Supermarkets can provide the tools for healthier living, finds US and UK consumer survey

18 Jul 2019 --- Less than 30 percent of UK and US shoppers believe that grocery retailers are doing enough to help promote healthy eating, according to a Spoon Guru survey of over 4,000 adults. With 70 percent of respondents not having a good understanding of sugar, fat and salt content in foods, shoppers “crave” transparency and tools to help them make healthy choices. Additionally, with 48 percent of Brits and 45 percent of Americans admitting to eating less than one healthy meal a day, there is huge market potential for helping people reform their eating habits.

“The most surprising findings from the data has to be that although 67 percent of consumers in the UK and 74 percent in the US have said that they have been making healthier changes, over three quarters of these same respondents said that their diet is still not healthy,” Markus Stripf, Spoon Guru CEO & Co-Founder, tells NutritionInsight.

Shoppers would like to be healthier but are finding that supermarkets make it difficult. The cost of buying healthy food and the difficulty of breaking bad habits are both primary barriers for US and UK consumers eating better. Consumers (58 percent UK; 67 percent US) would like supermarkets to make healthier options cheaper. Other factors were also the time it takes to cook healthy meals, the lack of knowledge about what is healthy and an absence of cooking skills and a lack of availability in supermarkets.

Weight loss is the primary motivator for switching diets, with 51 percent of Brits and 53 percent of Americans saying it is why they have been making different choices. Fear of suffering a serious health issue was also a key reason (34 percent UK; 40 percent US). 

“While the motivations for losing weight are similar, the most significant difference between the two nations was that US respondents (32 percent) were much more likely to follow a doctor’s recommendation to alter their food choices, whereas this was the case for only 17 percent of UK respondents,” Stripf notes.

There are some other key differences between US and UK consumers, with Americans twice as likely than Brits to stress-eat, Stripf highlights. “It also seemed to be the case that Americans are more forthcoming than Brits with regards to taking accountability for their own health. For instance, 43 percent of US respondents admitted that their bad habits prevented them from eating healthy while just 32 percent of UK respondents made this admission.”

“Looking specifically at motivations for reducing certain foods, UK shoppers named environmental issues as a major influence for eating less meat, and the research found that Brits value spending money on better quality meat and fish as well as meat-free alternatives. Meanwhile, US shoppers are more likely to buy health supplements and organic food. Another key difference was 35 percent of US respondents were keen to highlight that retailers could help encourage healthy eating by providing healthier snacks at the checkouts. This response was much less for the UK (24 percent), possibly due to several retailers adopting healthy checkout policies since 2014,” he continues.New tools and technology could help consumers make healthier choices. 

Moving forward, improving the visibility of healthy options by increasing promotions and placing healthier snacks more prominently would be key ways to help consumers. While having healthy eating recipes in-store (33 percent UK; 40 percent US) and in-store food discovery taste testing (34 percent UK; 46 percent US) could both be useful tools, most consumers (54 percent UK; 53 percent US) want better labeling on shelves and packaging.

Stripf explains that despite the UK having a visual ‘traffic light’ system on product labels, Brits still struggle to make healthy choices. “Product serving sizes are not standardized and may differ between similar products, which can make it difficult for consumers to gauge nutritional quality. That being said, the research found that deciphering product labeling is an issue both UK and US consumers combat when looking for healthy foods.”

The traffic light system is set to roll out across continental Europe, with Nestlé recently giving approval of Nutri-Score. This will be helpful as research has found that consumers find it difficult to differentiate health and nutrition claims on packaging. They often have pre-determined beliefs about nutrients and their relationship with health outcomes, which can lead to label misinterpretation. These reforms could aid eating schemes, including the EU-funded Follow me to be Healthy with Europe program which aims to teach millennials how to eat a more balanced diet. 

By Katherine Durrell