Research Roundup: UB Looks at How to Make Online Grocery Shopping Easier — and Healthier

Have you ever used Instacart? If so, you may be interested in a University at Buffalo study that teams UB researchers with Instacart to test a unique nutrition intervention program.

As reported by UBNow and The Buffalo News, the project aims to enroll 70 families at higher risk for obesity. About half of these families will be low-income.

“The goal of our project with Instacart is to make it easier for parents to make healthy choices while grocery shopping,” explains Stephanie Anzman-Frasca, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and Director, Child Health and Behavior Lab.

The project has even received some attention from the White House. As stated in a recent announcement, UB and three other institutions were selected to “study the impact of nutrition security interventions … on different patient groups, including individuals living with low incomes.”

In a paper published last November, Anzman-Frasca and co-authors tested how preloading online shopping carts with healthy ingredients and sharing recipes impacted the food choices of adults who have (or are at increased risk for) Type 2 diabetes. Individuals were provided with pre-filled, “default” shopping carts, but had the option to remove and replace healthy items placed in their carts. This meant that they had the ability to still purchase foods that were not nutritious.

The study found that despite the option to remove and replace, these participants’ grocery purchases had higher nutritional quality than the purchases of online and in-person shoppers whose carts were not pre-filled.

In the new UB-Instacart study, researchers will once again use “default” shopping carts pre-filled with ingredients that correspond to provided healthy recipes. This study specifically focuses on families with 2-to-5-year-old children. The project will begin recruiting local participant families this summer.

“In our previous study, the pre-filled shopping carts improved the nutritional quality of participants’ grocery purchases,” explains Mackenzie J. Ferrante, PhD, RDN, co-principal investigator on the UB-Instacart project. “However, this was before Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits were able to be used in the online grocery shopping platform. In our current study, families who use SNAP benefits will be able to participate. This will give us insight into how ‘optimal defaults’ might benefit those using SNAP, potentially impacting future policies related to SNAP benefits and online grocery shopping and impacting food security.”

UB’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute provided pilot funding for research that set the stage for the project. Buffalo Research News will continue to follow this project; watch upcoming issues for updates.