What is driving increases in dietary quality in the United States?

Over 1994–2010, adult dietary quality in the United States increased by 10 percent. We find a shift in consumption between at-home and away-from-home food played a relatively minor role as compared to changes in demographics and educational attainment. The two largest contributors we identify include an increased usage of nutritional information and a shift away from relying heavily on price, taste, storability and ease of preparation when shopping for food. Our findings suggest nutrition policy discussions could focus on further shifting attitudes/preferences towards healthier diets while allowing consumers to better extract nutrition information when making food choices.     

Quality perceptions under evolving information conditions: Implications for diet,health and consumer satisfaction

Consumers’ perception of, and satisfaction with, fruit quality is an important issue for both public policy and commercial reasons. However, because of information problems, consumers cannot easily choose fruits of a quality most likely to satisfy their preferences and health needs. The research reported here employed an experimental auction method to test perceptions of fruit quality by evaluating the willingness to pay (WTP) of consumers for five different varieties of soft citrus under three different information conditions: visual inspection of the fruit before peeling; visual inspection after peeling; and after consumption. Significant differences were found in valuations of the different varieties as consumers gained information. Conclusions are drawn about the value of the methodology and the results themselves, and implications are inferred for policy and for growers and traders. It is argued that product information should be oriented not just towards nutritional education but also towards increasing the pleasure of healthy eating.     

饲料对鸡肉肉质风味的影响

就饲料对鸡肉肉质风味影响的现状进行了分析,并展望了其发展前景。     

What's in a label?: Consumers,public policy and food labels

All industrialized countries share a minimum set of food-labelling regulations. A major purpose is to protect and inform the consumer and, in recent years, the labelling of nutritional content and of permitted additives has received increased attention. Differences in labelling practices between countries in these areas reflect differing approaches to complex policy issues such as the relative emphasis to be placed on consumer information, as opposed to price or product modification, and the extent of consumer participation in the policy-making process.     

高职营养配餐课程网络教学平台的构建研究——以浙江商业职业技术学院旅游烹饪学院为例

随着信息技术的发展,网络教学作为一种新型的辅助教学手段是当前教学改革的研究热点,也是教育信息化、校园数字化建设的必然趋势。文章在分析营养配餐类课程开设背景的基础上,介绍了营养配餐网络教学平台的构建理念、构成及实践应用。实践证明,网络教学平台辅助课堂教学能更有效地提高教学质量。     

Westernization of Asian diets and the transformation of food systems: Implications for research and policy

Rapid economic and income growth, urbanization, and globalization are leading to a dramatic shift of Asian diets away from staples and increasingly towards livestock and dairy products, vegetables and fruit, and fats and oils. While the diversification of diets away from the traditional dominance of rice with rising incomes is expected and observed, current food consumption patterns are showing signs of convergence towards a Western diet. The diet transition is characterized by increased consumption of: wheat; temperate fruit and vegetables and high protein and energy dense food. Globalization and the consequent global interconnectedness of the urban middle class, is the driving force behind the convergence of diets. The rapid spread of global supermarket chains and fast food restaurants is reinforcing the above trends.     

Trends and patterns in the triple burden of malnutrition in India

This paper brings together recent evidence on what has come to be referred to as the triple burden of malnutrition—consisting of overnutrition, undernutriton, and micronutrient deficiencies—using various anthropometric, biochemical, and diet quality indicators, and juxtaposing these against changes in relative prices. The evidence points to the rapid emergence of overweight as a public health problem, widespread not only in urban, but also in rural areas; associated noncommunicable diseases are also on the rise. Over time, while most indicators of undernutrition have improved, magnitudes are nonetheless high; a persistent problem is anemia, the prevalence of which remains high and unchanged. As for food, more than quantity, it is its quality that appears to be correlated with malnutrition. Yet improvements in diet quality have not been high, and micronutrient intakes remain low. It has become increasingly difficult for the poor to have a diet rich in vegetables, dairy and meat, as their prices (per unit calorie), relative to cereals, have risen faster than for the rich.     

Healthy food diversity and supermarket interventions: Evidence from the Seacroft Intervention Study

Supermarket interventions have been a commonly used treatment for problems of fresh fruit accessibility in areas of previously limited availability, their wide ranges of healthy products and lower-prices making them seemingly perfect for promoting better diets. Empirical studies likewise fall in favour. However, this diversity also serves to give consumers opportunity to entrench bad habits and simply purchase more of the unhealthy foods they enjoy. In this paper we develop a new health index based upon UK government guidelines and look to the Seacroft Intervention Study for empirical evidence of supermarket impact thereupon. Using fixed effects unconditional quantile regression to provide robustness to our parameter estimates against covariate specification, we reinforce the message that supermarkets are not a panacea for dietary improvement. Whilst diversity increases post-intervention it is unlikely to be healthful, entrenching poor dietary habits rather than delivering improvement as intended. Careful consideration of planning policy, health education and sector regulation is needed.     

Health information and diet choices: Results from a cheese experiment

This study reports results from a choice experiment on semi-hard cheese from Norway. About half of the 408 participants were exposed to diet-related health information before performing either a choice or a ranking task, while a control group did not receive such information. The effects of health information on marginal willingness to pay for low-saturated-fat, low-fat and organic cheese are analyzed using rank-ordered mixed logit models. Cheese preferences are clearly affected by exposure to health information. On average, the health information group is willing to pay a price premium of 27.2% (NOK 24.5 per kg) for low-saturated-fat cheese and 14.4% (NOK 13.0 per kg) for low-fat cheese. This is respectively 1.73 and 2.89 times more than corresponding price premiums in the control group. Non-college, medium–high income, age 50–70 and female participants are more clearly affected by health information than college, low income, age 30–49 and male participants. Subjective statements on diet-health knowledge and awareness are used to discuss these findings. Our results suggest that provision of health information is likely to reduce educational differences in diet-health knowledge and thus dietary behavior. Low income participants seem to be constrained by high food prices, but not by lack of knowledge or awareness. Finally, due to lack of diet-health awareness, reaching out to young people and particularly males through health information policies seems difficult.     

Estimates of the direct and indirect cost savings associated with heart disease that could be avoided through dietary change in the United States

Aims: Diets high in saturated fat are associated with elevated risk of heart disease. This study estimates the savings in direct (medical care) costs and indirect (job absenteeism) costs in the US from reductions in heart disease associated with substituting monounsaturated fats (MUFA) for saturated fats.

Materials and methods: A four-part model of the medical care cost savings from avoided heart disease was estimated using data on 247,700 adults from the 2000–2010 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). The savings from reduced job absenteeism due to avoided heart disease was estimated using a zero-inflated negative binomial model of the number of annual work loss days applied to data on 164,577 adults from the MEPS.

Results: Estimated annual savings in medical care expenditures resulting from a switch from a diet high in saturated fat to a high-MUFA diet totaled ～ $25.7 billion (95% CI = $6.0–$45.4 billion) in 2010, with private insurance plans saving $7.9 billion (95% CI?=?$1.8–$14.0 billion), Medicare saving $9.4 billion (95% CI?=?$2.1–$16.7 billion), Medicaid saving $1.4 billion (95% CI?=?Aims: Diets high in saturated fat are associated with elevated risk of heart disease. This study estimates the savings in direct (medical care) costs and indirect (job absenteeism) costs in the US from reductions in heart disease associated with substituting monounsaturated fats (MUFA) for saturated fats.

Materials and methods: A four-part model of the medical care cost savings from avoided heart disease was estimated using data on 247,700 adults from the 2000–2010 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). The savings from reduced job absenteeism due to avoided heart disease was estimated using a zero-inflated negative binomial model of the number of annual work loss days applied to data on 164,577 adults from the MEPS.

Results: Estimated annual savings in medical care expenditures resulting from a switch from a diet high in saturated fat to a high-MUFA diet totaled ～ $25.7 billion (95% CI = $6.0–$45.4 billion) in 2010, with private insurance plans saving $7.9 billion (95% CI?=?$1.8–$14.0 billion), Medicare saving $9.4 billion (95% CI?=?$2.1–$16.7 billion), Medicaid saving $1.4 billion (95% CI?=?$0.2–$2.5 billion), and patients saving $2.2 billion (95% CI?=?$0.5–$3.8 billion). The annual savings in terms of reduced job absenteeism ranges from a lower bound of $600 million (95% CI?=?$100 million to $1.0 billion) to an upper bound of $1.2 billion (95% CI?=?$0.2–$2.1 billion) for 2010.

Limitations: The data cover only the non-institutionalized population. Decreased costs due to any decreases in the severity of heart disease are not included. Cost savings do not include any reduction in informal care at home.

Conclusions: Diets high in saturated fat impose substantial medical care costs and job absenteeism costs, and substantial savings could be achieved by substituting MUFA for saturated fat.