IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jfpoli/v34y2009i6p557-562.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Separating what we eat from where: Measuring the effect of food away from home on diet quality

Author

Listed:
  • Mancino, Lisa
  • Todd, Jessica
  • Lin, Biing-Hwan

Abstract

Many argue that food away from home (FAFH) is a contributing factor to the obesity epidemic, showing that body mass index and consumption of FAFH are positively correlated. However, correlation analyses using a simple regression approach, such as the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), do not prove that FAFH causes weight gain. We use a first-difference estimator to establish a causal relationship between FAFH and dietary intakes. Using dietary recall data from the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the 1994-1996 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals, we find that FAFH does indeed increase caloric intake and reduce diet quality, but that the effect is smaller than if estimated using OLS. Thus, models based on associations are likely biased upward, as much as 25% by our estimates.

Suggested Citation

  • Mancino, Lisa & Todd, Jessica & Lin, Biing-Hwan, 2009. "Separating what we eat from where: Measuring the effect of food away from home on diet quality," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 557-562, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:34:y:2009:i:6:p:557-562
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306-9192(09)00110-9
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James K. Binkley, 2008. "Calorie and Gram Differences between Meals at Fast Food and Table Service Restaurants," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 30(4), pages 750-763.
    2. David M. Cutler & Edward L. Glaeser & Jesse M. Shapiro, 2003. "Why Have Americans Become More Obese?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(3), pages 93-118, Summer.
    3. James K. Binkley, 2008. "Calorie and Gram Differences between Meals at Fast Food and Table Service Restaurants," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 30(4), pages 750-763.
    4. Mancino, Lisa & Kinsey, Jean D., 2008. "Is Dietary Knowledge Enough? Hunger, Stress, and Other Roadblocks to Healthy Eating," Economic Research Report 56465, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mancino, Lisa & Todd, Jessica E. & Lin, Biing-Hwan, 2009. "Food Away From Home: How much does it really influence diet quality?," 2009 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, 2009, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 49251, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    2. Ping Hu & Wenjie Huang & Ruixue Bai & Fan Zhang & Manoj Sharma & Zumin Shi & Xiaoqiu Xiao & Abu S. Abdullah & Yong Zhao, 2016. "Knowledge, Attitude, and Behaviors Related to Eating Out among University Students in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-11, July.
    3. Rhodes, Charles, 2012. "A Dynamic Model of Failure to Maximize Utility in the Chronic Consumer Choice to Consume Foods High in Added Sugars," 2012 Annual Meeting, August 12-14, 2012, Seattle, Washington 124693, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Kyureghian, Gayaneh & Soler, Louis-Georges, 2017. "Life Cycle Consumption Of Food At Home: Facts From French Purchase Data," 2017 International Congress, August 28-September 1, 2017, Parma, Italy 260920, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    5. Liu, Jing & Shively, Gerald & Binkley, James K., 2013. "Dietary Diversity in Urban and Rural China: An Endogenous Variety Approach," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 149624, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    6. Ping Hu & Tingting Wu & Fan Zhang & Yan Zhang & Lu Lu & Huan Zeng & Zu-min Shi & Manoj Sharma & Lei Xun & Yong Zhao, 2017. "Association between Eating Out and Socio-Demographic Factors of University Students in Chongqing, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-11, October.
    7. Kyureghian, G. & Soler, L.-G., 2018. "Life-Cycle Consumption of Food at Home in France: Empirical Evidence from Food Expenditures and Home Production," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277548, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    8. Ruhm, Christopher J., 2012. "Understanding overeating and obesity," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 781-796.
    9. Arjun Gupta & Soudeh Mirghasemi & Mohammad Arshad Rahman, 2021. "Heterogeneity in food expenditure among US families: evidence from longitudinal quantile regression," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 25-48, June.
    10. Okrent, Abigail M. & Alston, Julian M., 2012. "The Demand for Disaggregated Food-Away-from-Home and Food-at-Home Products in the United States," Economic Research Report 132469, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    11. Zeng, Di & Thomsen, Michael R. & Nayga, Rodolfo M. Jr., 2015. "Food Desert and Weight Outcome: Disentangling Confounding Mechanisms," 2016 Allied Social Sciences Association (ASSA) Annual Meeting, January 3-5, 2016, San Francisco, California 212813, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Mancino, Lisa & Gregory, Christian A., 2012. "Does More Cooking Mean Better Eating? Estimating the relationship between time spent in food preparation and diet quality," 2012 Annual Meeting, August 12-14, 2012, Seattle, Washington 124025, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    13. Jessica E. Todd & Lisa Mancino & Brandon J. Restrepo & Claudine Kavanaugh & Chris Dicken & Vince Breneman, 2021. "Food Away From Home And Caloric Intake: The Role Of Restaurant Menu Labeling Laws," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(1), pages 53-71, January.
    14. Burney, Shaheer, 2018. "In-kind benefits and household behavior: The impact of SNAP on food-away-from-home consumption," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 134-146.
    15. Liu, Jing & Shively, Gerald E. & Binkley, James K., 2014. "Access to variety contributes to dietary diversity in China," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(P1), pages 323-331.
    16. Anura Amarasinghe & Gerard D'Souza & Cheryl Brown & Tatiana Borisova, 2006. "A Spatial Analysis of Obesity in West Virginia," Working Papers Working Paper 2006-13, Regional Research Institute, West Virginia University.
    17. John Komlos, 2009. "Recent Trends in Height by Gender and Ethnicity in the US in Relation to Levels of Income," NBER Working Papers 14635, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. repec:rre:publsh:v:39:y:2009:i:2:p:149-69 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Beghin, John C. & Jensen, Helen H., 2008. "Farm policies and added sugars in US diets," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 480-488, December.
    20. Chouinard, Hayley H & Davis, David E. & LaFrance, Jeffrey T. & Perloff, Jeffrey M, 2005. "The Effects of a Fat Tax on Dairy Products," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt60t1f3tn, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    21. David Laibson, 1997. "Golden Eggs and Hyperbolic Discounting," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(2), pages 443-478.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:34:y:2009:i:6:p:557-562. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/foodpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.