In two studies, we found that people are less likely to take chocolates when they are placed an extra 50cm away. This effect seemed to work similarly regardless of a person’s current level of self-control.
This shows that placing unhealthy food further away may be a simple but effective way to reduce the likelihood of consuming these snacks.
Effect of snack-food proximity on intake in general population samples with higher and lower cognitive resource. Hunter, Hollands, Couturier, Marteau, 2018.
The UK Government levy on sugary drinks producers starts in April 2018. This will potentially influence the cost of a large range of non-alcoholic beverages. Our new study (published 23rd January 2018) looks at how increasing the price of non-alcoholic drinks could influence purchases of alcoholic drinks such as beer, wine and cider, in supermarkets. We found that increasing the price of sugary drinks could increase purchases of lager while increases in the price of diet drinks could increase purchases of beer, cider and wines. Read more about the varying spillover effects of increasing the price of sugary drinks here.