title: Economic policies for healthier food intake: the impact on different household categories.
abstract: This paper simulates the impact across household types of fully funded tax reforms designed to increase consumers' fiber intake from grain consumption. Our results suggest that household types with the highest initial consumption share of fiber-rich products--i.e., households without children (seniors, couples without children, and single women without children)--experience the highest increase in fiber intake from these reforms. However, they also experience high increases in unhealthy nutrients from the reforms, making the net health effects difficult to evaluate. Seniors and couples without children also gain most financially, paying less food taxes and facing, depending on the reform, either a lower price level than before the reform or a lower increase in the price level than the average household. These household types also face the lowest initial price level. Households with the lowest initial consumption share of fiber-rich products--families with children--appear to gain the least financially from the reforms: they pay more food taxes and face relatively high increases in price levels. Further, in general they experience an increase in fiber intake smaller than that of the average household. However, they do generally see reductions in the intake of added sugar, and in many cases saturated fat, which positively affects the health of families with children, who often overconsume these nutrients.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 25, 1958, Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Jonas
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nordström
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Thunström
mesh_terms: D004032:Diet / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004043:Dietary Fiber; D002523:Edible Grain; D005191:Family Characteristics; D006801:Humans; D057766:Policy; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013660:Taxes / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
references.citation: Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Aug;80(2):348-56
references.pmid: 15277155
references.citation: J Nutr. 2000 Feb;130(2S Suppl):272S-275S
references.pmid: 10721886
references.citation: Am J Clin Nutr. 2003 Nov;78(5):920-7
references.pmid: 14594777
references.citation: J Health Econ. 2009 May;28(3):622-34
references.pmid: 19329203
references.citation: Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 May;85(5):1353-60
references.pmid: 17490973
references.citation: Am J Clin Nutr. 1999 Sep;70(3):412-9
references.pmid: 10479204
references.citation: Lancet. 2002 Sep 7;360(9335):783-9
references.pmid: 12241840
references.citation: Am J Clin Nutr. 2002 Jul;76(1):274S-80S
references.pmid: 12081851
references.citation: Diabetes Care. 2003 Aug;26(8):2261-7
references.pmid: 12882846
references.citation: WHO Reg Publ Eur Ser. 2004;(96):i-xvi, 1-385, back cover
references.pmid: 15038063