WASHINGTON : Despite New Year’s resolutions to eat healthy and lose weight, people buy the greatest amount of food and calories after the holidays, a new study has found.
The study shows that consumer spending on food increases by 15 per cent over the holiday season (Thanksgiving to New Year), with most of the increase attributed to higher levels of junk food.
But shoppers buy the greatest amount of food after New Year – the equivalent of a nine per cent increase in calories above holiday levels, said Professor Lizzy Pope of the University of Vermont, who led the study as a post-doctoral researcher at Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab.
“People start the New Year with good intentions to eat better,” said Pope.
“They do pick out more healthy items, but they also keep buying higher levels of less-healthy holiday favourites. So their grocery baskets contain more calories than any other time of year we tracked,” Pope added.
The findings are surprising given the holidays’ reputation for overeating – and suggest that people need better strategies for shopping under the sway of “res-illusions,” the research team said.
The researchers recommend that consumers use written grocery lists to deter impulsive junk food purchases; substitute as much junk food as possible with fresh produce and nutrient-rich foods, and split grocery baskets visually to ensure nutritious foods represent at least half of purchases.
“We wanted to see how New Year’s resolutions and the end of the holiday season impact grocery shopping habits – how much food people buy, and how many calories the foods contain,” said co-author David Just from Cornell University.
More than 200 households in New York State were recruited to participate in the seven-month study of grocery store spending behaviours, from July 2010 to March 2011.
“Despite New Year’s resolutions to eat healthier, people tend to hang on to those unhealthy holiday favourites and keep buying them in the New Year,” said co-author Drew Hanks, The Ohio State University, who worked on the study as a post-doctoral researcher at Cornell.
The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE. (PTI)
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