Pricing and Economics

Food supply trends and obesity rates are strongly influenced by the economics of food choices, and many questions remain about the best ways to use pricing to influence public health. The aim of studies that fall within the areas of pricing and economics is to understand how food prices and changes in food prices relate to children's diet and caloric intake.   

Title: Taxing Soft Drinks and Restricting Access to Vending Machines to Curb Child Obesity
RWJF Grant ID: 65053
Principal Investigator: Jason M. Fletcher, Ph.D.
Organization: Yale University
Results: This paper focused on the impact changes in soft drink taxes and policies restricting school vending machine access had on soda consumption among children and adolescents. The researchers used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III (1988-1994) and IV (1999-2006) and the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K). They concluded that as currently practiced, neither vending machine restrictions nor soft drink taxes will lead to noticeable weight reduction in children; typically imposed beverage taxes are neither large enough nor transparent enough to lead to meaningful behavior change, and policies restricting vending machine access in school do not reduce consumption because of the many other ways to obtain these drinks.

Title: Food Prices and Weight Gain During Elementary School: 5-year Update
RWJF Grant ID: 57931
Principal Investigator: Roland Sturm, Ph.D.
Organization: RAND Corporation
Results: Elementary school children in communities with high produce prices are more likely to gain weight than those areas with low produce costs, according to a study published in Public Health. The study, Food Prices and Weight Gain During Elementary School: 5-year Update, showed that children who lived in the 15 areas where fruits and vegetables were most expensive (relative to cost-of-living) gained 4 pounds more between kindergarten and fifth grade than children living in the 15 areas where fruits and vegetables were least expensive.  
 

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