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Fogelholm M, Vepsäläinen H, Meinilä J, McRae C, Saarijärvi H, Erkkola M, Nevalainen J. The dynamics in food selection stemming from price awareness and perceived income adequacy: a cross-sectional study using 1-year loyalty card data. Am J Clin Nutr 2024; 119:1346-1353. [PMID: 38458401 PMCID: PMC11130695 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2024.03.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2023] [Revised: 02/07/2024] [Accepted: 03/04/2024] [Indexed: 03/10/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Higher cost of healthy foods may explain unhealthy dietary patterns in lower-income households. Unfortunately, combining food selection and nutrient intake data to price and expenditure is challenging. Food retailer's customer loyalty card data, linked to nutrient composition database, is a novel method for simultaneous exploration of food purchases, price, and nutrition. OBJECTIVES We studied the associations between perceived income adequacy (PIA) as a grouping variable with price (per kilogram or megajoule) and the volume of purchases (percentage of expenditure or energy) simultaneously as outcome variables for 17 most purchased food groups. METHODS We used 1-year (2018) loyalty card data from the largest grocery chain in Finland. Participants were 28,783 loyalty cardholders who made ≥41% of food purchases from the retailer and answered an online questionnaire at the midpoint of data collection. The 5-level PIA described the perceived financial situation in the household. Energy and nutrient content of foods purchased were from the Finnish Food Composition Database Fineli. We calculated the Nutrient Rich Food Index per 100 g food using 11 nutrients. Trends in prices and expenditures between PIA levels were analyzed using 2-sided Jonckheere-Terpstra tests, with false discovery rate control (Benjamini-Hochberg method) and confounder adjustments (inverse probability weighting). RESULTS Lower PIA participants selected cheaper foods per kilogram and megajoule within most food groups. They also favored unhealthy food groups cheap in energy [<1 € (USD 1.18)/MJ]. Despite lower purchase price, the expenditure (%) among lower PIA was higher on alcohol, snacks, sugar-sweetened beverages, and sweets and chocolates. CONCLUSIONS Participants with lower PIA showed stronger price awareness. It is crucial to consider the pricing of competing alternative food groups, when steering toward environmentally sustainable and healthier food purchases. Package labeling might also direct the selection of healthier choices among the less expensive items within a food group.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mikael Fogelholm
- Department of Food and Nutrition, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Henna Vepsäläinen
- Department of Food and Nutrition, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jelena Meinilä
- Department of Food and Nutrition, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Cameron McRae
- Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University, Montreal, Canada; McGill Centre for the Convergence of Health and Economics, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
| | - Hannu Saarijärvi
- Faculty of Management and Business, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
| | - Maijaliisa Erkkola
- Department of Food and Nutrition, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jaakko Nevalainen
- Faculty of Social Sciences, Unit of Health Sciences, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
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Kilpeläinen K, Ståhl T, Ylöstalo T, Keski-Kuha T, Nyrhinen R, Koponen P, Gissler M. Citizens' digital footprints to support health promotion at the local level-PUHTI study, Finland. Eur J Public Health 2024:ckae053. [PMID: 38573194 DOI: 10.1093/eurpub/ckae053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/05/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND We aimed to explore to the possibilities of utilizing automatically accumulating data on health-owned for example by local companies and non-governmental organizations-to complement traditional health data sources in health promotion work at the local level. METHODS Data for the PUHTI study consisted of postal code level information on sport license holders, drug purchase and sales advertisements in a TOR online underground marketplace, and grocery sales in Tampere. Additionally, open population register data were utilized. An interactive reporting tool was prepared to show the well-being profile for each postal code area. Feedback from the tool's end-users was collected in interviews. RESULTS The study showed that buying unhealthy food and alcohol, selling or buying drugs, and participating in organized sport activities differed by postal code areas according to its socioeconomic profile in the city of Tampere. The health and well-being planners and managers of Tampere found that the new type of data brought added value for the health promotion work at the local level. They perceived the interactive reporting tool as a good tool for planning, managing, allocating resources and preparing forecasts. CONCLUSIONS Traditional health data collection methods-administrative registers and health surveys-are the cornerstone of local health promotion work. Digital footprints, including data accumulated about people's everyday lives outside the health service system, can provide additional information on health behaviour for various population groups. Combining new sources with traditional health data opens a new perspective for health promotion work at local and regional levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katri Kilpeläinen
- Department of Public Health and Welfare, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Timo Ståhl
- Department of Public Health and Welfare, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Tiina Ylöstalo
- Department of Knowledge Brokers, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Teemu Keski-Kuha
- Department of Public Health and Welfare, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Riku Nyrhinen
- Department of Public Health and Welfare, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Päivikki Koponen
- Department of Public Health and Welfare, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Mika Gissler
- Department of Knowledge Brokers, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland
- Region Stockholm, Academic Primary Health Care Centre, Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
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Sørensen KK, Andersen MP, Møller FT, Eves C, Junker TG, Zareini B, Torp-Pedersen C. Cohort profile: The Health, Food, Purchases and Lifestyle (SMIL) cohort - a Danish open cohort. BMJ Open 2024; 14:e078773. [PMID: 38508644 PMCID: PMC10961505 DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-078773] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2023] [Accepted: 03/05/2024] [Indexed: 03/22/2024] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE The Health, Food, Purchases and Lifestyle (SMIL) cohort is a prospective open Danish cohort that collects electronic consumer purchase data, which can be linked to Danish nationwide administrative health and social registries. This paper provides an overview of the cohort's baseline characteristics and marginal differences in the monetary percentage spent on food groups by sex, age and hour of the day. PARTICIPANTS As of 31 December 2022, the cohort included 11 214 users of a smartphone-based receipt collection application who consented to share their unique identification number for linkage to registries in Denmark. In 2022, the composition of the cohort was as follows: 62% were men while 24% were aged 45-55. The cohort had a median of 63 (IQR 26-116) unique shopping trips. The cohort included participants with a range of health statuses. Notably, 21% of participants had a history of cardiovascular disease and 8% had diabetes before donating receipts. FINDINGS TO DATE The feasibility of translating consumer purchase data to operationalisable food groups and merging with registers has been demonstrated. We further demonstrated differences in marginal distributions which revealed disparities in the amount of money spent on various food groups by sex and age, as well as systematic variations by the hour of the day. For example, men under 30 spent 8.2% of their total reported expenditure on sugary drinks, while women under 30 spent 6.5%, men over 30 spent 4.3% and women over 30 spent 3.9%. FUTURE PLANS The SMIL cohort is characterised by its dynamic, continuously updated database, offering an opportunity to explore the relationship between diet and disease without the limitations of self-reported data. Currently encompassing data from 2018 to 2022, data collection is set to continue. We expect data collection to continue for many years and we are taking several initiatives to increase the cohort.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Frederik Trier Møller
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Caroline Eves
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Thor Grønborg Junker
- Department of Epidemiology Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Bochra Zareini
- Department of Cardiology, Nordsjællands Hospital, Hillerod, Denmark
- Department of Biostatistics, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Christian Torp-Pedersen
- Department of Cardiology, Nordsjællands Hospital, Hillerod, Denmark
- Department of Biostatistics, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Autio R, Virta J, Nordhausen K, Fogelholm M, Erkkola M, Nevalainen J. Tensorial Principal Component Analysis in Detecting Temporal Trajectories of Purchase Patterns in Loyalty Card Data: Retrospective Cohort Study. J Med Internet Res 2023; 25:e44599. [PMID: 38100168 PMCID: PMC10757224 DOI: 10.2196/44599] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2022] [Revised: 10/05/2023] [Accepted: 10/30/2023] [Indexed: 12/18/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Loyalty card data automatically collected by retailers provide an excellent source for evaluating health-related purchase behavior of customers. The data comprise information on every grocery purchase, including expenditures on product groups and the time of purchase for each customer. Such data where customers have an expenditure value for every product group for each time can be formulated as 3D tensorial data. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to use the modern tensorial principal component analysis (PCA) method to uncover the characteristics of health-related purchase patterns from loyalty card data. Another aim was to identify card holders with distinct purchase patterns. We also considered the interpretation, advantages, and challenges of tensorial PCA compared with standard PCA. METHODS Loyalty card program members from the largest retailer in Finland were invited to participate in this study. Our LoCard data consist of the purchases of 7251 card holders who consented to the use of their data from the year 2016. The purchases were reclassified into 55 product groups and aggregated across 52 weeks. The data were then analyzed using tensorial PCA, allowing us to effectively reduce the time and product group-wise dimensions simultaneously. The augmentation method was used for selecting the suitable number of principal components for the analysis. RESULTS Using tensorial PCA, we were able to systematically search for typical food purchasing patterns across time and product groups as well as detect different purchasing behaviors across groups of card holders. For example, we identified customers who purchased large amounts of meat products and separated them further into groups based on time profiles, that is, customers whose purchases of meat remained stable, increased, or decreased throughout the year or varied between seasons of the year. CONCLUSIONS Using tensorial PCA, we can effectively examine customers' purchasing behavior in more detail than with traditional methods because it can handle time and product group dimensions simultaneously. When interpreting the results, both time and product dimensions must be considered. In further analyses, these time and product groups can be directly associated with additional consumer characteristics such as socioeconomic and demographic predictors of dietary patterns. In addition, they can be linked to external factors that impact grocery purchases such as inflation and unexpected pandemics. This enables us to identify what types of people have specific purchasing patterns, which can help in the development of ways in which consumers can be steered toward making healthier food choices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Reija Autio
- Faculty of Social Sciences (Health Sciences), Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
| | - Joni Virta
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Klaus Nordhausen
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - Mikael Fogelholm
- Department of Food and Nutrition, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Maijaliisa Erkkola
- Department of Food and Nutrition, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jaakko Nevalainen
- Faculty of Social Sciences (Health Sciences), Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
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Møller FT, Junker TG, Kold Sørensen K, Eves C, Wohlfahrt J, Dillner J, Torp-Pedersen C, Wilkowski B, Chong S, Pers TH, Yakimov V, Müller H, Ethelberg S, Melbye M. Assessing household lifestyle exposures from consumer purchases, the My Purchases cohort. Sci Rep 2023; 13:21601. [PMID: 38062070 PMCID: PMC10703931 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-47534-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2023] [Accepted: 11/14/2023] [Indexed: 12/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Consumer purchase data (CPD) is a promising instrument to assess the impact of purchases on health, but is limited by the need for manual scanning, a lack of access to data from multiple retailers, and limited information on product data and health outcomes. Here we describe the My Purchases cohort, a web-app enabled, prospective collection of CPD, covering several large retail chains in Denmark, that enables linkage to health outcomes. The cohort included 459 participants as of July 03, 2023. Up to eight years of CPD have been collected, with 2,225,010 products purchased, comprising 223,440 unique products. We matched 88.5% of all products by product name or item number to one generic food database and three product databases. Combined, the databases enable analysis of key exposures such as nutrients, ingredients, or additives. We found that increasing the number of retailers that provide CPD for each consumer improved the stability of individual CPD profiles and when we compared kilojoule information from generic and specific product matches, we found a median modified relative difference of 0.23. Combined with extensive product databases and health outcomes, CPD could provide the basis for extensive investigations of how what we buy affects our health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederik T Møller
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark.
| | - Thor Grønborg Junker
- Department of Epidemiology Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Kathrine Kold Sørensen
- Department of Cardiology, North Zealand Hospital, Hillerød, Denmark
- Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Caroline Eves
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Jan Wohlfahrt
- Department of Epidemiology Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Joakim Dillner
- Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Christian Torp-Pedersen
- Department of Cardiology, North Zealand Hospital, Hillerød, Denmark
- Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Bartlomiej Wilkowski
- Department for Digital Infrastructure, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Steven Chong
- Department for Digital Infrastructure, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Tune H Pers
- The Novo Nordisk Foundation, Center for Basic Metabolic Research, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Victor Yakimov
- Department for Congenital Disorders, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Heimo Müller
- Diagnostic and Research Center for Molecular BioMedicine, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Steen Ethelberg
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Department of Public Health, Global Health Section, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Mads Melbye
- Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Katainen A, Uusitalo L, Saarijärvi H, Erkkola M, Rahkonen O, Lintonen T, Fogelholm M, Nevalainen J. Who buys non-alcoholic beer in Finland? Sociodemographic characteristics and associations with regular beer purchases. THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY 2023; 113:103962. [PMID: 36746032 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2023.103962] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2022] [Revised: 01/24/2023] [Accepted: 01/28/2023] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The consumption of non-alcoholic beer and other non-alcoholic and low-alcohol beverages has grown significantly in recent years. Due to a lack of suitable datasets, there have been few studies conducted on the forerunners of the non-alcoholic beer consumption trend. This study examined the associations of sociodemographic characteristics with non-alcoholic beer purchase, and of non-alcoholic beer purchases with regular beer purchases. METHODS The data consisted of longitudinal individual purchases of non-alcoholic and regular beer from grocery stores in 2017 and 2018. The study participants were loyalty cardholders from the largest food retailer in Finland (n = 47,066). The level of education, household income and occupational status were analyzed as determinants of non-alcoholic beer purchase using logistic regression models. The changes in the regular and non-alcoholic beer purchases from 2017 to 2018 and the distributions of non-alcoholic beer purchase by regular beer purchase, by gender and by age were described. RESULTS Between 2017 and 2018, the total volume of non-alcoholic beer purchases increased from 2.3% to 3.7% of the total volume of all beer purchases. Men and older people purchased non-alcoholic beer more often than women and younger people did. Non-alcoholic beer purchases were most common among the highly educated and high-income consumers. Non-alcoholic beer purchases were most prevalent in the groups with the highest volumes of regular beer purchase. CONCLUSIONS Educated and affluent consumers have been the forerunners of non-alcoholic beer consumption in Finland. In order to promote the substitution of regular beer with non-alcoholic beer the shift towards lower-strength beverages should be facilitated across social strata.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anu Katainen
- University of Helsinki, Faculty of Social Sciences, Unit of Sociology, Unioninkatu 35, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Liisa Uusitalo
- University of Helsinki, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, Department of Food and Nutrition, Agnes Sjöbergin katu 2, Helsinki, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Hannu Saarijärvi
- Tampere University, Faculty of Management and Business, Kalevantie 4, Tampere, FI-33014 Tampere University, Finland
| | - Maijaliisa Erkkola
- University of Helsinki, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, Department of Food and Nutrition, Agnes Sjöbergin katu 2, Helsinki, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Ossi Rahkonen
- University of Helsinki, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Public Health, Tukholmankatu 8 B, Helsinki, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Tomi Lintonen
- The Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies, Mannerheimintie 166, Helsinki, FI-00271, Finland; Tampere University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Health Sciences, Arvo Ylpön katu 34, Tampere, FI-33014 Tampere University, Finland
| | - Mikael Fogelholm
- University of Helsinki, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, Department of Food and Nutrition, Agnes Sjöbergin katu 2, Helsinki, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jaakko Nevalainen
- Tampere University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Health Sciences, Arvo Ylpön katu 34, Tampere, FI-33014 Tampere University, Finland
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Uusitalo L, Nevalainen J, Rahkonen O, Erkkola M, Saarijärvi H, Fogelholm M, Lintonen T. Changes in alcohol purchases from grocery stores after authorising the sale of stronger beverages: The case of the Finnish alcohol legislation reform in 2018. NORDIC STUDIES ON ALCOHOL AND DRUGS 2022; 39:589-604. [PMID: 36452445 PMCID: PMC9703366 DOI: 10.1177/14550725221082364] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2021] [Accepted: 02/07/2022] [Indexed: 08/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Aims: The Finnish alcohol law was reformed in January 2018. The availability of alcoholic beverages in grocery stores increased as the legal limit for retail sales of alcoholic drinks was raised from 4.7% to 5.5% alcohol, and the requirement of production by fermentation was abolished. We analysed how the inclusion of strong beers, ciders, and ready-to-drink beverages in grocery stores was reflected in alcohol purchases, and how these changes differed by age, sex, level of education and household income. Design: The study sample included 47,066 loyalty card holders from the largest food retailer in Finland. The data consisted of longitudinal, individual-level information on alcohol purchases from grocery stores, covering the time period between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2018. The volumes of absolute alcohol during a calendar year from beers, ciders, ready-to-drink beverages, and in total, were calculated. Alcohol purchases in 2017 and 2018 were compared. Results: There was no overall change in the total alcohol (0.04 [95% CI -0.03, 0.11] litres/year) or beer purchases (-0.05 [95% CI -0.11, 0.02] litres/year). Purchases of ready-to-drink beverages increased by 0.10 [95% CI 0.09, 0.11] litres/year (+ 84%). Total alcohol purchases increased in the three highest income groups, whereas they decreased in the two lowest groups (p for the interaction < 0.0001). Conclusions: The increased purchases of alcohol as ready-to-drink beverages were, on the average, compensated for by a decrease in purchases of other alcoholic beverages. Higher prices probably limited the purchases among lower income groups and younger consumers, while the increase was sharper in higher income groups.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Tomi Lintonen
- Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies c/o THL,
Helsinki, Finland
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Do we eat what we buy? Relative validity of grocery purchase data as an indicator of food consumption in the LoCard study. Br J Nutr 2022; 128:1780-1788. [PMID: 34657639 DOI: 10.1017/s0007114521004177] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
The validity of grocery purchase data as an indicator of food consumption is uncertain. This paper investigated (1) the associations between food consumption and grocery purchases using automatically accumulated purchase data and (2) whether the strength of the associations differed in certain sub-populations. The participants filled in a FFQ, and a major Finnish retailer issued us with their loyalty-card holders' grocery purchase data covering the 1- and 12-month periods preceding the FFQ. We used gamma statistics to study the association between thirds/quarters of FFQ and grocery purchase data (frequency/amount) separately for eighteen food groups among the 11 983 participants. Stratified analyses were conducted for subgroups based on sex, family structure, educational level, household income and self-estimated share of purchases from the retailer. We also examined the proportion of participants classified into the same, adjacent, subsequent and opposite categories using the FFQ and purchase data. The gammas ranged from 0·12 (cooked vegetables) to 0·75 (margarines). Single households had stronger gammas than two-adult families, and participants with > 60 % of purchases from the retailer had stronger gammas. For most food groups, the proportion of participants classified into the same or adjacent category was > 70 %. Most discrepancies were observed for fresh/cooked vegetables, berries and vegetable oils. Even though the two methods did not categorise all food groups similarly, we conclude that grocery purchase data are able to describe food consumption in an adult population, and future studies should consider purchase data as a resource-saving and moderately valid measure in large samples.
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Food purchase behaviour in a Finnish population: patterns, carbon footprints and expenditures. Public Health Nutr 2022; 25:3265-3277. [PMID: 35979803 PMCID: PMC9991547 DOI: 10.1017/s1368980022001707] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To identify food purchase patterns and to assess their carbon footprint and expenditure. DESIGN Cross-sectional. SETTING Purchase patterns were identified by factor analysis from the annual purchases of 3435 product groups. The associations between purchase patterns and the total purchases' carbon footprints (based on life-cycle assessment) and expenditure were analysed using linear regression and adjusted for nutritional energy content of the purchases. PARTICIPANTS Loyalty card holders (n 22 860) of the largest food retailer in Finland. RESULTS Eight patterns explained 55 % of the variation in food purchases. The Animal-based pattern made the greatest contribution to the annual carbon footprint, followed by the Easy-cooking, and Ready-to-eat patterns. High-energy, Traditional and Plant-based patterns made the smallest contribution to the carbon footprint of the purchases. Animal-based, Ready-to-eat, Plant-based and High-energy patterns made the greatest contribution, whereas the Traditional and Easy-cooking patterns made the smallest contribution to food expenditure. Carbon footprint per euros spent increased with stronger adherence to the Traditional, Animal-based and Easy-cooking patterns. CONCLUSIONS The Animal-based, Ready-to-eat and High-energy patterns were associated with relatively high expenditure on food, suggesting no economic barrier to a potential shift towards a plant-based diet for consumers adherent to those patterns. Strong adherence to the Traditional pattern resulted in a low energy-adjusted carbon footprint but high carbon footprint per euro. This suggests a preference for cheap nutritional energy rather than environment-conscious purchase behaviour. Whether a shift towards a plant-based pattern would be affordable for those with more traditional and cheaper purchase patterns requires more research.
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Rantala E, Balatsas-Lekkas A, Sozer N, Pennanen K. Overview of objective measurement technologies for nutrition research, food-related consumer and marketing research. Trends Food Sci Technol 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tifs.2022.05.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Konttinen H, Halmesvaara O, Fogelholm M, Saarijärvi H, Nevalainen J, Erkkola M. Sociodemographic differences in motives for food selection: results from the LoCard cross-sectional survey. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 2021; 18:71. [PMID: 34078396 PMCID: PMC8173871 DOI: 10.1186/s12966-021-01139-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2020] [Accepted: 05/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Although sociodemographic differences in dietary intake have been widely studied, the up-to-date evidence on the corresponding variations in motives for food selection is limited. We investigated how sociodemographic characteristics and special diets in households are associated with the relative importance of various food motives. Methods Participants were members of the S Group loyalty card program across Finland who consented to release their grocery purchase data to be used for research purposes and responded to a web-based questionnaire in 2018 (LoCard study). Self-reported information on sociodemographic factors (age, gender, marital status, living situation, education, household income), special diets in household and food motives (Food Choice Questionnaire) were utilized in the present analyses (N = 10,795). Age- and gender-adjusted linear models were performed separately for each sociodemographic predictor and motive dimension (derived by factor analysis) outcome. The importance of each sociodemographic predictor was evaluated based on an increase in R2 value after adding the predictor to the age- and gender-adjusted model. Results Age emerged as a central determinant of food motives with the following strongest associations: young adults emphasized convenience (∆R2 = 0.09, P < 0.001) and mood control (∆R2 = 0.05, P < 0.001) motives more than middle-aged and older adults. The relative importance of cheapness decreased with increasing socioeconomic position (SEP) (∆R2 = 0.08, P < 0.001 for income and ∆R2 = 0.04, P < 0.001 for education). However, the price item (“is good value for money”) depicting the concept of worth did not distinguish between SEP categories. Considerations related to familiarity of food were more salient to men (∆R2 = 0.02, P < 0.001) and those with lower SEP (∆R2 = 0.03, P < 0.001 for education and ∆R2 = 0.01, P < 0.001 for income). Respondents living in households with a vegetarian, red-meat-free, gluten-free or other type of special diet rated ethical concern as relatively more important than households with no special diets (∆R2 = 0.02, P < 0.001). Conclusions We observed sociodemographic differences in a range of food motives that might act as barriers or drivers for adopting diets that benefit human and planetary health. Interventions aiming to narrow SEP and gender disparities in dietary intake should employ strategies that take into account higher priority of familiarity and price in daily food selection in lower-SEP individuals and males. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12966-021-01139-2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hanna Konttinen
- Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 18, Helsinki, 00014, Finland. .,Department of Food and Nutrition, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 66, Helsinki, 00014, Finland.
| | - Otto Halmesvaara
- Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 18, Helsinki, 00014, Finland
| | - Mikael Fogelholm
- Department of Food and Nutrition, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 66, Helsinki, 00014, Finland
| | - Hannu Saarijärvi
- Faculty of Management and Business, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
| | - Jaakko Nevalainen
- Faculty of Social Sciences (Health Sciences), Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
| | - Maijaliisa Erkkola
- Department of Food and Nutrition, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 66, Helsinki, 00014, Finland
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