Banning Junk Food At Checkouts Leads To Drop In Sugar-Laden Sales, Study Finds

Key TakeawaysBans on soda and candy bars at store checkouts can lower sales of unhealthy foodsSoda and candy sales decreased following a Berkeley, California banThe ban warded off impulse junk food purchases.WEDNESDAY, Sept. 16, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Banning displays of sodas, candy bars and junk food from store checkout lanes can prompt people to cut back on unhealthy eats, a new study says.Sales of soda and candy decreased significantly after such a ban took effect in Berkeley, California, researchers reported recently in The Lancet Public Health.“Through bright lighting, colorful packaging and eye-level placement, checkout lanes are intentionally designed to draw shoppers’ attention to snacks and beverages with high added sugar,” co-lead researcher Justin White said in a news release. He is an associate professor of health law, policy and management at Boston University. “Our findings suggest that healthy checkout policies can help reduce impulsive purchases and even encourage healthier snack choices, but it is critical for cities to actively enforce these policies if they aim to see meaningful and sustained decreases in sugary product sales,” White said.In March 2021, Berkeley became the first city in the world to ban the display of sugary drinks and snacks in store checkout lanes, where candy bars and chocolates are often placed to tempt shoppers waiting in line, researchers said.For the new study, researchers analyzed candy and soda sales in supermarkets, drug stores and big-box stores in Berkeley and three other California cities: Davis, Oakland and Sacramento.The team looked specifically at sales after the ban was implemented in 2021 and when it became enforceable in 2022. Their analysis included 71 stores in total.Overall, candy sales increased moderately after the policy was implemented, but not after enforcement began, researchers said. However, sales of healthy, lower-sugar items like snack packs of nuts also increased.Soda sales decreased substantially after the ban was implemented and enforced, results showed. Supermarkets, which complied the most with the ban, saw the greatest declines in sales of candy and sodas, researchers said. Drug stores, which complied the least, saw no decline in sales.“No single policy alone can address the problems with our food system,” senior researcher Jennifer Falbe, an associate professor of nutrition and human development at the University of California-Davis, said in a news release.“However, expanding healthy checkout policies to cover other prime locations and pairing this policy with evidence-based strategies like mandatory front-of-package labeling, sweetened-beverage excise taxes and subsidies for healthy foods, could improve diet quality,” she added.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering mandatory front-of-package labeling that would highlight added sugars, Falbe noted.“If the FDA moves forward with a well-designed front-of-package label, they could make it easier to implement healthy-product-placement policies,” she said. “Stores and city inspectors could use ‘high in added sugar’ or ‘high in sodium’ labels to spot products that should not be placed in prime locations like checkout lanes.”More informationThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration has more on nutrition food labels.SOURCE: Boston University, news release, Sept. 10, 2026 .What This Means For YouAvoiding junk food at the checkout lane can help you cut down on unhealthy impulse buys..Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

Banning Junk Food At Checkouts Leads To Drop In Sugar-Laden Sales, Study Finds

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