// Supermarket promotions on unhealthy foods & drinks are causing obesity
// Cancer Research UK calls for the government to restrict the promotions
Grocery retailers’ special offers on unhealthy foods and drinks contribute to obesity, prompting Cancer Research UK to call for the government to place restrictions on promotions.
Just under a third of food and drink items are bought on promotion, according to Cancer Research UK’s latest report.
The charity analysed the shopping habits of 16,148 British households for up to seven months between January and July 2017.
Cancer Research also divided the participants into four groups based on the amount of items they bought from promotions.
It found that 72 per cent of the top group – who bought between 38 per cent and 82 per cent of items on promotion – were overweight or obese.
The charity now calls for special offers on unhealthy food and drinks to be restricted in an attempt to fight the UK’s obesity crisis.
“These promotions look like they are pushing us in the wrong direction – certainly those people who are buying more promotions are ending up with baskets that are more skewed than general towards less healthy products,” Cancer Research UK policy manager Malcolm Clark said.
The charity’s previous research showed that removing unhealthy foods and drinks from checkouts reduces consumers’ purchases by 17 per cent.
However, Cancer Research said the study might under-report purchases, as it does not include data on what people eat outside of the home or specific calorie breakdowns of foods.
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