What if to change our eating habits and encourage us to eat healthier, all we had to do was move the fruit and vegetable section? This is what an astonishing British study advocates after carrying out the experiment in a grocery store on the University of Warwick campus.
Eat less processed foods, too sweet, too salty and often over-packaged to favor fresh fruits and vegetables, to cook yourself: as long as you pay attention to your health and be sensitive to environmental arguments, here is surely a promise you made to yourself.
But unfortunately it is not always easy to maintain: between the lack of time and the tempting promotions on products that are not always very healthy, there is no lack of temptations to make us forget our oath. One thing, however, could make you buy more fruits and vegetables without you even realizing it: their shelves are changing places in your supermarket.
A sales increase of 15%
This observation was made by researchers at Warwick Medical School and the University of Warwick. Their study, very serious, says that moving the shelves of fresh fruits and vegetables in a store can increase their sales and therefore encourage consumers to eat healthier.
It was published by the journal BMC Public Health and is based on an experiment conducted in a real Warwick store, the Rootes grocery store located on campus, in which the location of the fruit and vegetable shelves was moved closer to the entrance. The move was made without the intention of conducting a research experiment or deliberately encouraging a healthier diet, say the researchers, who began their investigation when they learned of the changes made in the store. Led by Dr Oyinlola Oyebode of Warwick Medical School, they then investigated whether this change of location had any effect on the purchase of fruit and vegetables.
Between January 2012 and July 2017, the research team scrupulously collected data from store checkouts to examine sales before and after the change of location. They then found that, on average, customers bought 15% more fruit and vegetables from the shelves at the entrance to the grocery store.
A subconscious boost to healthier eating
Another observation made by the researchers: it seems that this increased consumption has been perpetuated, even though the location of the fruit and vegetable shelves has been maintained at the entrance of the store.
For the researchers, this data clearly shows that switching fruits and vegetables and making them more prominent at the entrance of the store is a viable way to help people eat healthier. This is particularly the case in young adults, who are more inclined to snack on sweets and swallow prepared meals than to consume fresh vegetables.
No need, therefore, for marketing messages or advertising campaigns with an explicit message to encourage young people to eat their 5 fruits and vegetables a day, says Dr. Oyebode: it is by gently directing them to healthier shelves than we can encourage them to eat healthier.
“We looked at whether a change in the layout of a campus supermarket affected student shopping and found that it did. Making fruit and vegetables more accessible increases the amount of fruit and vegetables purchased,” said Dr Oyebode. “This ‘nudge’ intervention in a young adult population is particularly appropriate because it does not restrict choice and does not require any conscious action on the part of the young adult.”
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