Mind the Gap: Race/Ethnic and Socioeconomic Disparities in Obesity

Krueger, Patrick M.; Reither, Eric N.

doi:10.1007/s11892-015-0666-6

Cited by 151 publications

(108 citation statements)

References 113 publications

(127 reference statements)

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“…No studies to date have specifically examined differential use of packaged food and beverage nutrient claims by race/ethnicity in the United States, but some studies have found that non-Hispanic whites are more likely to use nutrition labels (specifically nutrition facts panels) than other race/ethnic groups. 25,26 In the context of established nutritional disparities in diet quality for non-Hispanic blacks in the United States, 27–29 the findings presented here suggest the need for additional research into the appeal and efficacy of different claim types and how each type might improve or impair overall diet quality when used by certain shoppers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

No Fat, No Sugar, No Salt . . . No Problem? Prevalence of “Low-Content” Nutrient Claims and Their Associations with the Nutritional Profile of Food and Beverage Purchases in the United States

Taillie¹,

Ng²,

Yang³

et al. 2017

Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

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Background Nutrient claims are a commonly used marketing tactic, but the association between claims and nutritional quality of products is unknown. The objective is to examine trends in the proportion of packaged food and beverage purchases with a nutrient claim, whether claims are associated with improved nutritional profile, and if the proportion of purchases with claims differs by race/ethnicity or socio-economic status. Methods This cross-sectional study examines nutrient claims on over 80 million food and beverage purchases from a transaction-level database of 40,000 US households from 2008–2012. Chi-square tests were used to examine whether the proportion of purchases with a low-/no-content claim changed over time or differed by race/ethnicity or household socio-economic status. Pooled transactions were examined using t-tests to compare products’ nutritional profiles overall and by food and beverage group. Results Thirteen percent of food and 35% of beverage purchases had a low-content claim. Prevalence of claims did not change over time. Low-fat claims were most prevalent for both foods and beverages (10% and 19%, respectively), followed by low-calorie (3%, 9%), low-sugar (2%, 8%), and low-sodium (2% for both). Compared to purchases with no claim, purchases with any low-content claim had lower mean energy, total sugar, total fat, and sodium densities. However, the association between particular claim types and specific nutrient densities varied substantially, and purchases featuring a given low-content claim did not necessarily offer better overall nutritional profiles or even better profiles for the claimed nutrient relative to products without claims. In addition, there was substantial heterogeneity in associations between claims and nutritional density within food and beverage groups. Conclusion Variations in nutrient density by claim type and food and beverage group suggests that claims may have differential utility for certain foods or nutrients and in some cases may mislead about the overall nutritional quality of the food.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

No Fat, No Sugar, No Salt . . . No Problem? Prevalence of “Low-Content” Nutrient Claims and Their Associations with the Nutritional Profile of Food and Beverage Purchases in the United States

Taillie¹,

Ng²,

Yang³

et al. 2017

Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

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“…For example, an ecological factor that is widely associated with obesity is socioeconomic status (48). This gives rise to the question of whether the differential cost of the three macronutrients 23 Protein intake (kJ/day) Fat + carbohydrate intake (kJ/day)…”

Section: Energy Balancementioning

confidence: 99%

Nutritional Ecology and Human Health

2016

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In contrast to the spectacular advances in the first half of the twentieth century with micronutrient-related diseases, human nutrition science has failed to stem the more recent rise of obesity and associated cardiometabolic disease (OACD). This failure has triggered debate on the problems and limitations of the field and what change is needed to address these. We briefly review the two broad historical phases of human nutrition science and then provide an overview of the main problems that have been implicated in the poor progress of the field with solving OACD. We next introduce the field of nutritional ecology and show how its ecological-evolutionary foundations can enrich human nutrition science by providing the theory to help address its limitations. We end by introducing a modeling approach from nutritional ecology, termed nutritional geometry, and demonstrate how it can help to implement ecological and evolutionary theory in human nutrition to provide new direction and to better understand and manage OACD.

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“…In the United States, recent studies suggest that prevalence of childhood obesity is decreasing, however with a disparity among different race or ethnic and socioeconomical status subgroups of the population (Kamali, Hameed, Shih, & Simon, ; Karnik & Kanekar, ; Krueger & Reither, ). In Europe, escalating childhood obesity rates are considered a major public health problem again with a disparity among countries and socioeconomical statues within populations; higher prevalence is observed in southern countries (Ahrens et al, ; WHO, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%