Buy 1 Get 1: Role of Grocery Coupons in Promoting Obesogenic Home Food Environments and Eating Behaviors

June 9, 2015 updated by: University of Pennsylvania

Buy 1 Get 1: Role of Grocery Coupons in Promoting Obesogenic Home Food

The prevalence of overweight and obesity among older adults has reached an all-time high, which puts this age group at high risk for associated comorbidities such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain forms of cancer. Confronted with declining incomes and economic uncertainty, many middle-aged and older Americans tried to save on their food purchases during the 2007-2009 recession. Grocery coupons, available through newspapers, mail, and increasingly online, are one of several promotional tools that supermarkets and warehouse clubs use to promote sales. It is estimated that nationally 27% of households are frequent grocery coupon users who shop at a variety of retailers. Despite the increasing popularity of grocery coupons, little is known about the extent to which they may promote obesogenic home food environments and eating behaviors. Many coupons advertise the purchase of large quantities of prepackaged and processed foods and often reward shoppers by adding 'free' products if they purchase certain quantities. Availability and easy accessibility of large portions of energy dense foods in the home has been shown to promote increased intake. The proposed study seeks to examine the effects of frequent grocery coupon usage on dietary intake, weight status, and home food availability among middle-aged and older adults. A second aim of this study is to test, in a randomized-controlled trial, the effects of incentivizing grocery coupon use for the purchase of healthy foods on 3-month changes in dietary intake, body mass index/waist circumference, home food availability, and grocery coupon use among frequent coupon users and non-coupon users.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

54

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Pennsylvania
      • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
        • University of Pennsylvania

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

40 years to 70 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 40 - 70 years of age
  • frequent grocery coupon users
  • non-coupon users

Exclusion Criteria:

  • dieting
  • medication use or medical conditions known to affect food intake and weight

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Incentive
Subjects in this group will receive financial incentives for using grocery coupons to purchase healthy foods.
Other: Financial incentives
No Intervention: No incentive
Subjects in this group will receive no financial incentives.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Dietary intake
Time Frame: Change from baseline to month 3 (end of intervention)
Change from baseline to month 3 (end of intervention)
Body mass index
Time Frame: Change from baseline to month 3 (end of intervention)
Change from baseline to month 3 (end of intervention)
Waist circumference
Time Frame: Change from baseline to month 3 (end of intervention)
Change from baseline to month 3 (end of intervention)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Number of healthy and less healthy foods in the home
Time Frame: Change from baseline to month 3 (end of intervention)
Change from baseline to month 3 (end of intervention)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Pennsylvania

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

January 1, 2013

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2013

Study Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2013

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 9, 2012

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 16, 2012

First Posted (Estimate)

October 18, 2012

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

June 11, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 9, 2015

Last Verified

September 1, 2012

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 816224

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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