This may sound worse than it is, but I’ve been sorting through stacks of paper and apparently 2016 had some interesting nutrition findings. And I’d like to take this Minute to share two articles.
The first was published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. A short pilot study and then a longer trial attempted to see if grocery shoppers can be influenced to buy produce. Researchers included control grocery stores and they matched demographics and poverty levels in the study.
The variable was green arrows stuck to the perimeter of the grocery floor pointing the way to the produce section. Arrows had healthy messages like, “follow the green arrow for health”.
Did you guess? Shoppers DID buy more produce but did NOT increase their total food budget. A win-win.
We know groceries can lure us to high margin, low nutrition items but this is remarkable. The shortcoming of the studies was its short duration. More research needs to be done to see if this is short- or long-term change. I’ve advocated this approach at a local food bank but haven’t been taken up on the idea.
Our second study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (yes, 2016) showed location matters in the school cafeteria. Salad bars within the regular lunch line had significantly greater use than salad bars located in a different area. I know you think, of course! Convenience matters to everyone.
I loved that these were low/no cost ways to encourage healthier eating. You can arrange your kitchen/fridge/cupboards similarly. Make the healthy choice the easy choice to be well,
Marcia
PS Who knows what happened in 2017 – stay tuned!!
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