in the sale of vegetables three and six months after the intervention, representing an increase of 6,170 and 9,820 extra servings of fruit per store per week, respectively. There was also a drop in the sale of ultra-processed products, up to 1,359 items per week, after three months, and 1,575 items per week, after six months.

The researchers surveyed the volunteers to find out the evolution of the family’s diet at the beginning of the study, after three and after six months. According to the participants, consumption of fruits and vegetables increased by up to six servings per week in the three months following the beginning of the experiment, reaching its peak in six months.

The increase in the consumption of fruits and vegetables and the reduction in the purchase of ultra-processed products did not reflect, however, in higher expenses with purchases by the participants or affected the stores’ cash on a weekly basis. Thus, the authors state, the study, despite having limitations, is important in showing how a simple strategy without additional cost to the markets can lead to a healthier diet.

The food industry, especially those focused on foods with low nutritional value and high calorie content, such as chocolates and candies, has known for years of the seductive power of eye-catching packages positioned on shelves in front of supermarket checkouts.

But, despite being an idea that was already much explored from an advertising point of view, there was no scientific evidence of mutual benefit from removing these products from the front of the stores and switching to healthier foods.

For psychoanalyst and professor at the Psychology Institute of USP Christian Dunker, similar research carried out in recent years has already advanced in the knowledge of how some specific strategies, such as soundtrack, seller appearance and even the lighting of stores influence consumer choices, and this effect is exploited by the industry.

“When arriving at a store, the first impulse is not to buy what is at the entrance because there is a desire to research, to find out if it is really the best price, to focus on what you came to buy”, says he, who is a columnist for sheet.

“But at the exit it’s the opposite, the consumer starts to wonder if he hasn’t forgotten something, we often have the feeling of forgetting something without knowing exactly what, and that’s where we’re most vulnerable to what they’re offering us.”

In the case of research, he says, the final purchase impulse in the checkout line can also be interpreted as a way to correct a type of disappointment that we have when having to go through the checkout and make the payment.

“The consumer wonders if he made the best deal, if he fulfilled the objective of filling the dispensation, he is in a state of dissatisfaction, and is then saturated by offering a generally cheaper product that can be considered a treat for a person dear, a family member,” he says.