No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Simulating the Potential Effects of a Shelf-Tag Nutrition Information Program and Pricing on Diet Quality Associated with Ready-to-Eat Cereals
Abstract
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 simulate potential changes in RTE cereal consumption predicted by estimated demand if a GSP or a 10% price manipulation were in effect nationwide in the US, and measure the impact on intakes of whole grains, added sugars, sodium, and calories. We find small effects for the GSP and somewhat larger ones for a 10% price intervention.
... Firstly, nutrition labeling is an essential instrument for reducing asymmetric and uncertain information by providing them with information on nutrient contents (Akerlof, 1970;Roe et al., 2014). It increases consumers' confidence in the food market (Houghton et al., 2008), and helps consumers especially those who are looking for special products to compare various foods (Lin et al., 2014;Miller and Cassady, 2012). Secondly, nutrition labeling also influences the general perception of the health qualities of foods and reduces the attractiveness of unhealthy food (Boztuğ et al., 2015). ...
Based on a survey of 1,225 consumers in 10 cities of five representative provinces, this study was designed to understand the low use rate of food nutrition information in China after a mandatory label policy was instituted in 2013. We found that consumers always neglect nutrition information at point-of-purchase. But they refer to simplified front-of-pack labels more frequently than detailed back-of-pack labels. Fat information is most concerned especially by females; whereas sodium information attracts the least concern. Ignorance, a belief that the information is un-useful are the main cause of the low use rate of nutritional information. Thus, simplified and striking tag formats should be used to capture consumers’ attention and convince them of the importance of nutrition information. The findings can also be used as a guide in the design of food marketing programs directing at different consumer groups for food processors targeting the Chinese market.
... High food prices prompt consumers to seek lower-cost alternatives and lower income populations tend to be more sensitive to food prices (Fang et al., 2018). Additionally, food demand patterns and nutrient intake are strongly correlated as any change in food prices and/or income impacts food consumption, thus affecting individuals' nutrient availability (Hahn and Davis, 2014;Lin et al., 2014). While price and income elasticities of food represent the principal components in food consumption studies, nutrient elasticities are important as they indicate the impact of changes in food prices and real income on the consumption of nutrients. ...
A nutritional transition is occurring in Sri Lanka, which steers people away from nutrient-rich diets, contributing to diet-related disease and poor economic performance. This study examines demographic impacts on consumption of major food commodities and estimates price and expenditure elasticities for major food groups and nutrients. Data from the Sri Lankan Department of Census and Statistics Household Income and Expenditure survey are used to estimate price and expenditure elasticities for food commodities and nutrients using the Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System (QUAIDS). The zero-expenditure problem is circumvented by employing a Tobit model. Results demonstrate the impact of price and income changes on dietary intake of households, and income and nutrition policy recommendations are presented.
Many prevalent and costly health disorders in the U.S. can be attributed in part to poor diets, overconsumption of calories, and physical inactivity. Taxing less healthy foods and subsidizing healthy foods as a strategy to improve diet and health has attracted growing interest among policy makers and researchers. We test this strategy by using national household purchase data to estimate a censored, price and expenditure endogenous demand system for 12 food groups that are commonly consumed at breakfast: low- and high-nutrition ready-to-eat breakfast cereals, eggs, breads, hot cereals, breakfast bars, juice, whole and reduced-fat milk, yogurt, meats, and coffee. The estimated demand elasticities are applied to nationally representative food intake data to simulate?under the assumption of perfectly price elastic supply?the potential dietary improvement from taxing low-nutrition and subsidizing high-nutrition ready-to-eat breakfast cereals. We find that the demand for both types of cereals is own-price inelastic, suggesting that consumers are not likely to make large shifts in consumption of cereals if the price changes. Thus only limited dietary improvement can be expected from taxes and subsidies. Furthermore, when the healthfulness of breakfast foods is evaluated using a comprehensive list of nutrients and food components, a price intervention strategy may result in unintended, adverse impacts. Our simulation results suggest that the hypothetical price intervention actually increases the calorie content of foods consumed at breakfast.
When examining consumer food habits, nutritionists typically focus on analyses of food consumption. However, much can also be learned from studying food purchasing behavior. This comparison of actual to recommended purchasing patterns provides information that can guide information efforts to help U.S. consumers make healthier choices. Analyses of purchase data can also provide insight into the effectiveness of information efforts such as Federal nutrition labeling or supermarket shelf tag systems.
The federal government has issued Dietary Guidelines for Americans seven times since 1980, but the 2005 whole-grain recommendation was the first instance in which consumers were given a specific
dietary target, that whole grains should be at least half of their grain consumption. Anecdotal evidence pointed to a unique
result, an increase in demand for whole-grain foods. Contemporaneous decreases in prices of whole-grain foods, relative to
refined-grain foods, however, confound the evidence. We show that for whole-grain bread, there was an increase in retail demand
even after accounting for price changes. Separate models for higher- and lower-income consumers show that the demand shift
occurred among higher-income consumers, but not for lower-income consumers.
To describe ready-to-eat (RTE) cereal purchases in 2008 in the USA according to cereal nutritional quality and marketing strategy and household sociodemographic characteristics.
Cross-sectional study of purchases in one year. Each type of cereal was assigned to one of four nutrition quality categories (based on Nutrient Profile Index, NPI) and one of four advertising categories based on television exposure and analysis of packaging (child-targeted, family-targeted, adult-targeted and no television advertising). Medians and distributions of purchase indicators were calculated for the cereal categories and the distributions were compared across sociodemographic groups.
RTE cereals (n 249) with complete label and nutritional content.
RTE cereal purchases according to household sociodemographic characteristics obtained from Nielsen Homescan, a nationally representative panel of households.
Purchases of RTE cereals were highest in households with one or more child and lowest in African-American and Asian households, as well as those earning <$US 30 000 per annum. The lowest-quality products were purchased by four times as many households as the highest-quality cereals, but loyalty to these products was lower. Purchases of cereals by households with children and in African-American and Hispanic households increased as cereal nutritional quality declined. Compared with non-advertised products, advertised child-targeted cereals were purchased thirteen times more frequently; family-targeted brand purchases were ten times higher; and adult-targeted cereals were purchased four times more frequently.
Our findings suggest that improving the nutritional quality of RTE cereals with advertising targeted to children could also lead to increased consumption of healthier products by young people.
In light of proposals to improve diets by shifting food prices, it is important to understand how price changes affect demand for various foods.
We reviewed 160 studies on the price elasticity of demand for major food categories to assess mean elasticities by food category and variations in estimates by study design. Price elasticities for foods and nonalcoholic beverages ranged from 0.27 to 0.81 (absolute values), with food away from home, soft drinks, juice, and meats being most responsive to price changes (0.7–0.8). As an example, a 10% increase in soft drink prices should reduce consumption by 8% to 10%.
Studies estimating price effects on substitutions from unhealthy to healthy food and price responsiveness among at-risk populations are particularly needed.
This study described the food environment in 20 Minnesota secondary schools.
Data were collected on school food policies and the availability and nutritional content of foods in school à la carte (ALC) areas and vending machines (VMs).
Approximately 36% and 35% of foods in ALC areas and in VMs, respectively, met the lower-fat criterion (< or = 5.5 fat grams/serving). The chips/crackers category constituted the largest share of ALC foods (11.5%). The median number of VMs per school was 12 (4 soft drink, 2 snack, 5 other). Few school food policies were reported.
The availability of healthful foods and beverages in schools as well as school food policies that foster healthful food choices among students needs greater attention.
Taxing unhealthy foods has been proposed as a means to improve diet and health by reducing calorie intake and raising funds to combat obesity, particularly sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). A growing number of studies have examined the effects of such food taxes, but few have estimated the weight-loss effects. Typically, a static model of 3500 calories for one pound of body weight is used, and the main objective of the study is to demonstrate its bias. To accomplish the objective, we estimate income-segmented beverage demand systems to examine the potential effects of a SSB tax. Elasticity estimates and a hypothetical 20 percent effective tax rate (or about 0.5 cent per ounce) are applied to beverage intake data from a nationally representative survey, and we find an average daily reduction of 34-47 calories among adults and 40-51 calories among children. The tax-induced energy reductions are translated into weight loss using both static and dynamic calorie-to-weight models. Results demonstrate that the static model significantly overestimates the weight loss from reduced energy intake by 63 percent in year one, 346 percent in year five, and 764 percent in year 10, which leads to unrealistic expectations for obesity intervention strategies. The tax is estimated to generate $5.8 billion a year in revenue and is found to be regressive, although it represents about 1 percent of household food and beverage spending.
To estimate per-person and aggregate direct medical costs of overweight and obesity and to examine the effect of study design factors. PubMed (1968-2009), EconLit (1969-2009) and Business Source Premier (1995-2009) were searched for original studies. Results were standardized to compute the incremental cost per overweight person and per obese person, and to compute the national aggregate cost. A total of 33 US studies met review criteria. Among the four highest-quality studies, the 2008 per-person direct medical cost of overweight was 1723. The aggregate national cost of overweight and obesity combined was $113.9 billion. Study design factors that affected cost estimates included use of national samples vs. more selected populations, age groups examined, inclusion of all medical costs vs. obesity-related costs only, and body mass index cut-offs for defining overweight and obesity. Depending on the source of total national healthcare expenditures used, the direct medical cost of overweight and obesity combined is approximately 5.0% to 10% of US healthcare spending. Future studies should include nationally representative samples, evaluate adults of all ages, report all medical costs and use standard body mass index cut-offs.
Pricing policies have been posited as potential policy instruments to address the increasing prevalence of obesity. This article examines whether altering the cost of unhealthy, energy-dense foods, compared with healthy, less-dense foods through the use of fiscal pricing (tax or subsidy) policy instruments would, in fact, change food consumption patterns and overall diet enough to significantly reduce individuals' weight outcomes.
This article examined empirical evidence regarding the food and restaurant price sensitivity of weight outcomes based on a literature search to identify peer-reviewed English-language articles published between 1990 and 2008. Studies were identified from the Medline, PubMed, Econlit, and PAIS databases. The fifteen search combinations used the terms obesity, body mass index, and BMI each in combination with the terms price, prices, tax, taxation, and subsidy.
The studies reviewed showed that when statistically significant associations were found between food and restaurant prices (taxes) and weight outcomes, the effects were generally small in magnitude, although in some cases they were larger for low-socioeconomic status (SES) populations and for those at risk for overweight or obesity.
The limited existing evidence suggests that small taxes or subsidies are not likely to produce significant changes in BMI or obesity prevalence but that nontrivial pricing interventions may have some measurable effects on Americans' weight outcomes, particularly for children and adolescents, low-SES populations, and those most at risk for overweight. Additional research is needed to be able to draw strong policy conclusions regarding the effectiveness of fiscal-pricing interventions aimed at reducing obesity.
The 2005 Dietary Guidelines were unique because they offered quantitative recommendations for consumption of whole-grains. This case study examines the hypothesis that the changed recommendations were responsible for the recent increase in retail sales and consumption of whole-grain food products. We find that release of the Dietary Guidelines and related media attention did increase availability and sales of whole-grain foods. A large impact on consumption occurred through reformulation of existing products, induced by competition among food suppliers. This study reveals the key role product reformulation plays in inter-firm competition and in realization of dietary changes recommended by public policy.
There are both public health and food industry initiatives aimed at increasing breakfast consumption among children, particularly the consumption of ready-to-eat cereals. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there were identifiable differences in nutritional quality between cereals that are primarily marketed to children and cereals that are not marketed to children. Of the 161 cereals identified between January and February 2006, 46% were classified as being marketed to children (eg, packaging contained a licensed character or contained an activity directed at children). Multivariate analyses of variance were used to compare children's cereals and nonchildren's cereals with respect to their nutritional content, focusing on nutrients required to be reported on the Nutrition Facts panel (including energy). Compared to nonchildren's cereals, children's cereals were denser in energy, sugar, and sodium, but were less dense in fiber and protein. The proportion of children's and nonchildren's cereals that did and did not meet national nutritional guidelines for foods served in schools were compared using chi2analysis. The majority of children's cereals (66%) failed to meet national nutrition standards, particularly with respect to sugar content. t tests were used to compare the nutritional quality of children's cereals with nutrient-content claims and health claims to those without such claims. Although the specific claims were generally justified by the nutritional content of the product, there were few differences with respect to the overall nutrition profile. Overall, there were important differences in nutritional quality between children's cereals and nonchildren's cereals. Dietary advice for children to increase consumption of ready-to-eat breakfast cereals should identify and recommend those cereals with the best nutrient profiles.
Food guides are typically built around a system of food groups. Accordingly, the US Department of Agriculture's MyPyramid includes both food groups and subgroups, as well as an allowance for discretionary calories, in its guidance.
To identify the major dietary contributors to food group intake in the US population.
This cross-sectional study used 2001-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data to determine weighted population proportions for the contribution of each subgroup to its MyPyramid food group (ie, proportion), and the contribution of specific foods to the subgroups oils, solid fats, and added sugars (ie, major contributors). Food codes associated with each food were sorted into 96 categories, termed specific foods, and were linked to the MyPyramid Equivalents Database to obtain food group equivalents.
In regard to proportion, dark green vegetables (6%), orange vegetables (5%), and legumes (6%) fell well short of recommended levels. Intake of whole grains (10% of total) was far below the recommendation that at least half of all grains be whole. In regard to major contributors, top sources of oils were potato chips, salad dressing, and nuts/seeds; major contributors of solid fats were grain-based desserts, cheese, and sausages. Sweetened carbonated beverages provided 37% of added sugars.
Americans do not, in general, consume the most nutrient-dense forms of basic food groups, instead consuming foods that are high in solid fats and added sugars. The main culprits-the foods that contribute most to discrepancies between recommendations and actual intake-are sweetened carbonated beverages and other sweetened beverages, grain-based desserts, nonskim dairy products, and fatty meats.