Trial reportAppetite2018
Effect of snack-food proximity on intake in general population samples with higher and lower cognitive resource.
Trial report in Appetite, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Altering the availability or proximity of food, alcohol, and tobacco products to change their selection and consumption.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Altering the availability or proximity of food, alcohol, and tobacco products to change their selection and consumption.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Impact of increasing the availability of healthier vs. less-healthy food on food selection: a randomised laboratory experiment.BMC public health · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Impact of proximity of healthier versus less healthy foods on intake: A lab-based experiment.Appetite · 2019Trial
- Availability of healthier vs. less healthy food and food choice: an online experiment.BMC public health · 2018Trial
- Snacking Behaviors in Relation to Stress and Physical Activity Using Automated Dietary Assessment: Observational Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Observational
- Perceived food value depends on display format, preference strength, and physical accessibility.Appetite · 2025Article
- Real-life experiments in supermarkets to encourage healthy dietary-related behaviours: opportunities, challenges and lessons learned.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2023Article
- Activation Versus Change as a Principle Underlying Intervention Strategies to Promote Health Behaviors.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2023Review
- Nudgeability: Mapping Conditions of Susceptibility to Nudge Influence.Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2022Article
- Functional Mechanisms of Health Behavior Change Techniques: A Conceptual Review.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Review
- Snacks and The City: Unexpected Low Sales of an Easy-Access, Tasty, and Healthy Snack at an Urban Snacking Hotspot.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- The Effects of Ethnically Congruent Music on Eye Movements and Food Choice-A Cross-Cultural Comparison between Danish and Chinese Consumers.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
- Beyond Discrete Choices - Investigating the Effectiveness of a Proximity Nudge With Multiple Alternative Options.Frontiers in psychology · 2020Article
- Plate size and food consumption: a pre-registered experimental study in a general population sample.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivePlacing snack-food further away from people consistently decreases its consumption ("proximity effect"). However, given diet-related health inequalities, it is important to know whether interventions that alter food proximity have potential to change behaviour regardless of cognitive resource (capacity for self-control). This is often lower in those in lower socio-economic positions, who also tend to have less healthy diet-related behaviours. Study 1 aims to replicate the proximity effect in a general population sample and estimate whether trait-level cognitive resource moderates the effect. In a stronger test, Study 2 investigates whether the effect is similar regardless of manipulated state-level cognitive resource.
methodParticipants were recruited into two laboratory studies (Study 1: n = 159; Study 2: n = 246). A bowl of an unhealthy snack was positioned near (20 cm) or far (70 cm) from the participant, as randomised. In Study 2, participants were further randomised to a cognitive load intervention. The pre-specified primary outcome was the proportion of participants taking any of the snack.
resultsSignificantly fewer participants took the snack when far compared with near in Study 2 (57.7% vs 70.7%, β = -1.63, p = 0.020), but not in Study 1 (53.8% vs 63.3%, X
conclusionsThese studies provide the most robust evidence to date that placing food further away reduces likelihood of consumption in general population samples, an effect unlikely to be moderated by cognitive resource. This indicates potential for interventions altering food proximity to contribute to addressing health inequalities, but requires testing in real-world settings.
trial registrationBoth studies were registered with ISRCTN (Study 1 reference no.: ISRCTN46995850, Study 2 reference no.: ISRCTN14239872).
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.