Income and food cost concerns affect diet: study
Last Updated Aug 2007
Last Updated: 2007-04-04 12:14:23 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Income and education level, and the perceived price of
certain foods, impact what Americans eat and the overall diet of the US adult
population, according to survey data from a nationally representative group of more
than 4300 Americans 20 to 65 years old.
The investigators evaluated subject data from two cross-sectional surveys that
included questions about socioeconomic status, importance of nutrition, and other
factors that influenced the subjects' diet.
Adults in higher socioeconomic groups (measured by income and education) have
higher quality diets, report Drs. May A. Beydoun and Youfa Wang from the Center for
Human Nutrition, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore.
Higher socioeconomic groups ate less fat, saturated fat and cholesterol and ate
more fiber, fruits and vegetables, and had more calcium in their diet.
"Socioeconomic constraints on individuals and households can lead to a poorer diet
quality," they warn in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
However, the data also suggest that the effect of socioeconomic status on diet
quality may differ across gender and racial/ethnic groups. "In particular, women
and whites benefit more in their dietary intake from a higher socioeconomic status
than do men or African Americans, specifically in terms of fat, saturated fat and
fiber intakes," Wang told Reuters Health.
Awareness about diet and nutrition also impacts dietary content, the data show. In
general, health awareness about diet and nutrition or "perceived benefit of diet
quality" predicted better overall diet quality, although women had higher quality
diets than men with increased awareness.
Beydoun and Wang also found that individuals who perceived food price as a barrier
also had poorer diets; for example, they had more sodium and less fiber in their
diets, regardless of socioeconomic status.
These findings, the authors say, have several policy implications. Because the
price of healthy and unhealthy foods differ markedly in the US, "our findings
suggest that low socioeconomic status may cause a significant food-cost barrier,
which in turn, reduces the quality of the diet, particularly in terms of energy,
fat, sodium, and simple sugars."
"Hence, perceptions go in line with actual reality and it is therefore important to
make healthy foods accessible to the poor segments of the adult population by
lowering their price whilst increasing the price of the unhealthy foods."
SOURCE: European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, April 2007.
Dr. Sears Comment
This is known in economics as Engle's Law. The less disposable income you have,
the more of it that goes to food. The most economical source of calories is
processed junk foods. Those in the lower socioeconomic groups are making good
economic decisions but are paying the price with a lower quality of health.