Local Food Prices and Their Associations With Children’s Weight and Food Security

Abstract

WHAT'S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT: A growing body of research suggests that the food environment affects children' s weight. Specifically, living in areas with higher-priced fast foods and soda is associated with lower weight and BMI, whereas higher fruit and vegetable prices demonstrate the opposite association. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS:Using longitudinal data on lowerincome young children, this study finds that higher-priced fruits and vegetables are associated with higher child BMI, but not food insecurity, and that this relationship is driven by the prices of fresh fruits and vegetables. abstract OBJECTIVES: Both obesity and food insecurity are important public health problems facing young children in the United States. A lack of affordable, healthy foods is one of the neighborhood factors presumed to underlie both food insecurity and obesity among children. We examine associations between local food prices and children' s BMI, weight, and food security outcomes. METHODS:We linked data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal StudyBirth Cohort, a nationally representative study of children from infancy to age 5, to local food price data from the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) Cost-of-Living Index (n = 11 700 observations). Using ordinary least squares (OLS), linear probability, and within-child fixed effects (FE) models, we exploit the variability in food price data over time and among children who move residences focusing on a subsample of households under 300% of the Federal Poverty Level. RESULTS:Results from ordinary least squares and FE models indicate that higher-priced fruits and vegetables are associated with higher child BMI, and this relationship is driven by the prices of fresh (versus frozen or canned) fruits and vegetables. In the FE models, higher-priced soft drinks are associated with a lower likelihood of being overweight, and surprisingly, higher fast food prices are associated with a greater likelihood of being overweight. CONCLUSIONS:Policies that reduce the costs of fresh fruits and vegetables may be effective in promoting healthy weight outcomes among young children. Pediatrics 2014;133:422-430

A Supermarket Double-Dollar Incentive Program Increases Purchases of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Among Low-Income Families With Children: The Healthy Double Study

“…33 Maine’s rural geography limits access to supermarkets, and long winters mean a shorter growing season, further limiting access to fresh affordable local produce, placing low income rural Mainers at greater risk for poor nutrition and its consequences. 34–36 …”

Food Insecurity: A Concept Analysis

“…However, antecedents do not occur in a vacuum and may result from diverse contributing factors. For example, food insecurity has been associated with high food costs (Gregory & Coleman‐Jensen, ; Morrissey, Jacknowitz, & Vinopal, ; Ramadurai et al., ; Zhang et al., ), lack of access to food stores (Freedman, Blake, & Liese, ; Jernigan, Salvatore, Styne, & Winkleby, ; Ramadurai et al., ), a lacking local food environment (i.e., food stores sell unaffordable or undesirable products) (Chang et al., ; Demartini et al., ), lack of or low income (Anderson, ; Chang et al., ; Demartini et al., ; Langellier et al., ), being unable to find culturally appropriate food (Jernigan et al., ), low acculturation (Iglesias‐Rios, Bromberg, Moser, & Augustson, in press), being a first‐generation American or immigrant (Langellier et al., ), lack of transportation (Demartini et al., ; Jernigan et al., ), stigma associated with using resources such as federal “food stamps”—the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (Food Research and Action Center, ; Gundersen, ) or SNAP for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)—(Huynh, ), lack of awareness about resources such as SNAP (Food Research and Action Center, ), inadequate policy to support food insecure individuals (Jernigan et al., ), and having a disability (Coleman‐Jensen & Nord, ).…”

Biological, environmental, and social influences on childhood obesity

“…Health promotion activities typically target individual lifestyle factors, despite emerging evidence of the importance of broader environmental prevention targets (133). Family-based interventions to improve the home food environment (90) and parenting style (134) and policies to reduce the costs of healthy food choices (135) are needed. Prevention efforts should also include programs to reduce financial stress in families and programs aimed at teaching children on how to cope with stressors in their environment (86).…”