Association between environmental factors and BMI: evidence from recent immigrants from developing countries

Background: To study the association between the surrounding local environmental factors and the body mass index of immigrants in the USA. Methods: We use the New Immigrant Survey, to study the association of obesity prevalence in a region on body mass index. We consider local obesity rate as an outcome of the local environmental factors. Using ordinary least squares, three versions of equations are estimated to quantify the contribution of individual-level, acculturation, and environmental effects on immigrants\u2019 body mass index. Results: We find statistically significant results for the correlation of local obesity rate and body mass index. For every 1% increase in the obesity rate, the body mass index levels increase by 0.182 kg/m2. Evidence also suggests dietary assimilation in immigrants is influenced by local environmental factors and that dietary change affects body mass index of female immigrants. Conclusions: Immigrants\u2019 body mass index increase with the increase in the local obesity rate of the region where they reside

Effect of classroom intervention on student food selection and plate waste: Evidence from a randomized control trial

peer-reviewedBackground U.S. children are failing to meet the recommended daily 4 cups of fruits and vegetables. New federal guidelines were implemented for healthier school lunches for the National School Lunch Programs (NSLP). Consequently, students waste large amounts of fruits and vegetables. Several organizations advocate implementation of classroom nutrition education programs as a school nutrition policy. Methods We conducted a randomized control trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a classroom nutrition education on food consumption behavior of public elementary school students. Our intervention was designed to improve students’ preferences for fruits and vegetables. We collected data using digital-photography, and estimated the amount of fruits and vegetables selected and wasted using ordinary least squares. Results The nutrition education program had no impact on the amount of fruits and vegetables selected by the students in the treatment group. We also find no significant difference in the amount of fruits and vegetables wasted by students in the treatment and control group. Conclusion Nutrition education did not change students’ consumption behavior, implying the proposed policy might not be optimal. Inducing a behavioral change in elementary school students is an intricate process and might require more than classroom lessons to change their dietary habits

US agricultural university students\u27 mental well-being and resilience during the first wave of COVID-19: Discordant expectations and experiences across genders

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic\u27s first wave led to declining mental health and life satisfaction outcomes for college students, especially women. While women in undergraduate agricultural programs outperformed men academically prior to and during the pandemic, the achievement may have come at personal cost, especially for those women with fewer personal and environmental resiliency resources. Our research objective was to expand on personal, social, and environmental factors linked with lower mental health and life satisfaction scores for students in agriculture during the pandemic. We measured the influence of such factors across gender-based mental health and life satisfaction outcomes. Our data were collected from 2030 students using an on-line survey across six land-grant university college of agriculture in agriculturally as many distinct regions of the United States. We estimated OLS and Ordered Probit models of their mental health and life satisfaction self-assessments. Our findings reveal students\u27 mental health and life satisfaction were reduced due to a paucity of personal (e.g., less future orientation or graduate school aspirations, food and housing insecurity, and personal health risks) and environmental (e.g., lower quality on-line learning experiences, isolation, family health risk, discrimination experiences) resiliency resources. Our results suggest women were more likely than men to be adversely affected by reduced resiliency resources. These findings suggest university emergency response policies need to address students\u27 needs for housing and food security, on-line course development and delivery, tele health and mental health resources, broad social inclusion and diversity to decrease risk of female attrition and support all students in agricultural degree programs

Dietary Assimilation and its effect on health: A Study of International Students

This paper seeks to understand the effect of environment on obesity by studying the effect of acculturation on the health of a foreign population – who experience a relatively low prevalence of obesity – after they have been introduced to different environments, some are characterized by relatively low prevalence and others are characterized by relatively high rates of obesity. Acculturation for the purpose of this study is defined as a voluntary or involuntary adaptation of food habits and culture of the new country. The foreign population is defined to be the group of foreign students who come from various countries to the United States for short term or long-term habitation

Consumer willingness to pay for nano-packaged food products: evidence from experimental auctions and visual processing data

Using eye-tracking technology and experimental auctions, this paper evaluates the impact of information from various sources on consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for nano-packaged food products with varying shelf-lives. Information about the risks and benefits of nanotechnology in food processing from various sources was presented to consumers and consumers’ eyes were tracked and the time they spent on viewing the information was recorded. Double hurdle models estimation results show that the specific information about nanotechnology from various sources has a negative effect on the probability of consumer submitting positive bids for the nano-packaged products. Conditional on participants’ willingness to submit positive bids, general and specific information about nanotechnology had a positive effect on participants’ WTP for nano-packaged salads and apple sauce which are products with a relatively shorter shelf-life. The eye-tracking data in the analysis showed the proportion of the normalized time viewing the information from private industry significantly increased the WTP conditional on participants submitting a positive bid for apple sauce as compared with the proportion of normalized time viewing the information from environmental protection groups

Is Obesity Contagious? A Case Study of International Graduate Students

International students offer an unique opportunity to study the extent to which environment causes obesity. Because international students have an imperfect ability to choose their destination and are less aware of the social and cultural conditions in and around the university campus we argue that the prevalence of obesity in the surrounding area is plausibly exogenous to international students’ choice of university. In this study, we survey international students studying at 43 public universities across the United States. We use this data to study the effect of prevalence of obesity in a particular region on the BMI levels of the international students. We find statistically significant effects on the changes in BMI levels of the students. Students studying in areas with lower prevalence of obesity show a significantly lower increase in their BMI compared to those studying in areas with higher prevalence of obesity. Evidence suggests that the environmental characteristics of a region have a direct effect on the BMI levels of individuals

What Drives Media Reporting of Food Safety Events? Evidence From U.S. Meat Recalls

This paper examines how the characteristics of a recall affect the volume of media coverage about that recall. We link data on media reports to a comprehensive list of virtually all recalls of meat products over the period 2001--2012. We find considerable evidence that, up to a point, the characteristics of a food recall significantly affect reporting about that recall. Specifically a one percent increase in the volume of meat recalled results in a 0.1 percent increase in media coverage. In addition, we find that media coverage is significantly larger for incidents related to bacterial contamination as compared to other types of recalls

Do Peer Comparison Feedback and Financial Incentives Induce Healthy Behavior? Evidence from Dormitory Roommate Assignments

I investigate the effect of social norming and financial incentives on promoting physical exercise among randomly selected freshman students. Physical exercise is measured as the number of times an individual visits the recreation center. Social norming involves providing feedback to individuals on own and peers’ physical exercise behavior. The financial incentive allows individuals to win a gift card by having their names entered into a lottery. Previous studies show that social norming and financial incentive have been successful in modifying individual behavior. However, results from my studies using these tools have shown little effect in increasing the individuals’ frequency of physical exercise. The in-effectiveness of social norming can be explained by focus theory. It implies that social norming can instigate students to reduce their positive behavior and might lead to an unintended boomerang effect