Food Price Policies May Improve Diet but Increase Socioeconomic Inequalities in Nutrition - INRAE - Institut national de recherche pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement
Chapitre D'ouvrage Année : 2016

Food Price Policies May Improve Diet but Increase Socioeconomic Inequalities in Nutrition

Résumé

Unhealthy eating is more prevalent among women and people with a low socioeconomic status. Policies that affect the price of food have been proposed to improve diet quality. The study's objective was to compare the impact of food price policies on the nutritional quality of food baskets chosen by low-income and medium-income women. Experimental economics was used to simulate a fruit and vegetable subsidy and a mixed policy subsidizing healthy products and taxing unhealthy ones. Food classification was based on the Score of Nutritional Adequacy of Individual Foods, Score of Nutrients to Be Limited nutrient profiling system. Low-income (n = 95) and medium-income (n = 33) women selected a daily food basket first at current prices and then at policy prices. Energy density (ED) and the mean adequacy ratio (MAR) were used as nutritional quality indicators. At baseline, low-income women selected less healthy baskets than medium-income women (less fruit and vegetables, more unhealthy products, higher ED, lower MAR). Both policies improved nutritional quality (fruit and vegetable quantities increased, ED decreased, the MAR increased), but the magnitude of the improvement was often lower among low-income women. For instance, ED decreased by 5.3% with the fruit and vegetable subsidy and by 7.3% with the mixed subsidy, whereas decreases of 13.2 and 12.6%, respectively, were recorded for the medium-income group. Finally, both policies improved dietary quality, but they increased socioeconomic inequalities in nutrition.

Dates et versions

hal-01574930 , version 1 (16-08-2017)

Identifiants

Citer

Nicole Darmon, Anne Lacroix, Laurent Muller, Bernard Ruffieux. Food Price Policies May Improve Diet but Increase Socioeconomic Inequalities in Nutrition. Hidden Hunger Malnutrition and the First 1,000 Days of Life, 115, Basel Karger, VIII + 244 p., 2016, World Review of Nutrition and Dietetics, 978-3-318-05685-3; 978-3-318-05684-6. ⟨10.1159/000442069⟩. ⟨hal-01574930⟩
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