Trial reportAppetite2019
Optimising swaps to reduce the salt content of food purchases in a virtual online supermarket: A randomised controlled trial.
Trial report in Appetite, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Emerging Technologies for Investigating Food Consumer Behavior: A Systematic Review.Comprehensive reviews in food science and food safety · 2025Pooled it
- The impact of restricting price promotions on foods high in fat, sugar and salt on purchasing behaviours: a randomised controlled trial in a simulated online supermarket in the UK.Public health nutrition · 2026Trial
- A Behaviorally Informed Mobile App to Improve the Nutritional Quality of Grocery Shopping (SwapSHOP): Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2024Trial
- Impact on alcohol selection and online purchasing of changing the proportion of available non-alcoholic versus alcoholic drinks: A randomised controlled trial.PLoS medicine · 2023Trial
- Strategies to reduce the energy content of foods pre-ordered for lunch in the workplace: a randomised controlled trial in an experimental online canteen.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2022Trial
- Nudging customers towards healthier food and beverage purchases in a real-life online supermarket: a multi-arm randomized controlled trial.BMC medicine · 2022Trial
- The use of food swaps to encourage healthier online food choices: a randomized controlled trial.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Supply- and demand-side drivers of the change in the sugar density of food purchased between 2015 and 2018 in Great Britain.The British journal of nutrition · 2025Article
- Eater-oriented knowledge framework for reducing salt and dietary sodium intake (scoping review).Frontiers in nutrition · 2023Review
- Strategies to Reduce Salt Content and Its Effect on Food Characteristics and Acceptance: A Review.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Perceptions of social norms around healthy and environmentally-friendly food choices: Linking the role of referent groups to behavior.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Virtual Reality Expands the Toolkit for Conducting Health Psychology Research.Social and personality psychology compass · 2021Article
- A Standardized Guide to Developing an Online Grocery Store for Testing Nutrition-Related Policies and Interventions in an Online Setting.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Article
- Experience of Using an Online Pre-Ordering System for A Workplace Canteen That Offers Lower-Energy Swaps: A Think-Aloud Study.Nutrients · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundOffering consumers the opportunity to swap to lower-salt foods while shopping has potential to reduce salt intake. Offering a wider range of alternatives which are much lower in salt could increase the magnitude of salt reduction gained but may interfere with consumers' engagement and willingness to accept swaps.
objectivesTo compare the salt reduction from offering swaps to a similar product but with minimally less salt to offering swaps with a substantial salt reduction including a range of alternative foods.
methodsIn an experimental, randomised trial conducted in a virtual online supermarket, participants with high blood pressure were asked to buy 12 items of food. One group was offered similar alternatives with 5-20% less salt (LS swaps); and the other group was offered these LS swaps and alternatives with >20% less salt (MLS swaps). The primary outcome was the change in salt density of the shopping basket (g/100g) from initially selected items, to the final items chosen.
results947 participants completed the task and were included in the analysis. There was a significant reduction in salt content of the final selected shopping basket in both groups; with a significantly greater reduction in the group offered LS + MLS swaps (-0.09g/100g, 95% C.I. -0.10, -0.07; p < 0.001). The proportion of swaps accepted was the same in both groups and the mean salt reduction per swap accepted in the group offered LS + MLS swaps was more than double that of the group offered LS swaps alone. 30% of MLS swaps accepted were from a different food subcategory.
conclusionsOffering alternative products with a large reduction in salt, including potentially dissimilar products, does not decrease acceptability and leads to significantly greater reductions in the salt content of the shopping basket.
trial registrationISRCTN, ISRCTN91306993. Registered 5th February 2018 - retrospectively registered. https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN91306993.
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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.