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Healthy snacks in hospitals: Testing the potential effects of changes in availability
Julia L Allan1, Shannon Duthie1, Maureen Heddle1
1University of Aberdeen, Foresterhill, Aberdeen, UK.
Nutrition and Health
|March 26, 2021
Summary
Hospitals offer many snacks, but unhealthy options dominate. Increasing healthy snack availability in hospitals encourages healthier consumer choices, improving public health outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Public Health Nutrition
- Behavioral Economics
- Healthcare Management
Background:
- Hospitals provide snacks to patients, staff, and visitors.
- Consumer food choices are significantly influenced by available options.
Purpose of the Study:
- To audit snack availability and purchasing patterns in UK National Health Service (NHS) hospitals.
- To evaluate the impact of varying healthy snack availability on consumer choice through an online experiment.
Main Methods:
- Study 1: Audited 376 single-serve snacks across 76 retail units and analyzed 27,989 sales transactions.
- Study 2: 159 participants chose snacks from online arrays with 25%, 50%, or 75% healthy options.
Main Results:
- Available snacks showed wide nutritional variation; only 30% of available and 25% of purchased snacks were healthy.
- Healthy snack choice significantly increased with higher availability (75% > 50% > 25%).
Conclusions:
- While healthy snacks are present in NHS sites, unhealthy options are more varied.
- Increasing the availability and diversity of healthy snacks can positively influence consumer purchasing decisions.
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