Behavioural ‘nudges’ effective in encouraging healthy eating in schools

Alpro Foundation Supported Research

Dr Hannah Ensaff, Leeds Beckett University

Subtle changes to the accessibility and presentation of healthy foods are successful in helping school students to make better food choices, according to a study by researchers at Leeds Beckett University.

The Alpro Foundation-funded research, led by Dr Hannah Ensaff, saw a number of complementary changes made to the way food was packaged and presented in a secondary school canteen over a six-week period and is the first study of its type in the UK.

Study overview

Two Yorkshire secondary schools (11–18-year-old students) were selected for the study. Both were inner city schools with similar raised levels of deprivation providing a higher than national average of free school meals. The school kitchens served 980 students and operated a three-week menu cycle of freshly prepared meals with two daily specials, one of which was a vegetarian option. The canteens also provided ‘grab and go’ options including pizza, pasta, jacket potatoes, salads, sandwiches, baguettes as well as tray-bakes, hot puddings, fruit and fruit pots. One school acted as the control and the other as the intervention.

In the intervention school, subtle changes to the presentation of ‘healthier plant-based options’ were made. The changes included repositioning of the healthier plant-based options, using disposable pots and trays to serve meals rather than dinner plates, daily posters, window stickers and labelling with health, fresh and taste cues.

The researchers made no changes to the food on offer to students and didn’t overtly publicise the changes made to the healthier foods in the intervention schools.

The students’ food choices were compared for three periods: at baseline (year before intervention), during the six-week trial, then a three-week post-trial period. Point of sale data was used to monitor students’ choices through the schools’ cashless payment systems.

Key findings

The researchers found that students in the intervention school were more than twice as likely to choose healthier plant-based food items during the trial period when the behavioural nudge tactics were implemented.

During the six-week trial, the researchers found that in the intervention school:

• Selection of the promoted food items significantly increased, with students two and a half times more likely to select healthier options

• Students were three times more likely to choose a fruit, vegetable or salad item

• Sales of fruit pots rose from 0.8% to 1.9%

• The vegetarian daily specials increased from 0.2% of main foods sold to 0.6%

• Sandwiches containing salad increased from 0.06% to 1.36%

• Sales of all healthy food items promoted during the trial doubled from 1.4% to 3%

"Results from our research have shown that ‘nudge’ strategies, which don’t remove the freedom to choose can be really effective in promoting better food choices and changing behaviour."

Dr Ensaff

Conclusions

School canteens in UK secondary schools are often time-pressured environments – rendering food choice even more susceptible to automatic decision-making.

This study demonstrates that simple changes to the way food is presented and packaged in the school canteen has a significant effect on students’ selections towards more favourable food options.

Find out more about Alpro Foundation research grants.

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