Australian researchers have accused supermarket catalogues of fuelling the global obesity epidemic with their promotions of poor junk food.
According an international study just published in Preventive Medicine, unhealthy foods are the most-promoted items in supermarket brochures around the world.
Researchers from Deakin University's WHO Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention assessed the content of catalogues from major supermarket chains in 12 countries.
They found that unhealthy food was particularly prominent in the catalogues of most countries, particularly Hong Kong, UK, USA, Australia and Malaysia, with exceptions in the Philippines (no unhealthy foods) and India (11 per cent unhealthy food).
They also found that the front covers included markedly healthier products than the remainder of the catalogue, reflecting the desire by retailers to present a healthy image.
"A clear opportunity exists for supermarkets to use their circulars [catalogues] to promote healthy eating," said Adrian Cameron, a senior research fellow with the centre.
"This international comparison shows that some major supermarkets are able to promote more healthy foods than unhealthy foods.
"The high levels of promotion of junk food by other supermarkets therefore need not be the norm.
"We believe the promotion of unhealthy foods by supermarkets could be a major barrier to halting the global obesity epidemic.”
Catalogues from Hong Kong store Park'N'Shop promoted the greatest proportion of unhealthy food and alcohol (69 per cent), with content from Asda (UK, 61 per cent), Kroger (USA, 57 per cent), Coles and Woolworths (Australia 54 per cent) and Giant (Malaysia, 51 per cent) all including more than half unhealthy food and alcohol.
Catalogues from Loblaws (Canada), New World (New Zealand), Fairprice (Singapore) and Shoprite (South Africa) also contained a high proportion of unhealthy food (40 to 50 per cent).
