Nudging Nutrition With Monetary Incentives Environmental Cues

June 1, 2015 updated by: Cornell University

Nudging Nutrition: Evaluating the Impact of Monetary Incentives and Environmental Cues on Food Choices

The investigators hypothesize that monetary incentives and messaging, such as making nutritious foods relatively less expensive than less nutritious foods and framing the price difference in a positive or negative way, will influence purchasing behavior of households.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

In this study, 239 loyalty card shoppers were recruited at Hannaford grocery stores to participate in a study in which a 10% price difference between nutritious and less nutritious foods was introduced. and then framed as a subsidy, tax, or a combination of a tax and subsidy. To determine whether or not the framing of the price difference influenced purchasing behavior, the difference was framed as a subsidy on nutritious foods, a tax on less nutritious foods, and a combination of a tax and subsidy on less nutritious and nutritious foods, respectively. The purpose of this study was to examine the general impact of this price difference on purchases of nutritious and less nutritious foods, and whether or not the framing of the price difference had a differential effect on behavior.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

221

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
    • New York
      • New York City, New York, United States
        • New York City School District

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

18 years to 70 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Loyalty card shoppers at Hannaford grocery stores

Exclusion Criteria:

  • No children in household
  • Less than 75% of food purchases made at Hannaford grocery stores

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

  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Price difference
Introduce a 10% price difference between foods labeled as nutritious and foods labeled as less nutritious and frame the price difference as either a Subsidy, Tax, or combination of a Tax and Subsidy.
Behavioral: Subsidy
Frame the price difference as a 10% subsidy on nutritious food items.
Behavioral: Tax
Frame the price difference as a 10% tax on less nutritious food items.
Behavioral: Tax and subsidy
Frame the price difference as a 5% tax on less nutritious food items and a 5% subsidy on nutritious food items, creating a 10% relative price difference between the types of foods.
No Intervention: No price difference
No price difference between nutritious and less nutritious foods.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in expenditures on nutritious and less nutritious foods
Time Frame: 8 months
Item level transaction data were collected for each participant between mid-July 2010 and mid-March 2011. These data included expenditures on all items purchased in the store. Average weekly expenditures were generated and reported in Aug 2011.
8 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in quantities purchased of nutritious and less nutritious foods
Time Frame: 8 months
Item level transaction data were collected for each participant between mid-July 2010 and mid-March 2011. These data included quantities of all items purchased in the store. Average weekly quantities purchased were generated and reported in Aug 2011.
8 months
Change in expenditures on nutritious and less nutritious foods in specific food categories.
Time Frame: 8 months
Item level transaction data were collected for each participant between mid-July 2010 and mid-March 2011. These data included expenditures on all items purchased in the store, as well as the specific product type. With this information, product groupings can be created, such as for dairy, candy, and fresh produce. Average weekly expenditures for these groupings were generated and reported in July 2012.
8 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Cornell University

Collaborators

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Ohio State University

Investigators

  • Study Director: Brian Wansink, PhD, Cornell University
  • Principal Investigator: David Just, PhD, Cornell University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

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

May 1, 2010

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 1, 2011

Study Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2011

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 1, 2015

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 1, 2015

First Posted (Estimate)

June 3, 2015

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

June 3, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 1, 2015

Last Verified

June 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 1110002491
  • 1RC1HD063370-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

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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