Eating a Healthy Diet: Is Cost a Major Factor?

Andrea Carlson, Mark Lino, Thomas V. Fungwe and Patricia M. Guenther

No 49259, 2009 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, 2009, Milwaukee, Wisconsin from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

Abstract: We examine the association between food expenditure and overall diet quality using a model where we assumed dietary quality is a function of health conditions, life style choices, total food expenditures, and socio-economic status. We use cross-sectional data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2001-02 and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion Food Prices Database. Diet quality is measured using the USDA Healthy Eating Index-2005. Our findings suggest that there is no statistically significant association between total diet quality and diet cost for men, but a small association for women. Compared with diet cost, health conditions, life style choices, and socio-economic status play an important role in determining diet quality.

Keywords: Agricultural and Food Policy; Consumer/Household Economics; Demand and Price Analysis; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aaea09:49259

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.49259

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