Health Information and Food Purchasing Responses: Evidence from a Type 2 Diabetes Diagnosis

This article examines how households adjust food purchasing behavior following a type 2 diabetes diagnosis, using the Nielsen Consumer Panel (2010-2023) merged with the PanelView survey (2011-2023). Combining Callaway and Sant’Anna (2021) staggered di!erence-in-di!erences estimator with a reference price framework that decomposes prices into loss and gain domains (Caputo et al., 2020), I analyze category-level purchasing responses across fresh produce, non-fresh produce, milk, soft drinks, and sugarsweetened beverages (SSBs). The diagnosis triggers a significant and persistent 5-6 percent reduction in non-fresh produce purchases across the full sample. Income heterogeneity analysis reveals a striking gradient, as high-income households (above $40,000) reduce SSB purchases by 10-15 percent and restructure multiple food categories simultaneously, while low-income households concentrate adjustments on non-fresh produce alone. Expenditure-based classification provides complementary evidence of limited adjustment flexibility among the lowest-spending households. These findings indicate that the effectiveness of health information as a behavioral nudge depends critically on economic capacity, with implications for the design of dietary interventions targeting diabetic populations.