Health, Nutrition and the U.S. Food Chain: Trends and New Findings OECD Food Chain Analysis Network Mobilizing the Food Chain for Health Oct 25-26, 2012 Jay Variyam, Branch Chief Food Economics Division Economic Research Service U.S. Department of Agriculture Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent the views of the ERS or the USDA

Consumers spend 10% on food

Where that 10% went…

Innovation: Convenience

Variety and choice Number of items carried by U.S. supermarkets

Consumers want … Taste Low price Convenience Safety Quality Nutrition Variety Eco/Green

Overarching trends I.Changing channels of food distribution II.Differentiation III.New products to meet changing consumer demand

I. Nontraditional Retailers Entry into the Retail Food Market

I. Expenditure Shares for Nontraditional Retailers Continue to Rise Source: ERS Calculations using Nielsen Homescan Data

I. Wal-Mart Supercenters

II. Retail differentiation Retailers are also differentiating with expanded product offerings Private label Prepared foods Fuel Organic foods

Organic Food Sales

III. Meeting consumer demand

New product introductions

Recent Findings Affordability of Healthy Foods Access to Healthy Foods Healthfulness of Purchases and Consumption Response to Information/Labeling

New Results: Affordability Are healthy foods more expensive? –Yes, if measured on per calorie basis –No, if measured on the basis of edible weight or average portion size –In terms of the cost of meeting dietary recommendations, it is less expensive to meet the grains, dairy, and fruits recommendations than the vegetables or protein grp recommen. – economic-information-bulletin/eib96.aspxhttp:// economic-information-bulletin/eib96.aspx

Affordability Can low-income Americans afford meeting fruit and vegetables guidelines? –Stewart et al., Jrl of Nutrition Education & Behavior, 2012 Best Article –Costs per cup-equivalent of fruits and vegetables, including whole and cut fruit, fruit juice, dark green vegetables, orange vegetables, legumes, and others

Affordability In 2008, a variety of fruits and vegetables was available for an average cost of $0.40 to $0.50 per cup-equivalent Low-income Americans facing national average prices can satisfy fruit and vegetable guidelines with a standard budget

Access Hypothesized relationship between access to affordable & nutritious food and diet quality and obesity ERS “Food Deserts” project, 2009 Major update based on new data to be released: Report in November and on-line map in December

Access: 2010 Data 27.9 million (9.7%) people live in low- income areas more than 1 mile from a supermarket (2010) 2.1 million (1.8%) households live more than 1 mile from store and do not have a vehicle 35.6 million (11.6%) low-income individuals live more than 1 mile from store

Access Multiple measures: –Area based –Individual-level –Self-reported access –Time traveling to grocery store 19.5 minutes in low-income/low access areas vs minutes in low-income/high access areas (ERS analysis of American Time Use Survey)

Healthfulness of Consumption

Healthfulness of Purchases What is the extent to which U.S. consumers are adhering to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) with their food-at-home (FAH) purchases? –Nielsen Homescan panel data – –Healthfulness measured based on USDA’s 2005 Healthy Eating Index

Healthfulness of Purchases Consumers purchase too few fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and too many refined grains, fats, and added sugars (compared to DGA) Healthfulness of the average food shopping basket did not improve between 1998 and 2006 –Households shifted from refined grains toward whole grains, but allocate less of their food budgets to fruits and vegetables and more toward processed and packaged foods

Information/Labeling The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) recommended that half of all grains consumed be whole grains A comparison of grocery store bread purchases before and after the release of the 2005 DGA Quantity of whole-grain bread purchased rose 70 percent, while refined-grain bread purchases fell 13 percent

Information/Labeling Whole-grain prices fell relative to price of refined-grain bread After accounting for price changes and other factors, the 2005 Guidelines appear to have encouraged Americans to reduce purchases of refined-grain breads by 3 percent and increase purchases of whole grain bread by 14 percent

Information/Labeling Transfat labeling enforced in 2006 How did it affect reformulation? ERS examined new product introductions data –Most new food products do not contain trans fats –Transfat content has been falling across all product groups

Transfats

New products without trans fats are likely to be lower in calories, sodium, and saturated fats than those containing trans fats. This suggests that food companies generally are not substituting these less healthy nutrients for trans fats when reformulating products to contain no trans fats

Assessing Food Access and Food Environment : Tools Food Desert Locator: products/food-desert-locator.aspxhttp:// products/food-desert-locator.aspx Food Environment Atlas: products/food-environment-atlas.aspxhttp:// products/food-environment-atlas.aspx