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Assessing the Healthfulness of Consumers' Grocery Purchases

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  • Volpe, Richard
  • Okrent, Abigail

Abstract

The nutritional quality of Americans' diets has increasingly become a focus of economic research due to its effects on health outcomes. Health care and other costs associated with obesity, overweight, diabetes, and other diet-related ailments continue to swell. This study focuses on consumers' grocery (food-at-home) expenditures to measure the extent to which Americans are conforming to Dietary Guidelines for Americans with the foods they purchase at the supermarket. Overall, consumers purchase too few fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and too many refined grains, fats, and sugars/sweets. The average Healthy Eating Index score for food-at-home purchases was only 56.4 for an average consumer, far below the maximum score of 100, which would indicate full adherence to the Dietary Guidelines. The healthfulness of purchases varies somewhat across geographic regions and markets, with consumers in the Northeast and West purchasing more healthful food than consumers in the Midwest or South. Differences across income levels and across race are small,with all subgroups falling well short of the recommendations in the Dietary Guidelines.

Suggested Citation

  • Volpe, Richard & Okrent, Abigail, 2012. "Assessing the Healthfulness of Consumers' Grocery Purchases," Economic Information Bulletin 262129, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:uersib:262129
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.262129
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    2. Benjamin Scharadin & Yang Yu & Edward C. Jaenicke, 2021. "Household time activities, food waste, and diet quality: the impact of non-marginal changes due to COVID-19," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 399-428, June.
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    5. Kuhns, Annemarie & Volpe, Richard, 2014. "Assessing the Impact of the Great Recession on Healthfulness of Food Purchase Choices," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 170485, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    6. Ver Ploeg, Michele & Scharadin, Benjamin & Miller, Lauren & Gonzalez, Jeffrey & Odom, Rodney, 2024. "Utilizing the USDA’s National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey to Calculate a Household-Level Food Environment Measure," Technical Bulletins 342466, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    7. Srinivasan, C.S., 2013. "Can adherence to dietary guidelines address excess caloric intake? An empirical assessment for the UK," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 574-591.
    8. Dong, Zefeng & Jaenicke, Edward C. & Kuhns, Annemarie, 2018. "The Effects of Exogenous Changes in Food Environment on Households’ Healthfulness of Food Purchases," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 273910, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. Kehlbacher, Ariane & Arnoult, Matthieu & Srinivasan, Chittur & McCloy, Rachel & Tiffin, Richard, 2015. "Food preference segmentation using an AIDS mixture: An application to the UK," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205461, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Chen, Danhong & Jaenicke, Edward C., 2017. "Composition of Food-at-Home Expenditures and Childhood Obesity," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258343, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    13. Benjamin Scharadin & Edward C. Jaenicke, 2020. "Time spent on childcare and the household Healthy Eating Index," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 357-386, June.
    14. Sweitzer, Megan & Byrne, Anne T. & Page, Elina T. & Carlson, Andrea & Kantor, Linda & Muth, Mary K. & Karns, Shawn & Zhen, Chen, 2024. "Development of the Food-at-Home Monthly Area Prices Data," Technical Bulletins 342467, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    15. David M. Kern & Amy H. Auchincloss & Mark F. Stehr & Ana V. Diez Roux & Latetia V. Moore & Genevieve P. Kanter & Lucy F. Robinson, 2017. "Neighborhood Prices of Healthier and Unhealthier Foods and Associations with Diet Quality: Evidence from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-14, November.
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    17. Cai, Xiaowei & Volpe, Richard J. & Schroeter, Christiane & Mancino, Lisa, 2017. "Food Retail Market Structure and Produce Purchases in the U.S," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258471, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
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