James R. Blaylock

ECONOMICS, FOOD CHOICES, AND NUTRITION

Abstract Our goal in this paper is to examine the role and influence of economic factors, defined rather broadly, on consumer food choices, and, hence, nutritional outcomes. We attempt to do this in a non-technical fashion. We examine the role of prices, especially as they relate to the affordability of food in the United States and as a policy lever. Income is analyzed as a driving force behind changes in eating habits, in particular increasing the demand for convenience. The role of time constraints as well as time preference are examined as links to healthy eating habits and as forces behind current trends in eating patterns. Information and knowledge are given prominent play as counter balances to economic forces driving eating habits. We conclude with and examination into maternal nutrition knowledge and childrens dietary quality.

Mother's Nutrition Knowledge and Children's Dietary Intakes

This article uses U.S. food consumption data to examine the effect of maternal nutrition knowledge on the dietary intakes of children between two and seventeen years of age. Results show that maternal knowledge influences childrens diets and that such influence decreases as children grow older. Nutrition knowledge acts as a pathway through which maternal education influences childrens diets. This finding supports the hypothesis that education affects health-related choices by raising the allocative efficiency of health input use. The results suggest that nutrition education may be more effective if targeted both toward mothers with young children and directly toward school-age children. Copyright 1999, Oxford University Press.

A Probit Latent Variable Model of Nutrition Information and Dietary Fiber Intake

Nutrition information and intake data for a sample of U.S. household meal planners are used to estimate the effects of fiber-specific information on dietary fiber intake. The information variables are measured using survey questions on fiber content of foods, attitude toward consuming fiber-rich foods, and awareness of fiber-health links. The evidence confirms the influence of nutrition information on fiber intake. Household income, meal planner age, smoking status, vegetarian status, race, and ethnicity are major determinants of both information and intake. Education exerts a sizable intake effect by enhancing the information level. Direct and indirect effects of exogenous variables are reported. Copyright 1996, Oxford University Press.

Self-evaluated health status and smoking behaviour

The relationship between smoking behaviour and self-evaluated health status is investigated from several different perspectives. Separate models are developed to study the simultaneous relationships between health status and whether a person currently smokes, has quit, and the number of cigarettes consumed. The models indicate that current smokers have lower odds of being in good health than non-smokers and the odds favouring good health are higher for those who have never smoked than for ex-smokers. No evidence was found that ex-smokers have higher odds of having good health than current smokers.

Distinguishing between Market Participation and Infrequency of Purchase Models of Butter Demand

Household butter expenditures are modeled by market participation and infrequency-of-purchase specifications. The market participation model assumes that zero expenditures represent either traditional corner solutions or consumers who never use the product, whereas the infrequency-of-purchase model assumes that zero expenditures represent either corner solutions or consumption out of storage. We determine that the infrequency-of-purchase specification is preferred to the market participation model by applying a nonnested test based upon likelihood functions. If household expenditure surveys contained information about participation and frequency of purchase, a likelihood function which contained both models could be written and estimated.

Wine consumption by US men

Wine consumption is modelled by focusing on three decisions. The first is whether to consume any alcoholic beverages. Setting aside the teetotalers, the second decision is whether to consume wine and the third choice is how much to consume. We model these decisions using a double-hurdle approach. Our econometric results indicate that the probability a man drinks wine increases if he is under age 65, has a high income and is a high school graduate. Heavy wine consumers are over age 65, are well educated, physically active, and have high incomes.

Consumer Demand for Food and Food Safety: Models and Applications

Invisible hazards and imperfect knowledge and information about foodborne risks make food safety an explosive issue that can disrupt markets and cause substantial economic losses for everyone from farm input suppliers to consumers. The Alar scare in red apples is one recent example. But the range of commodities under scrutiny by consumers includes almost all commodities: fish (federal inspection), poultry (salmonella), fresh eggs (salmonella), red meat (subtherapeutic feeding of antibiotics), pesticide residues (fresh fruits and vegetables and animal feed), and bio-engineered growth promotants (BST in milk). One can also include more general diet and health concerns under the guise of food safety, such as cholesterol, fat, sugar, alcohol, and cigarette smoking.

Information, endogeneity, and consumer health behaviour: application to dietary intakes

Due to heightened public health interest, a growing number of consumer health behaviour studies are focusing on the effect of health information on the demand for health inputs and outcomes. Many of these studies, however, have overlooked the potential endogeneity of information variables stemming from unobserved individual heterogeneity. Due to simultaneity bias, ignoring endogeneity may lead to inaccurate estimates of informational effects on health behaviour. Using dietary intake data for fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and fibre, this paper illustrates the pitfalls of treating health information related to these nutrients as exogenous variables in their demand equations. In most of the estimated models, the exogeneity of information is statistically rejected. When the information variables are treated as exogenous variables, their effects on dietary intakes are underestimated. The estimated effects of key intake determinants such as income, education, ethnicity, and race are also different in such a specification compared to a specification which treats information variables as endogenous. Implications for nutrition education policies are discussed.

Food security and health status in the United States

Food security is defined as access by all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. This paper explores the relationships between food security and womens self-evaluated health status. A theoretical model is developed which suggests that our primary interests can be served by estimating health and food security production functions. We find that food security has a significant influence on a womans self-evaluated health status. However, the exact manifestations are difficult to quantify; they may be psychological or physiolgical. The most food-insecure women tend to be poor and less educated. Tobacco use, lack of physical exercise and obesity also weigh heavily good health status.

Socio-economic factors associated with the iron intake of preschoolers in the United States

Abstract This study investigated household income, food program participation, and diet awareness and attitudes of the household meal planner as predictors of dietary iron intake of preschoolers in the United States. Non-breastfeeding children, 1 to 5 years of age, with 3 days of dietary data from the 1989–1991 Continuing Survey of Food Intake of Individuals were included in this sample (N=800). Two measures of intake were analyzed: a nutrient adequacy ratio (NAR), defined as iron intake divided by the RDA; and an index of nutritional quality (INQ), or diet density measure, which is the ratio of iron NAR to energy NAR. Data from the concurrent Diet and Health Knowledge Survey were used to create indicator variables for meal planners who were aware of anemia as a health problem related to iron intake and who felt it was important to choose a diet with plenty of grain products. After controlling for age, gender, ethnicity, household size, region, and urbanization, multi-variate regression analyses revealed that household income and participation in the WIC food program were positively associated with both iron intake measures. Participation in the Food Stamp program was positively associated with the iron NAR, but not the INQ. Although anemia awareness was not a significant predictor of intake, children from households whose main meal planners had a positive attitude about the importance of grains, consumed more iron as measured by either index. The findings suggest that dietary iron intakes of preschoolers continue to be affected by economic factors and that food transfer and/or educational interventions may be useful in improving these intakes.