Scientists have suggested that levying taxes on unhealthy food items could help encourage people to eat fruits and vegetables and whole grains.

The findings have been published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Psychological scientist Leonard Epstein at University of Buffalo carried out a study to determine the persuasiveness of sin taxes and subsides in the laboratory.

Epstein and team observed the shopping habits of people when taxes rose on junk food and subsides were given on healthy food items.

Experts discovered that increasing prices on unhealthy foods or introducing a discount on the price of healthy foods proved as an effective measure, which reduced the market of unhealthy food.

Boffins revealed to find that imposing taxes on unhealthy foods reduced overall calories purchased while subsidizing the prices of healthy food increased overall calories purchased without any change in the nutritional value.