There's little difference in the amount spent on food by the least and most healthy eaters, researchers have found.
Data on what influences people's shopping and eating habits will be presented at the Australian and New Zealand Obesity Society's three-day conference in Auckland which kicked off on Thursday.
Time, environmental cues and advertising all influence our daily diet.
New Zealand Health Promotion Agency nutritionist Rebecca Whiting told NZ Newswire researchers had assumed that cost is the primary factor in the healthiness or otherwise of people's diets.
However, when data emerged that there's no significant difference in the weekly or per person spend on food between the least and most healthy eaters, researchers wanted to find out what else was at play.
Data from the 2010 Health and Lifestyles Survey, a large nationwide in-home survey has been used to build up a picture of where New Zealanders go to buy their food and why.
A sample of 820 parents or caregivers with children aged between five and 16 were asked how often they bought food and drinks and where from.
The survey found cost isn't the only driver of consumption and there was no difference in the weekly shopping spend on food and drinks between high and low fruit and vegetable consuming households.
"There are a whole lot of other factors affecting what we buy, such as environmental cues, signage, advertising, our taste preferences, the amount of time we've got to prepare food, the amount of planning or lack of planning that we're doing," Ms Whiting said.
"We want to make healthy eating tasty, easy, and low-cost. To do this, we need to understand more about the families we are talking to, what they like eating, and how they shop."
NZN