The dynamics in food selection stemming from price awareness and perceived income adequacy: a cross-sectional study using 1-year loyalty-card data

Background Higher cost of healthy foods may explain unhealthy dietary patterns in lower income households. Unfortunately, combining food selection and nutrient intake data to price and expenditure is challenging. Food retailer’s customer loyalty card data, linked to nutrient composition database, is a novel method for simultaneous exploration of food purchases, price, and nutrition. Objectives We studied the associations between Perceived Income Adequacy (PIA) as a grouping variable with price (per kg or MJ) and the volume of purchases (% of expenditure or energy) simultaneously as outcome variables for 17 most purchased food groups. Methods We used 1-year (2018) of loyalty card data from the largest grocery chain in Finland. Participants were 28,783 loyalty cardholders who made >41% of food purchases from the retailer and answered an online questionnaire at the midpoint of data collection. The 5-level PIA described the perceived financial situation in the household. Energy and nutrient content of foods purchased were from the Finnish Food Composition Database Fineli(R). We calculated the Nutrient Rich Food Index per 100 g food using 11 nutrients. Trends in prices and expenditures between PIA levels were analyzed by two-sided Jonckheere-Terpstra tests, with false discovery rate control (Benjamini-Hochberg method) and confounder adjustments (Inverse Probability Weighting). Results Lower PIA participants selected cheaper foods per kg and MJ within most food groups. They also favored unhealthy food groups cheap in energy (<1 euro (USD 1.18)/MJ). Despite lower purchase price, the expenditure (%) among lower PIA was higher on alcohol, snacks, sugar-sweetened beverages, and sweets & chocolate. Conclusions Participants with lower PIA showed stronger price awareness. It is crucial to consider the pricing of competing alternative food groups, when steering towards environmentally sustainable and healthier food purchases. Package labeling might also direct the selection of healthier choices among the less expensive items within a food group.