Healthy supermarket checkout policies may help shoppers resist junk food

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-08-09 01:00

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Policies to make supermarkets replace the usual sugary drinks and lollies at the checkout with healthier options could help us all make better food choices, according to US scientists. They looked at what was on offer at supermarket checkouts after a healthy checkout policy was introduced in Berkeley, California in 2021, and compared them to checkouts in Berkeley before the policy and with cities without the policy. One year after the introduction, they found checkouts displaying healthy foods in Berkeley had increased by 63%, and 83% of the city's checkouts had swapped the usual sugary treats for healthier options. That meant far fewer checkouts featured those tempting junk food impulse buys we find so hard to resist, they say.