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

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  • Smith, Travis A.
  • Valizadeh, Pourya
  • Lin, Biing-Hwan
  • Coats, Ellen

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Smith, Travis A. & Valizadeh, Pourya & Lin, Biing-Hwan & Coats, Ellen, 2019. "What is driving increases in dietary quality in the United States?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 1-1.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:86:y:2019:i:c:2
    DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2019.05.003
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    2. Cleary, Rebecca & Liu, Yizao & Carlson, Andrea C., 2022. "Differences in the Distribution of Nutrition Between Households Above and Below Poverty," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322267, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Rebecca Cleary & Alessandro Bonanno & Armen Ghazaryan & Laura Bellows & Morgan McCloskey, 2021. "School meals and quality of household food acquisitions," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(4), pages 1385-1442, December.
    4. Katare, Bhagyashree & Binkley, James K. & Chen, Kaiyan, 2021. "Nutrition and diet quality of food at home by Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) status," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    5. Wang, Duoyu & Cleary, Rebecca, 2023. "What contributes to the gap in nutritional quality across food security status?," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 335552, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    6. Sundstrom, W.A. & McIntyre, S. & Baker, G.A. & Avants, B., . "Bearers of Bad New: Heterogeneous Effects of Alternative Front-of-Package Labeling Schemes for Nutritional Information," Journal of Agribusiness, Agricultural Economics Association of Georgia, vol. 38(1).

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