Healthy snacks in hospitals: testing the potential effects of changes in availability

Julia Allan; Shannon Duthie; Maureen Heddle; Fiona  McKenzie; Susan  Webb; Marie Johnston

doi:10.1177/0260106021996921

Healthy snacks in hospitals: testing the potential effects of changes in availability

Julia Allan^* (Corresponding Author), Shannon Duthie , Maureen Heddle, Fiona McKenzie, Susan Webb, Marie Johnston

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

5 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Background:

Hospitals offer snacks for sale to patients, staff and visitors.

Aim:

As food choice is heavily influenced by the options available, the present study (a) audited snack availability and purchase in NHS hospital sites across a large UK city; and (b) tested the potential effects of changes to this availability in an online choice experiment.

Methods:

In Study 1 (audit), single-serve snacks (n=376) available in 76 hospital food retail units were audited. Purchasing data were obtained from six food retail units over four weeks (27,989 sales). In Study 2 (online experiment), participants (n=159) chose snacks from pictured ranges containing 25% (minority), 50% (equivalent) or 75% (majority) healthy options.

Results:

Available single-serve snacks varied markedly in calorie (18–641 kcals), fat (0–39 g), sugar (0.1–76 g) and salt (0–2.9 g). Only 30% of available snacks were healthy options and only 25% of the most commonly purchased snacks were healthy options. In Study 2, snack choice was significantly associated with the availability of healthy options in the choice array (X^{2 (2)}= 59.71, p<.01). More participants made healthy choices when product ranges contained 75% healthy options compared to 50% (p<.01) and 50% healthy options compared with 25% (p<.01).

Conclusions:Healthy snacks are readily available in NHS sites but there is a greater relative variety of unhealthy snack products. Many consumers continue to purchase unhealthy items. Further increasing the availability and variety of healthy options may support consumers to make healthier choices.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	321-327
Number of pages	7
Journal	Nutrition and Health
Volume	27
Issue number	3
Early online date	26 Mar 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0260106021996921
Publication status	Published - 1 Oct 2021

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank the food retail staff and managers in each location and the food retailers who provided access to their sales data.
Funding: Study 1 was funded by the Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office [CGA/16/17]. Study 2 was conducted while JA was a Royal Society of Edinburgh Sabbatical Grant Holder.
Open access via Sage agreement

Keywords

snacking
hospital
food choice
availability
healthy choice

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1177/0260106021996921

Allan_ et al_NAH_HealthySnackInHospitals_AAM
Author(s), Contribution Title, Journal Title (Journal Volume Number and Issue Number) pp. xx-xx. Copyright © [year] (Copyright Holder). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0260106021996921
Accepted author manuscript, 269 KBLicence: Unspecified

Cite this

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title = "Healthy snacks in hospitals: testing the potential effects of changes in availability",

abstract = "Background:Hospitals offer snacks for sale to patients, staff and visitors.Aim:As food choice is heavily influenced by the options available, the present study (a) audited snack availability and purchase in NHS hospital sites across a large UK city; and (b) tested the potential effects of changes to this availability in an online choice experiment.Methods:In Study 1 (audit), single-serve snacks (n=376) available in 76 hospital food retail units were audited. Purchasing data were obtained from six food retail units over four weeks (27,989 sales). In Study 2 (online experiment), participants (n=159) chose snacks from pictured ranges containing 25% (minority), 50% (equivalent) or 75% (majority) healthy options.Results:Available single-serve snacks varied markedly in calorie (18–641 kcals), fat (0–39 g), sugar (0.1–76 g) and salt (0–2.9 g). Only 30% of available snacks were healthy options and only 25% of the most commonly purchased snacks were healthy options. In Study 2, snack choice was significantly associated with the availability of healthy options in the choice array (X2 (2)= 59.71, p<.01). More participants made healthy choices when product ranges contained 75% healthy options compared to 50% (p<.01) and 50% healthy options compared with 25% (p<.01).Conclusions:Healthy snacks are readily available in NHS sites but there is a greater relative variety of unhealthy snack products. Many consumers continue to purchase unhealthy items. Further increasing the availability and variety of healthy options may support consumers to make healthier choices.",

keywords = "snacking, hospital, food choice, availability, healthy choice",

author = "Julia Allan and Shannon Duthie and Maureen Heddle and Fiona McKenzie and Susan Webb and Marie Johnston",

note = "Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank the food retail staff and managers in each location and the food retailers who provided access to their sales data. Funding: Study 1 was funded by the Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office [CGA/16/17]. Study 2 was conducted while JA was a Royal Society of Edinburgh Sabbatical Grant Holder. Open access via Sage agreement",

year = "2021",

month = oct,

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doi = "10.1177/0260106021996921",

language = "English",

volume = "27",

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T1 - Healthy snacks in hospitals

T2 - testing the potential effects of changes in availability

AU - Allan, Julia

AU - Duthie , Shannon

AU - Heddle, Maureen

AU - McKenzie, Fiona

AU - Webb, Susan

AU - Johnston, Marie

N1 - Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank the food retail staff and managers in each location and the food retailers who provided access to their sales data. Funding: Study 1 was funded by the Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office [CGA/16/17]. Study 2 was conducted while JA was a Royal Society of Edinburgh Sabbatical Grant Holder. Open access via Sage agreement

PY - 2021/10/1

Y1 - 2021/10/1

N2 - Background:Hospitals offer snacks for sale to patients, staff and visitors.Aim:As food choice is heavily influenced by the options available, the present study (a) audited snack availability and purchase in NHS hospital sites across a large UK city; and (b) tested the potential effects of changes to this availability in an online choice experiment.Methods:In Study 1 (audit), single-serve snacks (n=376) available in 76 hospital food retail units were audited. Purchasing data were obtained from six food retail units over four weeks (27,989 sales). In Study 2 (online experiment), participants (n=159) chose snacks from pictured ranges containing 25% (minority), 50% (equivalent) or 75% (majority) healthy options.Results:Available single-serve snacks varied markedly in calorie (18–641 kcals), fat (0–39 g), sugar (0.1–76 g) and salt (0–2.9 g). Only 30% of available snacks were healthy options and only 25% of the most commonly purchased snacks were healthy options. In Study 2, snack choice was significantly associated with the availability of healthy options in the choice array (X2 (2)= 59.71, p<.01). More participants made healthy choices when product ranges contained 75% healthy options compared to 50% (p<.01) and 50% healthy options compared with 25% (p<.01).Conclusions:Healthy snacks are readily available in NHS sites but there is a greater relative variety of unhealthy snack products. Many consumers continue to purchase unhealthy items. Further increasing the availability and variety of healthy options may support consumers to make healthier choices.

AB - Background:Hospitals offer snacks for sale to patients, staff and visitors.Aim:As food choice is heavily influenced by the options available, the present study (a) audited snack availability and purchase in NHS hospital sites across a large UK city; and (b) tested the potential effects of changes to this availability in an online choice experiment.Methods:In Study 1 (audit), single-serve snacks (n=376) available in 76 hospital food retail units were audited. Purchasing data were obtained from six food retail units over four weeks (27,989 sales). In Study 2 (online experiment), participants (n=159) chose snacks from pictured ranges containing 25% (minority), 50% (equivalent) or 75% (majority) healthy options.Results:Available single-serve snacks varied markedly in calorie (18–641 kcals), fat (0–39 g), sugar (0.1–76 g) and salt (0–2.9 g). Only 30% of available snacks were healthy options and only 25% of the most commonly purchased snacks were healthy options. In Study 2, snack choice was significantly associated with the availability of healthy options in the choice array (X2 (2)= 59.71, p<.01). More participants made healthy choices when product ranges contained 75% healthy options compared to 50% (p<.01) and 50% healthy options compared with 25% (p<.01).Conclusions:Healthy snacks are readily available in NHS sites but there is a greater relative variety of unhealthy snack products. Many consumers continue to purchase unhealthy items. Further increasing the availability and variety of healthy options may support consumers to make healthier choices.

KW - snacking

KW - hospital

KW - food choice

KW - availability

KW - healthy choice

U2 - 10.1177/0260106021996921

DO - 10.1177/0260106021996921

M3 - Article

C2 - 33769109

SN - 2047-945X

VL - 27

SP - 321

EP - 327

JO - Nutrition and Health

JF - Nutrition and Health

IS - 3

ER -

Healthy snacks in hospitals: testing the potential effects of changes in availability

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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