Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Nutrition and healthy eating is one of the most important factor determining the development of chronic diseases and their risk factors, including obesity. Excess sugar intake, in particular soft drink (soda), is a top source of added and unnecessary sugar intake among Canadians, especially among socially underprivileged people. In marketing research and practice, price discounting is known to be a powerful tool driving impulsive purchase of sugar-loaded unhealthy food. However, public health agencies are unable to measure the impact of this potentially critical contribute of obesity. Using grocery transaction data generated by retail chain stores in Montreal, I will aim to measure and prove how important price discounting would be in causing obesity among socially disadvantaged people. My research will provide evidence and motivation for public health agencies and community organizations to develop strategies to prevent such advertisement exposure in order to reduce the consumption of unhealthy food triggered by discounting.