Ilya Rahkovsky

United States Department of Agriculture | USDA · Economic Research Service (ERS)

Objectives. We estimated the association between the price of healthy and less-healthy food groups and blood sugar among US adults with type 2 diabetes. Methods. We linked 1999–2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey health information to food prices contained in the Quarterly Food-at-Home Price Database. We regressed blood sugar leve...

Objetivos. Calculamos la asociación entre el precio de diversas categorías de alimentos saludables y menos saludables y la glucemia en adultos estadounidenses con diabetes de tipo 2. Métodos. Vinculamos la información de salud contenida en la Encuesta Nacional de Salud y Nutrición 1999–2006 y el precio de los alimentos a partir de la base trimestra...

For both clinical and economic reasons, the increasing number of persons living with chronic conditions represents a public health issue of growing importance. Emphasizing patient responsibility, and acting in concert with the provider community, self-management represents a promising strategy for treating chronic conditions—moving beyond education...

This report examines the growing availability of food away from home (FAFH), presenting research on food choices and availability; nutrition and diet quality; and food policies, including menu labeling and food assistance programs. It also examines how FAFH choices relate to diet quality and sociodemographic characteristics.

Objectives: We estimated the association between the price of healthy and less-healthy food groups and blood sugar among US adults with type 2 diabetes. Methods: We linked 1999-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey health information to food prices contained in the Quarterly Food-at-Home Price Database. We regressed blood sugar l...

Previous research has shown that the Guiding Stars ProgramTM (GSP), a shelf-tag nutrition information system used in some supermarkets in the United States (US), increases consumer demand for ready-to-eat (RTE) breakfast cereals that the program considers more nutritious. Further, consumer demand for cereals is found to respond to price. Here we si...

Most Americans fail to meet federal dietary recommendations. This may be partly due to the costs of healthy eating. This article reviews the costs and benefits of healthy eating. On the cost side, we discuss food prices, food preparation and other time costs, transportation costs, psychological costs, costs of obtaining nutrition information, and c...

Federal agencies that are charged with giving dietary advice to consumers-the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services- recommend that consumers keep their intake of trans fatty acids as low as possible. To that end, Federal regulations now require food labels to say how many grams of trans fats are in eac...

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) cost Americans billions of dollars per year. High cholesterol levels, which are closely related to dietary habits, are a major contributor to CVD. In this article, we study whether changes in food prices are related to cholesterol levels and whether taxes or subsidies on particular foods would be effective in lowering...

When Russia’s transition to a market-oriented economy began in 1992, detailed information about firm-level performance was not available, but there was widespread expectation that firm efficiency had to improve for the transition to succeed. Where were efficiency gains likely? Where were they needed? Did the Soviet development strategy of according...

Competition between insurance companies for employees of a firm often increases the prices and reduces the availability of high-quality health plans offered to employees. An insurance company can reduce competition by signing an exclusive contract, which guarantees that the company is the only insurance provider. The study assesses whether exclusiv...