--- title: Vending Machines: 25-Second Delay Encourages Healthy Eating description: Delaying access to high-calorie food in vending machines can encourage people to make healthier snack choices, according to a new study. canonical: https://time.com/4720854/vending-machines-25-second-delay-study/ author: Kate Samuelson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-31T17:48:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T10:51:19.270Z article:section: Health og:title: The Trick to Picking Healthier Snacks: A 25-Second Delay og:description: "Having to wait for something makes it less desirable" og:url: https://time.com/4720854/vending-machines-25-second-delay-study/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9da50f4f2061bc8a/69869cc5cd6848854a095c4d/vending-machine.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2688 og:image:height: 1512 og:image:alt: Vending machine og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Trick to Picking Healthier Snacks: A 25-Second Delay twitter:description: "Having to wait for something makes it less desirable" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9da50f4f2061bc8a/69869cc5cd6848854a095c4d/vending-machine.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Trick to Picking Healthier Snacks: A 25-Second Delay on Vending Machines > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=e7b11408-e296-4131-8498-f90c4d0f4d72&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Mar 31, 2017 5:48 PM UTC  Vending machine Vending machine Getty Images by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Mar 31, 2017 5:48 PM UTC Delaying access to high-calorie food in [vending machines](http://time.com/money/4566294/snapchat-spectacles-vending-machines/) can encourage people to make [healthier snack choices](http://time.com/money/4436057/unexpected-buys-vending-machines/), according to a new study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Preventive medicine experts at [Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center](https://www.eurekalert.org/pub%5Freleases/2017-03/rumc-tdi032317.php) developed a new vending machine system to test out whether introducing a 25-second delay on less healthy snack items, with a delivery countdown displayed on an LED screen, would lead individuals to change their snack choice to a healthier — and quicker — option. The team found that introducing a delay did shift some people’s choices and led to them purchasing a less desired but healthier snack. Overall, the delay yielded a 2-5% increase in the proportion of healthy snacks that were purchased from the machine. “Having to wait for something makes it less desirable,” said Brad Appelhans, a clinical psychologist at the Rush University Prevention Center and lead investigator of the study. “Research shows that humans strongly prefer immediate gratification, and this preference influences choices and behavior in daily life.” According to the study’s authors, vending machines are the most prevalent source of high-calorie snacks in the U.S and there are 1.3 million snack vending machines across the country. Healthy eating interventions, including removing unhealthy options from vending machines altogether, have been tried and tested, but previous research shows that totally restricting the option reduces the machine’s profits that are relied on by the institute or organization it is placed in. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4720854/vending-machines-25-second-delay-study/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4720854/vending-machines-25-second-delay-study/"},"headline":"The Trick to Picking Healthier Snacks: A 25-Second Delay on Vending Machines","datePublished":"2017-03-31T17:48:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:51:19.270Z","description":"\"Having to wait for something makes it less desirable\"","url":"https://time.com/4720854/vending-machines-25-second-delay-study/","keywords":["food and drink","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9da50f4f2061bc8a/69869cc5cd6848854a095c4d/vending-machine.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kate Samuelson","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9da50f4f2061bc8a/69869cc5cd6848854a095c4d/vending-machine.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Vending machine","caption":"Vending machine","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/food-and-drink/","name":"food and drink"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4720854/vending-machines-25-second-delay-study/","name":"The Trick to Picking Healthier Snacks: A 25-Second Delay on Vending Machines"}}]}] ```