NPR’s Alison Aubrey, with a story discussing our research published last week in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, and the impact on individuals and food and beverage companies: [Listen to the story here]
It just might be the dawn of a new era in American eating. Two-thirds of us are now more likely to go for foods marketed as lower-calorie and “better-for-you,” and that means we’re finally eating fewer calories.
As we’ve reported, 16 companies, including General Mills, Kraft and Nestle, have removed 6.4 trillion calories from the marketplace. The calorie cuts — tracked by the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation — are part of a nationwide effort to tackle the obesity epidemic.
And a new paper published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine finds that as a results of company’s trimming calories, Americans are cutting back on salty snacks and sugary treats.
“We found that families with children cut 101 calories per day [per person] in their purchases,” researcher Barry Popkin of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, tells us.
Read the articles referenced in the NPR piece, published in AJPM here (calories sold) and here (calories purchased). Access to the accompanying commentaries is available here.