For reproducibility of findings, this study used existing publically or commercially available data that was not reliant on propriety data from the 16 participating companies. A detailed review of these sources is provided elsewhere.
Nielsen Homescan data from 2007 and 2012 were used to track total caloric purchases and caloric purchases by U.S. households from each of the three brand categories.The Homescan data contain detailed UPC level information about household food purchases brought into the home and cover all UPC transactions from all outlet channels, including grocery, drug, mass-merchandise, club, supercenter, and convenience stores.32 The data are collected daily by providing scanning equipment to a nationally resentative sample of more than 60,000 households in 2007 and 2012.
Nutrition Facts Label (NFL) data are the information provided in the familiar rectangular box in a standard format on labels of foods and beverages. Label informa- tion on macronutrients, other vitamins and minerals,and ingredients36from each UPC are from several commercial sources.