Relating diet, demographics and lifestyle to increasing US obesity rates

Changes in the American lifestyle are putting more individuals at risk due to the declining quality of their diets. In the last 20 years, the readily available high-fat foods (e.g., "fast foods") combined with the decreased caloric requirements due to lower physical activity levels is assumed to be the major factor in the sharp rise in the prevalence of obesity. The typical away-from-home meal is less healthy than food at home, since it tends to contain more total fat and saturated fat, less calcium, fiber, and iron, and fewer servings of fruits and vegetables. Furthermore, due to the super-sizing trend that is sweeping the market, when Americans eat out, they eat more. Thus, a rising away-from-home consumption appears to establish a significant barrier to improve American dietary habits and health status. The continuously increasing trend towards obesity is affecting the public health system tremendously, since four of the ten leading causes of death in the US, including heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes, are strongly associated with poor diet and physical inactivity. In terms of lost productivity and medical expenses, it leads to an estimated cost of $200 billion each year. Despite the considerable change in demographics and lifestyles, little research has documented the impact of changes in these factors on the rising US obesity. The objective of this study is to determine the impact of food source, diet, demographic, and lifestyle on the prevalence of obesity and overweight. This study will be based on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES, 1999-2000), which, among many other variables, includes measured weight and height and hence provides the best opportunity to track trends in weight in the US NHANES, administered by the US Department of Health and Human Services. The NHANES provides nationally representative information on the health and nutritional status of the US population. While controlling for demographics, lifestyle and diet information, the main goal is to determine whether the source from which food is obtained also contributes to the increased overweight. Linear regression is applied to estimate the effect of food source, particularly fast-food outlets and restaurants, on the body mass index (BMI). BMI expressed as weight/height2 (i.e. kg/m2), is commonly used to classify overweight (BMI: 25.0-29.9) and obesity (BMI: ≥ 30.0) among adults (age 18 years and over). Previous studies have found gender-specific differences in the effect of different factors on the BMI. This is tested empirically in this study. Quantifying the effects of demographic and lifestyle determinants on BMI will provide a better understanding of the impact of different factors on obesity.obesity, food source, fast food, diet, lifestyle, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy,

Consumer attitudes towards food safety risks associated with meat processing

A focus group study with 37 residents of Manhattan, Kansas, was conducted to examine consumers’ risk perceptions of foodborne illnesses from beef. The four focusgroup sessions were designed to determine (1) relative preferences for alternative combinations of public food safety (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), carcass pasteurization, irradiation) and private protection (home preparation of rare, medium, and well-done hamburgers); (2) how who is at risk (children vs. adults) influences preferences; (3) whether consumers would pay a premium for the higher levels of product safety arising from the adoption of three different innovations in processing plants; and (4) how to improve risk communication about foodborne illnesses and ways to protect against them. Although participants seemed aware of many food safety practices, misinformation and misconception also were found. The majority of the participants preferred well-done, steam-pasteurized or medium, irradiated hamburgers. For a 5-year-old child, the majority chose well-done, steampasteurized or well-done, irradiated hamburgers. Concerning willingness-to-pay, the majority of the participants preferred steam-pasteurized ground beef to regular ground beef when both were priced equally. Results indicated that new technologies available for food safety interventions provided a marginal value to participants. Participants also expressed a need for more information. --

RESERVATION PRICE ANNOUNCEMENT IN SEALED BID AUCTIONS: COMMENT

This comment corrects some errors of analysis contained in a 1993 paper by Carey in the Journal of Industrial Economics.auction, reservation price

Captive Supplies and Cash Market Prices for Fed Cattle: A Dynamic Rational Expectations Model of Delivery Timing

Several empirical analyses of data from fed cattle markets have found a negative correlation between a region's weekly delivery volume of captive supply cattle and contemporaneous price in the local cash market. This negative correlation has been cited as evidence of a causal relationship between the two variables; a relationship in which buyers (beef packing plants) use captive supply procurement as an instrument to depress prices paid to cash market sellers (feeders). This paper investigates circumstances under which this empirical regularity might emerge as a benign artifact of buyer and seller behavior in a fed cattle market in which both sides are price takers. One feature of these markets is that sellers of both marketing agreement (the predominant captive supply procurement method) cattle and spot market cattle have some flexibility in scheduling delivery in order to take advantage of expected price changes. The effect that this type of inter-temporal arbitrage has on the dynamics of price and captive supply is investigated using simulation methods applied to a rational expectations model of delivery timing incentives.cattle markets; captive supplies; extended path algorithm