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Study: Eating An Apple Before Shopping Leads To Healthier Purchases

Trending News: An Apple A Day Keeps The Junk Food Away

Why Is This Important?

Because a pre-shopping apple may be the key to warding off the chocolate aisle and getting your diet to work.

Long Story Short

Researchers at Cornell University have found that eating an apple caused people to buy nearly 30 percent more fruit and vegetables when they then went food shopping than if they had eaten a cookie.

Long Story

The key to shopping healthier may lie in what you eat before you head to the supermarket, according to the results of a new study.

Research from Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab has revealed that shoppers who have just eaten a healthy snack are more likely to carry their good habits over when they are faced with the temptations of the supermarket shelves.

120 participants were either given a piece of apple, a cookie or nothing when arriving at a supermarket and their baskets were analysed. Those who were given the apple purchased 28 percent more fruit and vegetables than those who had the cookie, and 25 percent more than those given no snack.

The same test was repeated with 56 participants being told to imagine they were shopping and those given the apple chose more low-calorie items than high-calorie alternatives. 

Research leader Dr. Aner Tal is quoted in the Daily Mail saying: “What this teaches us is that having a small healthy snack before shopping can put us in a healthier mindset and steer us towards making better food choices.”

It seems that the effect being witnessed is less to do with the apple than the belief that the shopper has eaten something healthy before choosing groceries. When a third test saw participants split into three groups with one given chocolate milk they were told was "healthy and wholesome," another told the same milk was "rich and indulgent" and one given no milk at all, the group that had drunk the "healthy and wholesome" milk selected healthier items. 

A previous study by Cornell noted that after the New Year, dieters often made healthier purchases but didn’t cut out their regular less healthy ones. Researchers in fact discovered that in the New Year shoppers brought home an average of 9 percent more calories than they did in the holiday season.

It has been suggested that supermarkets could encourage healthier shopping by having fruit and vegetable samples near the door for shoppers to chew on while they walk the aisles.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question: But is it better to eat a cookie rather than go shopping while hungry?

Disrupt Your Feed: Grocery stores will probably put cookies at the door instead of fruit so that we buy more (expensive) junk.

Drop This Fact: A study from The Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Minnesota, quoted by the New Scientist, found that desire for food is so powerful that is makes shoppers more likely to buy anything. In an experiment, hungry shopper spent 64 percent more than those who were less hungry.

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