A recent study indicates that as much as one-fifth of the total food expenditure of Finns is spent on nutritionally unnecessary, or discretionary, foods. The category includes confectionary, sweet baked goods, desserts, savoury snacks, sugar and other sweeteners, sweetened and unsweetened soft drinks and juices, alcoholic beverages, cocoa, coffee and tea.
A joint study carried out by the University of Helsinki, Tampere University and Natural Resources Institute Finland compared the total purchases of households with varying preferred protein sources, including red meat, poultry, fish or plant proteins. Nearly 30,000 co-op members of the Finnish S Group food retail chain gave their consent to participate in the study.
Discretionary foods accounted for a large share of purchases, roughly one-fifth of the money spent, regardless of whether meat or plant protein sources were preferred.
These generated a large share of the environmental impact of food purchases, including more than one-fifth of the climate impact on average. Other impacts observed included freshwater and marine eutrophication as well as land and water use. Similar findings have been made in, for example, Australia and Sweden.
What makes it significant is that many foods classified as discretionary have a small environmental impact per mass unit. Their combined effect is nevertheless considerable.
“The discussion on reducing the carbon footprint should also encompass discretionary foods alongside foods derived from animals. Reducing discretionary foods would also improve the nutritional quality of purchases, as they amounted to almost 20% of the energy content and 60% of the added sugar,” says University Researcher Jelena Meinilä from the University of Helsinki.
Price no obstacle to favouring fish and plant proteins
The study also found that the money spent on protein sources in relation to the dietary energy content was the same even though the shares of protein sources varied significantly between groups. Those who preferred read meat spent €1.6 per 2,500 kcal on protein sources, with 46% spent on red meat. Correspondingly, those who preferred plant-based protein sources spent €1.5 per 2,500 kcal. Of their total expenditure on protein sources, 1% was spent on red meat.
“This suggests that a health-promoting and environmentally friendly transition towards fish and plants as protein sources is not primarily about price,” Meinilä says.
The purchases of those who preferred plant-based protein sources contained more fibre, folate and iron, and less saturated fat and salt. Vitamin B12 and D concentrations were lower for this group compared with those favouring other protein sources, which should be considered in the transition towards plant-based dietary patterns. The highest concentrations of the above vitamins were found in the purchases of those preferring fish. This supports the inclusion of fish in diets, as long as it is sustainably caught or produced.
The researchers emphasise that making population-level food consumption increasingly healthy and environmentally friendly cannot be left to individuals only. Instead, systemic change is needed. Food product options, their arrangement in the shop and pricing must make healthy choices that support the environment easy. The new Nordic and Finnish nutrition recommendations provide a good basis for transforming supply and demand.
Funding for the project is provided by the Research Council of Finland.
Original article:
Meinilä, J., Mazac, R., Vepsäläinen, H. et al. Discretionary foods have notable environmental and expenditure relevance across meat and plant protein preferences. npj Sci Food (2026).