Foods and beverages marketed in major food retailer flyers : a repeat cross-sectional study in the Canadian food environment

Abstract

Grocery flyers are an important component of the informational food environment that can affect food purchasing behaviour. This thesis used a repeat cross-sectional design to examine the food group content and nutrient profiles of foods and beverages marketed in Canada’s largest food retailer’s flyers in 2014, 2017, and 2021. The largest proportions of flyer items were baked products (11%), non-alcoholic beverages (10.7%) and milk and dairy (10.2%). Least healthy/ultra-processed items, as coded by three nutrient profiling systems, made up a substantial proportion of flyer content (Canada’s Food Guide (CFG): 58.5%, Ontario’s Policy/Program Memorandum no. 150 (PPM150): 45.3%, NOVA (not an acronym) Level of Processing classification: 51.2%); however, the healthiest/un/minimally processed groups of items followed (CFG: 33.6%, PPM150: 36.6%, NOVA: 27.8%). The only feature of the flyer that consistently predicted healthiness was a food being on the first page of the flyer, and not store type, geographic region, or publication year.