Public health interventions targeted at discretionary food portion control: A qualitative study from consumers' perspectives.

Aim: This qualitative study aimed to gain insights from Australian consumers to inform the development of potential interventions to facilitate better portion control of discretionary foods.

Methods: Four focus group sessions were conducted online with Australian adults (aged 18-65). A semi-structured question guide with proposed interventions in selected settings (cafes and supermarkets) was developed to moderate the discussion. Collected data were analysed using a combined approach; deductive thematic analysis was conducted using a predeveloped codebook, followed by inductive thematic analysis which was used to capture additional patterns raised from the data.

Results: A total of 35 participants completed the study (mean age 38, 19 females). Three major themes were identified; (1) portion control challenges posed by the food environment, (2) support for portion size interventions conditional upon consistent unit pricing, and (3) the trade-off between smaller sizes, cost, and packaging waste. The current food environment was identified as promoting overconsumption, with larger serving sizes reported to be more ubiquitous and better value for money than smaller sizes. Participants mostly supported interventions that improve portion control of discretionary foods by providing a wider range of serving size options that meet their personal preferences, with proportional pricing whilst simultaneously reducing default serving sizes. However, the increase in packaging waste as a result of the greater availability of smaller packages was noted as a concern.

Conclusions: Future research should focus on gathering more representative data from various population subgroups to inform public health recommendations aimed at improving discretionary food portion control.