Food-for-Families: Experimental Grocery Store Study

Food-for-Families: Relationship Between Income, Obesity, and Food Purchasing Using an Experimental Grocery Store Study

This is a study about how the price of foods affects buying choices at the grocery store. The price of foods can have a big impact on what people choose to buy and prices change over time. This study is being done to see how changes in food prices affect what mothers choose for their families.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Obesity; Overweight
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Own-Price Elasticity; Other: Cross-Price Elasticity

Detailed Description

It is well known that the price of a given food affects the amount of that item individuals will purchase. Yet little is known about how specific groups, such as obese/overweight individuals and those with lower incomes, change their food purchasing decisions depending on food price changes. Evidence shows that these groups have lower quality diets and worse health outcomes than their normal weight and higher income counterparts. Therefore, it is important to gain a better understanding of how food price changes affect purchasing decisions among these population groups in order to develop targeted nutrition interventions to improve their diet quality. To investigate this, the researchers will create a laboratory-based grocery store, in which pictures of foods will be used in lieu of actual foods. Food prices will be indicated on each picture. The participants will be given play money and a budget, and asked to "purchase" foods in the mock grocery store. The price of foods will be changed throughout the study to investigate how participants change their purchasing decisions based on these price changes.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 80
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • North Dakota
    • Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States, 58203
      • USDA Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Have at least one child up to 18 years of age residing in the household
• Primary grocery shopper for the household
• No health conditions or food practices that substantially limit food choice
• Not currently pregnant
• Consent to the study design

Exclusion Criteria:

• Male
• < 18 years of age
• Not a mother, or children not living with subject in their household
• No children below the age of 18 years of age
• Not the primary grocery shopper for their household
• Health conditions or food practices that substantially limit food choice
• Currently pregnant

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Other: Own-Price Elasticity; The price of eggs will vary (own-price elasticity) while the price of other foods in the "mock" grocery store will remain constant.	Other: Own-Price Elasticity; The price of eggs will be 75%, 100%, or 125% of the reference price, but the price of other foods will remain the same.
Other: Cross-Price Elasticity; The eggs will remain constant while the price of other foods in the "mock" grocery store will vary (cross-price elasticity).	Other: Cross-Price Elasticity; The price of eggs will remain the same, but the price of other foods will be 75%, 100%, or 125% of the reference price.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Price elasticity of eggs	Percent change in the amount of eggs purchased (gram weight) for every percent change in the price of a given food.	Baseline

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Nutrient density of purchased foods	Ratio of low nutrient-dense food purchases to high nutrient-dense food purchases	Baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: USDA Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 16, 2017
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 29, 2018
• Study Completion (Actual): March 29, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 25, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 25, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): September 28, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 20, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 18, 2020
• Last Verified: May 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: low income
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Overnutrition; Nutrition Disorders; Body Weight; Obesity; Overweight
• Other Study ID Numbers: GFHNRC151

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No