Hayden Stewart

Can Low-income Americans Afford to Satisfy MyPyramid Fruit and Vegetable Guidelines?

OBJECTIVE To estimate the costs of satisfying MyPyramid fruit and vegetable guidelines, with a focus on whether low-income households can bear these costs. DESIGN Descriptive analysis of the 2008 National Consumer Panel with information on the food purchases of 64,440 households across the contiguous United States was used to analyze the cost of fruits and vegetables. Costs per MyPyramid cup-equivalents were calculated by accounting for cooking yields and the portion of a food items retail weight that is inedible. VARIABLES MEASURED Costs per cup-equivalent for less expensive fruits and vegetables by MyPyramid subgroup including whole and cut fruit, fruit juice, dark green vegetables, orange vegetables, starchy vegetables, other vegetables, and legumes. RESULTS In 2008, a variety of fruits and vegetables was available for an average cost of

Retail Dairy Prices Fluctuate with the Farm Value of Milk

0.40 to

Modeling A Household’s Choice among Food Store Types

0.50 per cup-equivalent. MyPyramid fruit and vegetable recommendations could be satisfied at this cost level. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Low-income Americans facing national average food prices can satisfy MyPyramid fruit and vegetable guidelines with a budget equal to the Thrifty Food Plan allocation to fruits and vegetables. However, many low-income households spend too much money on food that is low in fruit and vegetable content. Some money should be reallocated to fruits and vegetables.

WIC Households’ Bread and Cold Cereal Purchases: When They Use Benefits Versus Paying Out of Pocket

Farm milk prices tend to be volatile. Dairy farmers, industry pundits, and policymakers further tend to react to price volatility with alarm. One point of concern is the response of retail prices. This study investigates farm-to-retail price transmission in the 2000s for whole milk and Cheddar cheese. Results show that price shocks at the farm gate are transmitted with delay and asymmetry to retail. Differences in the nature of price transmission for whole milk and Cheddar cheese prices are also identified.

Menu Labeling Imparts New Information About the Calorie Content of Restaurant Foods

A households choice among the different types of food stores to patronize depends on characteristics of both the stores and the household. Store characteristics include prices and promotional deals. Two types of household characteristics are important: the households specific purchase history and demographics. This study proposes a new multinomial logit model to account for these choice determinants. In an empirical application to fluid milk, we find that store characteristics and both household demographics and purchase history are significant determinants of a households store-type choices and must all be included in a choice model. Copyright 2012, Oxford University Press.

How major restaurant chains plan their menus: the role of profit, demand, and health.

Purpose: The US Department of Agriculture’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) seeks to improve the health of participating women and children by providing nutrition education and a monthly package of supplemental foods including whole grain bread and cereal. While some studies confirm that participants consume more whole grains, others find no effect. In this study, we hypothesize that the positive association between WIC and whole grains is being reduced in size and consistency by several factors. Design/Setting/Participants: American households were surveyed about their food purchases. Overall response rate was 45.6%. A total of 4826 households completed the survey including 471 WIC households. Measures: The survey recorded households’ purchases of refined and whole grains in bread and cereal over 1 week. Analysis: T tests were used to compare the bread and cereal purchases of WIC and eligible, non-WIC households. Probit models were also estimated to assess a WIC household’s likelihood to choose whole grain foods when using benefits versus other payment methods. Results: On average, WIC households acquired more whole grains in bread than eligible, non-WIC households (1.33 vs 0.72 ounce equivalents per household member aged 1 year or older; P < .05). No difference is found for cereal (P > .10). Moreover, when using payment methods other than WIC benefits, WIC participants are 19% less likely than other households to choose whole grain bread (P < .05) and 20% less likely to choose a whole grain cold cereal (P < .05), which suggests that WIC-provided foods may replace some whole grains participants would otherwise buy for themselves. Conclusion: WIC is positively associated with whole grains. However, the association is stronger for bread than cereal. Moreover, foods provided through the program may partially replace whole grains that WIC households would otherwise buy for themselves.

Low-Income Households' Expenditures On Fruits And Vegetables

Restaurant foods are typically higher in calories than meals consumed at home. Menu labeling regulations by the U.S. Food and Drug and Administration aim to inform consumers about the calorie content of menu items. However, some consumers may already be making at least partially informed decisions. For example, as a rule of thumb, a consumer may be aware that deep-fried foods are higher in calories. He or she may also know to avoid side dishes like French fries and onion rings. Indeed, it has been argued that some consumers can already identify which foods best satisfy their needs and wants and gain little new information from menu labeling. In this study, following research in marketing science and behavioral economics, we assume that a representative consumer employs rules-of-thumb nutrition knowledge to judge the calorie content of restaurant foods when explicit information is unavailable. We then investigate whether rules of thumb accurately predict the calorie content of 361 meals sold by 2 major fast-food restaurants and 5,752 meals sold by 5 major full-service restaurants. Results show that some simple rules of thumb are fairly reliable predictors of actual calorie content. They and other information available at the point of sale also explain about half of the total variation in calories in restaurant foods. Nonetheless, we find that menu labeling still imparts substantial new information. In particular, it is likely that many Americans are already able to make crude choices between high- and low-calorie foods, based on their pre-existing understandings of nutrition. Menu labeling allows them to make finer adjustments in their food choices and behavior, if they wish to.