IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/aaea13/149667.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Effects of Food Labeling and Dietary Guidance on Nutrition in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Parks, Joanna

Abstract

Food label regulations, dietary guidance, and nutrition education have continually evolved to address emerging health and nutrition concerns in the United States. Using the most recently available data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007-2008, this study examines the individual characteristics associated with food label use and estimates the effect of using food labels on nutrient intake. Using an instrumental variables methodology I find that using the Nutrition Facts panel (NFP) decreases total calories consumed per day by 120 kilocalories, just shy of the calories in one can of regular soda, and enough to explain at least an 11 pound difference in steady state body weight. In general I find that, using food labels may reduce CVD risk and facilitate the management of body weight and diet-related health conditions such as hypertension. The results provide evidence that food labels and dietary guidance have helped consumers make healthier choices and that they have the potential to help those who do not yet use these tools.

Suggested Citation

  • Parks, Joanna, 2013. "The Effects of Food Labeling and Dietary Guidance on Nutrition in the United States," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 149667, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea13:149667
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.149667
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/149667/files/AAEA%20Nut-Label-DRAFT-IV-5-23-13.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.149667?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kevin D Hall & Juen Guo & Michael Dore & Carson C Chow, 2009. "The Progressive Increase of Food Waste in America and Its Environmental Impact," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 4(11), pages 1-6, November.
    2. Grossman, Michael, 1972. "On the Concept of Health Capital and the Demand for Health," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(2), pages 223-255, March-Apr.
    3. Kim, Sung-Yong & Nayga, Rodolfo M., Jr. & Capps, Oral, Jr., 2000. "The Effect Of Food Label Use On Nutrient Intakes: An Endogenous Switching Regression Analysis," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 25(1), pages 1-17, July.
    4. Russo, J Edward, et al, 1986. "Nutrition Information in the Supermarket," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 13(1), pages 48-70, June.
    5. Variyam, Jayachandran N., 2005. "Nutrition Labeling in the Food-Away-From-Home Sector: An Economic Assessment," Economic Research Report 7235, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    6. Cameron,A. Colin & Trivedi,Pravin K., 2005. "Microeconometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521848053, September.
    7. Jayachandran N. Variyam, 2008. "Do nutrition labels improve dietary outcomes?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(6), pages 695-708, June.
    8. Jayson L. Lusk & Brian C. Briggeman, 2009. "Food Values," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 91(1), pages 184-196.
    9. Jayachandran N. Variyam & James Blaylock & David Smallwood, 1996. "A Probit Latent Variable Model of Nutrition Information and Dietary Fiber Intake," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 78(3), pages 628-639.
    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. Parks, Joanna, 2013. "The Effects of Food Labeling and Dietary Guidance on Nutrition in the United States," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 150583, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    2. Vinoles, Maria V. & You, Wen & Nayga, Rodolfo M. Jr., 2013. "Parental Nutrition Label Usage and Children's Dietary-related Outcomes," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 151274, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Gregory, Christian & Rahkovsky, Ilya & Anekwe, Tobenna D., 2014. "Consumers’ Use of Nutrition Information When Eating Out," Economic Information Bulletin 174796, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    4. Rodolfo Nayga, 2001. "Effect of Schooling on Obesity: Is Health Knowledge a Moderating Factor?," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2), pages 129-137.
    5. Andreas C. Drichoutis & Rodolfo M. Nayga, Jr. & Panagiotis Lazaridis, 2009. "Can Nutritional Label Use Influence Body Weight Outcomes?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 500-525, November.
    6. Mark, Senia & Senarath, Dharmasena, 2016. "Ascertaining the Role of Socio-Economic-Demographic and Government Food Policy Related Factors on the Per Capita Intake of Dietary Fiber Derived from Consumption of Various Foods in the United States," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235757, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Senia, Mark C. & Dharmasena, Senarath, 2016. "Factors Affecting the Intake of Dietary Fiber in the United States Diet," 2016 Annual Meeting, February 6-9, 2016, San Antonio, Texas 229982, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    8. Variyam, Jayachandran, 2003. "Factors Affecting the Macronutrient Intake of U.S. Adults," Technical Bulletins 184322, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    9. Andreas C. Drichoutis & Panagiotis Lazaridis & Rodolfo M. Nayga Jr, 2009. "On Consumers' Valuation Of Nutrition Information," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(3), pages 223-247, July.
    10. Kim, Sung-Yong & Nayga, Rodolfo M. & Capps, Oral, 2001. "Health Knowledge and Consumer Use of Nutritional Labels: The Issue Revisited," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 30(1), pages 10-19, April.
    11. Dyack, Brenda & Goddard, Ellen W., 2001. "The Rise of Red and the Wane of White: Wine Demand in Ontario Canada," 2001 Conference (45th), January 23-25, 2001, Adelaide, Australia 125617, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    12. Hayden Stewart & Jeffrey Hyman & Diansheng Dong, 2015. "Menu Labeling Fills the Gaps in Consumers’ Knowledge of the Calorie Content of Restaurant Foods," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(4), pages 491-506, October.
    13. José-Ignacio Antón & Rafael Muñoz de Bustillo, 2010. "Health care utilisation and immigration in Spain," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 11(5), pages 487-498, October.
    14. Mancino, Lisa & Kuchler, Fred, 2006. "Estimating the Impact of Medication on Diabetics' Diet and Lifestyle Choices," 2006 Annual meeting, July 23-26, Long Beach, CA 21459, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    15. Adriaan Kalwij & Rob Alessie & Marike Knoef, 2013. "The Association Between Individual Income and Remaining Life Expectancy at the Age of 65 in the Netherlands," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(1), pages 181-206, February.
    16. Anikó Bíró, 2014. "Supplementary private health insurance and health care utilization of people aged 50+," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 501-524, March.
    17. Cavaliere, Alessia & De Marchi, Elisa & Banterle, Alessandro, 2013. "Time Preference and Health: The Problem of Obesity," 2013 International European Forum, February 18-22, 2013, Innsbruck-Igls, Austria 164754, International European Forum on System Dynamics and Innovation in Food Networks.
    18. Balcombe, Kelvin & Fraser, Iain & Falco, Salvatore Di, 2010. "Traffic lights and food choice: A choice experiment examining the relationship between nutritional food labels and price," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 211-220, June.
    19. Moreira S & Pita Barros P, 2009. "Double coverage and demand for health care: Evidence from quantile regression," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 09/21, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    20. Chang, Hung-Hao & Nayga Jr., Rodolfo M., 2011. "Mother's nutritional label use and children's body weight," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 171-178, April.

    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:ags:aaea13:149667. 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: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaeaaea.html .

    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.