How Do Consumers’ Beliefs About Product Price, Taste, and Health Affect Attention to Health-Differentiated Product-Sets?

Objectives: Consumers facemyriad food products in supermarkets, obviating consideration of all options. Consumers are likely to direct scarce attention to products they believe will provide them the best outcome. However, consumers may hold inaccurate beliefs— particularly about health attributes which can lead them to omit items from consideration that they would have optimally considered We examine how consumers’ beliefs about the relative price, taste, and healthiness of food product sets affect the healthiness of the set of products they consider. Conclusions: Believes about relative differences in nutritional quality of foods importantly influence consideration of products, potentially perpetuating misconceptions about relative healthiness of products. Finding ways to prompt individuals to challenge prior beliefs about health may promote healthier food choices

The Relationship between Bodyweight Status and Weight Perception Explains Differences in Calories Ordered in a Food Choice Exercise

Understanding food choice is critical to be able to address the rise in obesity rates around the globe. In this paper, we examine the relationship between measured (BMI, using self-reported height and weight) and perceived weight status with the number of calories ordered in a controlled online food choice exercise. A total of 1044 participants completed an online food choice exercise in which they selected ingredients for a sandwich from five categories: meat/protein, cheese, spread/dressing, bread, and vegetables. We examine the number of calories ordered by participants and use linear regression to study the relationship of BMI category relative to self-reported perceived weight status with calories ordered. As a comparison to previous literature, we also examine the relationship between relative weight status and self-reported dieting behavior using logistic regression. We find that participants perceiving themselves to have a higher BMI than their BMI calculated using height and weight ordered significantly fewer calories and were more likely to report dieting than participants who perceived themselves to have a lower BMI than their calculated BMI. The relationship between perceived weight status and measured weight status explains behavior in a food choice task. Understanding how people perceive their weight may help design effective health messages

The Relationship of Male and Female Pastoralist Income with Household Food Security and Nutrition Status in Tanzania: Maasai, Sukuma, and Barabaig Ethnic Groups.

Although previous work provides a significant baseline for understanding the impact of gender on household decision making and resource (i.e. income and food) allocation, there are gaps in evidence for important groups, including East African pastoralists. Previous authors have noted that pastoralists’ gender roles and relations appear to be resistant to change, potentially impeding household development. This paper attempts to assess the relationship between male and female pastoralists’ income control and household food security and nutritional status in Tanzania. We use three surveys: a household-level livestock health and economics survey, a household food security survey, and an individual woman-level survey on diet, nutritional status, and health. The surveys were administered to 196 pastoralist households from three tribes (Maasai, Sukuma, and Barabaig) in Tanzania in 2012-13. The results support what the majority of the previous studies find, that women’s income has a positive association with dietary diversity but also differ from the previous studies since women’s income has a negative association with household food security. While previous studies show that women’s income will have a larger positive correlation with household food security and dietary diversity than men’s income, our findings show that not only does men’s income have a negative association with household food security and dietary diversity, but also that women’s income does not have a statistically significant, larger positive correlation with household food security and dietary diversity than men’s income. We also find that chicken ownership and education for the head household in the pastoralist communities have a significant positive association with household food security and nutrition status. Advisor: Christopher R. Gustafso

Essays on Incomplete Consideration; Consumers’ Beliefs; and Information on Consumers’ Choice.

This dissertation consists of three essays. The first essay examines the implications of incomplete consideration of consumer products on attribute valuation. We documented consideration sets of a large number (n=33) of products for each of the three product categories (cereal, bread, and cracker) by grouping them into three subsets: least healthy, medium healthy, and healthiest subsets. We find differences in consumers’ marginal valuations for cereal, bread, and cracker attributes not only between consideration sets and the full consideration assumption but also from one consideration set to another. We find significant differences in valuation of fiber, calories, fat, sodium and sugar. Overall, attribute valuation estimates are markedly different when consideration sets are documented. The second essay estimates the relationship between consumers’ beliefs about product price, taste, and health and product consideration. The results show that beliefs about taste preferences and health influence people’s choices of the product set to view; believing that products in a set were healthier or tastier positively predicted the choice to view that set of products. The findings suggest that models of rational incomplete consideration depend importantly on people’s beliefs. Inattention to product options may further reduce the effectiveness of policies aiming to promote healthier food choices through consumer comparison of nutrition information or the application of taxes or subsidies by preventing comparison of nutritionally diverse products. The third essay examines whether exposing consumers to different prompt messages affects their beliefs and the set of products considered. The findings show that exposing consumers to different prompt messages affects the product sets people choose to view. Health-related prompts increased decisions to view healthier products sets, which leads to healthier product choice. Our findings suggest that simpler messages are more effective at directing attention to healthy product sets. We also find that prompting people did not change beliefs about taste, health, or prices, but instead changed the predicted impact of beliefs on products set choice

Female and male-controlled livestock holdings impact pastoralist food security and women’s dietary diversity

Background: Food insecurity is a global problem that requires a One Health approach. As many households in low- and middle-income nations rely on crops and livestock that they produce to meet their household’s needs, food security and nutrition are closely linked to the health of animals and the environment. Resources controlled by women are more often allocated to uses that benefit the entire household, such as food, health, and educating children, than men’s resources. However, studies of gender control of resources among pastoralist societies are scant. We examined the effect of female and male control of livestock resources on food security and women’s dietary diversity among households from one agro-pastoralist and two pastoralist tribes in Iringa Region in south- central Tanzania. Methods: We conducted surveys with 196 households, which included questions on food availability and food consumption among women, livestock holdings, gender control of livestock and livestock product income, and household demographics, as well as open-ended questions on the use of income. Food availability and food consumption responses were used to construct food security and women’s dietary diversity indexes, respectively. We conducted mixed effects logistic regression to analyze how household food security and dietary diversity were associated with livestock and other household variables. We also examined qualitative responses for use of income controlled by women and how the household obtained income when needed. Results: Female-controlled livestock generally supported better household nutrition outcomes. Greater chicken holdings increased the probability of being food secure in pastoralist households but decreased it in agro- pastoralist households, while increasing the probability of having medium-high dietary diversity among all tribes. Male-controlled livestock holdings were not related to food security status. Women used income to supplement food supplies and livestock they controlled as a primary response to unanticipated household needs. Conclusions: Our results show that female-control of livestock is significantly related to household food security and dietary diversity in pastoralists and agro-pastoralists in rural Tanzania. Importantly, the relationship between food security and dietary diversity differs among tribes for both male and female-controlled livestock, which suggests that blanket policies regarding management of livestock holdings may have unintended consequences