ABOUT THE STUDY
People need nutrition in order to live. Not only is there enough food in Switzerland, but a large part of the population also has the purchasing power to buy sufficient supplies. Eating a healthy diet is important but not always easy. Processed foods in particular contain many additives and flavour-enhancing fats, sugars and salts. This is one of the reasons why the public debate often focuses on the nutritional aspects of our diet and on the respective roles and responsibilities of the various parties involved.
The actual dietary intake is difficult to determine and can only be estimated roughly. Due to the high relevance for different stakeholders, various methods have been developed in Switzerland to assess nutrition systematically. The figures of the studies available so far arrive at different conclusions: Agristat projects the kilocalories available per day and capita to be 3,050 kcal. However, this corresponds to the resources available for foreign business and first processing. menuCH arrived at a consumption of 2,232 kcal based on survey data.
There is currently no systematic and scalable approach to measuring consumption in Switzerland. Against this background, we would like to use the Swiss Nutrition Atlas to contribute to the measurement of dietary intake. The overriding objective is to draw conclusions about the Swiss population’s diet based on shopping data. Nutritional data provide systematic access to dietary data that can be automated and scaled with better understanding, allowing food intake to be recorded, modelled and analysed within a few weeks in the future. This approach is not only exciting from a consumer-oriented perspective but also offers nutritionists and physicians treating at-risk patients quick analysis options to identify unhealthy products among those actually consumed.
STUDY AUTHORS
Prof. Dr. Marc Linzmajer
Study Author and Project Manager
Dr Marc Linzmajer is Assistant Professor for Retail Marketing & Service Management and Vice Director of the Institute of Retail Management at the University of St. Gallen. Dr Marc Linzmajer heads the Competence Centre for Shopper Marketing, Inspiration & Pricing and one of his research projects investigates the effects of sugar on consumers' decision-making behaviour.
Matthias Eggenschwiler
Study Author and Research Assistant
Matthias Eggenschwiler is a research assistant and doctoral candidate at the Institute of Retail Management at the University of St. Gallen. Matthias Eggenschwiler heads the Competence Centre for Retail Strategy and Metrics. He is writing his doctoral thesis in the field of consumer behaviour research and the establishment of new metrics in retail.
Prof. Dr. med.
Dr. phil. Lia Bally
Study Author
Dr Dr Lia Bally is Professor, Head of Nutritional Medicine, Metabolism and Obesity and Head of Research at the University Clinic for Diabetology, Endocrinology, Nutritional Medicine and Metabolism at Inselspital Bern. Dr Dr Lia Bally is in particular concerned with the regulation of glucose homeostasis and disorders, which lead to diabetes and other diseases with impaired blood sugar control. In detail, the complex interplay between nutrition, hormonal responses, and metabolic communication between organs in people with diabetes and obesity is explored in detail.
STUDY SPONSORS
We are always looking for and need companies that financially support research projects of this magnitude. In this context, we would like to thank Coca-Cola HBC Schweiz AG for sponsoring this research project. The authors are solely responsible for the design of the study, the choice of research methodology, the collection and analysis of data, the interpretation and the writing of the report.
Study Sponsor February/March 2022
CREDITS
We would like to express our sincere thanks to all contacts from politics, industry, trade and research who were available during the research project and provided us with helpful feedback on the project. We would also expressly like to thank the Institute of Retail Management team, which provided support, particularly concerning data preparation and in many other ways.