ABSTRACT

Excess calorie consumption and poor/unhealthy diet are major contributors to the obesity and non-communicable diseases. Since unhealthy diets are driven by unhealthy food environment and food retailers, in particular supermarkets, are key shapers of this food environment which influences consumers’ diets. This study aimed to examine the: availability of healthy foods in supermarkets and grocery stores in comparison to unhealthy products, evaluate the nature of availability (food prominence and promotion) and identify the promotional features. One supermarket and one grocery store was randomly selected in Awka (Anambra State) by balloting technique based on popularity and size. Information on all foods sold in the supermarkets was collected using a Geographic Information System (GIS) enabled open data kit, which allowed data collection using Android mobile devices and data submission to an online server. Food availability (presence/absence and shelf space for healthy foods vs unhealthy products) were measured in ‘cm’ based on the International Network for Food and Obesity/NCDs Research, Monitoring and Action Support (INFORMAS) protocol. The prominence inside the store (location visibility) was measured using the GroPromo tool (high, medium and low prominence). All promotions were evaluated for healthiness, product category and promotion type. The level of healthiness consists of a ‘healthy’ group; products which have a positive effect on health management/disease prevention and can be eaten every day. The ‘unhealthy’ group contain products which have low nutrient/adverse effects on health or the prevention of chronic diseases. From the findings; unhealthy products were frequently available in high prominent areas of the supermarkets (endcap A, checkout side, checkout edge) dominating with 58.89% shelf and 49.07% shelf space. At the medium prominence (entrance, aisle, island and endcap B) the unhealthy products dominated with 4.7% shelf and 7.82% shelf space and finally; were largely overcomed by the unhealthy products even at the lowest prominence area (edge) with 42.86% shelf and 43.47% shelf space revealing an alarming scenario. And generally, the surveyed supermarkets were found unhealthy and not positively contributing to the global target of halting the rise in obesity and reduce non-communicable diseases by 25% by 2025which may pose an opportunity for public health intervention.