Food prices affect an individual's food consumption, dietary intake, and body weight status. This price effect is most significant among the low-income population that uses food assistance programs (FAP), the annual budget of which is over $50 billion dollars. Previous studies suggest that FAP participation directly affects an individual's nutritional status and body weight status. However, there is a limited understanding regarding how food prices affect FAP participants' food consumption and health outcomes. This application's long term goal is to identify the economic mechanisms that promote weight gain among low-income Americans. The objective of this application is to examine the effects of food prices on FAP participation, participants' diet, and risk of obesity. The proposed study supports the National Institutes of Health's mission that encourages a multidisciplinary approach for studying factors that contribute to obesity. Results of the study will build to design and implement FAPs that will confront the growing obesity epidemic in the U.S. The objective will be pursued through three specific aims: ? Specific Aim #1: To study the effect of local food prices and cost of living on FAP participation.
This aim will be accomplished through longitudinal analysis of the linked National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) with the American Chamber of Commerce Researchers' Association (ACCRA) price dataset. FAP participation will be the primary outcome measures. Cost of living indices and grocery indices around 200 metropolitan areas will be the explanatory variables. ? Specific Aim #2: To examine the effect of local food prices on FAP participants' dietary intakes. Low cost of unhealthy food has contributed to the obesity epidemic among the low-income population. However, low food prices are important to prevent malnutrition. Therefore, it is important to understand how food prices affect FAP participants' nutritional status.
This aim will be accomplished by linking data from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) dataset with the ACCRA price dataset. ? Specific Aim #3: To measure the effects of local food prices on FAP participants' BMI and risk of obesity. FAP participation can positively contribute to weight gain among adults and children. But little is known about the relationship between local food prices and FAP participants' body weight status and risk of obesity. The proposed research is significant because it will facilitate the determination of the relationship between local food prices and FAP participants' body weight status and risk of obesity. Identification of price effect on FAP participants' diet and health outcomes will have important policy implications. ? ? ?
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