"I'm the Momma": Using photo-elicitation to understand matrilineal influence on family food choice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Many complex and subtle aspects relating to mothers and food choice are not well understood. Mothers play a primary role in their children's food choices, but research has not specifically examined how matrilineal family members who do not reside in the same household, such as a mother's mother, aunt, or grandmother, influence the current family's food choices.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Seven participants were recruited from the Household Food Inventory (HFI) Study in the Bryan/College Station, Texas. All participants completed an in-depth interview, photographed food-related activities, and discussed photographs in a follow-up in-depth interview. Interviews were transcribed verbatim from audio recordings. Transcripts were analyzed using several qualitative approaches including grounded theory to identify themes and subthemes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Participants discussed the following themes relating to the influence of their mother or other female relation (Mom) on their families' food choices: Relationship with Mom, Just like Mom, 'Kinda' like Mom, Different than Mom, and Mom's Influence on Children's Food Choices. Overall, participants used the photographs to illustrate how they were similar or different to their mothers, or other female family member, as well as how their mothers either supported or undermined control over their children's food choices. The "Mom effect" or matrilineal influence of mothers, aunts, and grandmothers on a mother's food choices was omnipresent, even though Mom was no longer living with the participants.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We found a matrilineal influence to have a residual and persistent influence on a family's food choices. This finding may be helpful for understanding the contextual elements of food choice and explaining why it is sometimes difficult to change mothers' food habits.</p

Obesity prevention and personal responsibility: the case of front-of-pack food labelling in Australia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In Australia, the food industry and public health groups are locked in serious struggle for regulatory influence over the terms of front-of-pack food labelling. Clear, unambiguous labelling of the nutritional content of pre-packaged foods and of standardized food items sold in chain restaurants is consistent with the prevailing philosophy of 'personal responsibility'. An interpretive, front-of-pack labelling scheme has the capacity to encourage healthier patterns of eating, and to be a catalyst for improvements in the nutritional quality of food products through re-formulation. On the other hand, the strength of opposition of the Australian Food and Grocery Council to 'Traffic Light Labelling', and its efforts to promote a non-interpretive, voluntary scheme, invite the interpretation that the food industry is resistant to any reforms that could destabilise current (unhealthy) purchasing patterns and the revenues they represent.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>This article argues that although policies that aim to educate consumers about the nutritional content of food are welcome, they are only one part of a broader basket of policies that are needed to make progress on obesity prevention and public health nutrition. However, to the extent that food labelling has the capacity to inform and empower consumers to make healthier choices - and to be a catalyst for improving the nutritional quality of commercial recipes - it has an important role to play. Furthermore, given the dietary impact of meals eaten in fast food and franchise restaurants, interpretive labelling requirements should not be restricted to pre-packaged foods.</p> <p>Summary</p> <p>Food industry resistance to an interpretive food labelling scheme is an important test for government, and a case study of how self-interest prompts industry to promote weaker, voluntary schemes that pre-empt and undermine progressive public health regulation.</p

Food prices and obesity: long-run effect in US metropolitan areas

Once considered as a serious public health issue only in developed countries, now overweight and obesity have dramatically increased in low- and middle-income countries, especially in urban settings (WHO, 2008). The main purpose of this study is to explore the economic incentives for this rapid growth in obesity rates, by studying variations in obesity over time and across geographic regions in the United States. Although a number of researchers and policymakers have devoted significant resources to address the recent rapid rise in obesity in the United States, “the prevalence of overweight and obesity has increased sharply since the mid 1970s” (Centers for Disease Control, 2008) and most of this increase occurred in the 1980s and 1990s (Cutler, et al., 2003). More importantly, changes in food prices have also occurred over the past 30 years and have occurred simultaneously with the obesity epidemic (Finkelstein, et al., 2005). In this study, we investigate how the decline in food prices in the last three decades affects the long-run growth of obesity rates. We take the advantage of the large panel data that cover for the time periods with the fastest growth of obesity rates, by using metropolitan samples from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and information on prices of food at home and food away from home from these major metropolitan areas for years 1976 to 2001. Specifically, instead of using absolute food prices, we explore the impacts from changes in relative prices of food at home and food away from home (i.e. food prices relative to prices for a market basket of consumer goods and services in these metropolitan areas), as well as changes in prices of food at home and food away from home on the growth in obesity rates during this time frame. We also control for the changes in contextual factors and changes in value of female in these metropolitan areas. Our findings reveal the important fact that changes in relative food prices can explain about 20 percent of the obesity growth during this time period and such effect is more pronounced for the low-educated. The results of the study provide an interpretation of the long-run growth of obesity rates in urban settings

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Relative Food Prices and Obesity in U.S. Metropolitan Areas: 1976-2001

<p>Pseudo-panel by race and gender</p

Relative Food Prices and the Obesity Prevalence in Metropolitan Areas: 1976–2001.

<p>Source: Authors’ calculation using consumer price indexes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and NHIS respondents living in metropolitan areas.</p

The Estimated Effects of Relative Food Price Changes on BMI.

<p>Notes: ^a: All models are estimated using the first difference approach and based on weighted aggregate samples from the NHIS for years 1976 to 2001. ^b: All regressions control for changes in demographic variables, including marital status, age and family income, as well as year fixed effects. Robust standard errors clustered at the metropolitan level in parentheses. ***<i>p</i><0.01, **<i>p</i><0.05, *<i>p</i><0.1.</p><p>The Estimated Effects of Relative Food Price Changes on BMI.</p

The Estimated Effects of Relative Food Price Changes on Obesity.

<p>Notes: ^a: All models are estimated using the first difference approach and based on weighted aggregate samples from the NHIS for years 1976 to 2001. ^b: All regressions control for changes in demographic variables, including marital status, age and family income, as well as year fixed effects. Robust standard errors clustered at the metropolitan level in parentheses. ***<i>p</i><0.01, **<i>p</i><0.05, *<i>p</i><0.</p><p>The Estimated Effects of Relative Food Price Changes on Obesity.</p

Summary Statistics of Aggregate Samples: Weighted.

<p>Summary Statistics of Aggregate Samples: Weighted.</p