By Rosanna Mentzer Morrison, Economics Editor

ERS FoodReview No. 25-3. January 2003

About this magazine

This issue of FoodReview finds ERS researchers "weighing in" on a critical public health issue—the growing epidemic of Americans who are overweight and obese. The lead article takes a look at the American diet—typically too high in added sugars, refined grains, fats, and calories. Other articles examine the relationship between caloric intake and obesity, individuals' misperceptions about their weight status, the link between fruit consumption and body weight, and the cost-effectiveness issues raised by Federal interventions to reduce obesity. Another article looks at the use of emergency food pantries by U.S. households.

In this report ...

Articles are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.

Contents, (57 kb)

Upfront, (83 kb)

Feature Articles

• U.S. Per Capita Food Supply Trends: More Calories, Refined Carbohydrates, and Fats—ERS's loss-adjusted annual per capita food supply series suggests that average daily calorie consumption in the United States in 2000 was 12 percent, or roughly 300 calories, above the 1985 level. Of that increase, grains (mainly refined grains) accounted for 46 percent, added fats 24 percent, added sugars 23 percent, fruits and vegetables 8 percent, and the meat and dairy groups together declined 1 percent. Per capita availability of total dietary fat, after remaining steady from 1985 to 1999, jumped 6 percent in 2000. American diets are also low in whole grains and other nutritious foods. (145 kb)

• Patterns of Caloric Intake and Body Mass Index Among U.S. Adults—Marked differences in caloric intakes exist across income and education subgroups over the whole range of intake levels, from light to moderate to high. When these differences are compared with differences in body fatness (as measured by Body Mass Index) across the same income and education groups, the patterns tends to match for men but not for women. For example, a greater share of low-income men consumes excessive calories and has BMIs in the obese range than high-income men. Among women, however, low incomes tend to be associated with high BMIs but lower caloric intakes. Determining the causes of disagreements between patterns of caloric intake and body fatness across sociodemographic groups may lead to a better understanding of the causes of disparities in overweight and obesity. (119 kb)

• Misperceptions in Self-Assessed Weight Status Vary Along Demographic Lines—Differences between adults' actual weight status and their perceived weight status show how many and which individuals are mistaken in their self-perceptions. Women, for example, tend to make more accurate self-assessments than men but they are also more likely to overestimate their weight status. Men are more likely to underestimate their weight status. Mistakes in self-assessments have a systematic component and are associated with subpopulations classified by demographics, socioeconomic status, and knowledge and attitudes toward diet and health. Federal information programs targeting obesity and overweight will be more likely to influence diet and lifestyle choices if the programs issue distinct messages to different subgroups. (129 kb)

• Higher Fruit Consumption Linked With Lower Body Mass Index—An examination of the association between consumption of fruits and vegetables and obesity shows a negative relationship between fruit consumption and body mass index (BMI). That is, people who eat more servings of fruit each day have lower BMIs. In fact, healthy-weight children and adults of both genders eat significantly more fruits than their overweight and obese counterparts. Vegetable consumption, however, showed no consistent correlation with peoples' BMIs. The answer to why fruit consumption is a more accurate predictor of body weight status than vegetable consumption may lie in the way many Americans incorporate these foods in their diets. (107 kb)

• Societal Costs of Obesity: How Can We Assess When Federal Interventions Will Pay?—Chronic diseases that result from obesity are taking a large and growing share of U.S. health care expenditures, and many health researchers are calling for Federal intervention to halt the trend toward obesity. How economists should assign dollar benefits to Federal anti-obesity programs remains a mystery. Obesity differs from public health problems economists have examined, such as toxic waste sites or contaminated food, because weight status is largely the result of individual diet and lifestyle choices. Possibly, no anti-obesity intervention could be justified on market failure grounds. However, existing Federal support for health care expenditures for the elderly and those classified as low income show that policy goals include more than efficiency. Intervention could be cost effective if programs could be designed to reduce government expenditures without compromising health. (90 kb)

• Are Americans Turning Away From Lower Fat Salty Snacks?—Although sales of regular versions of potato chips, pretzels, and microwave popcorn increased 11 percent from 1995 to 1999, sales of lower fat versions of the same salty snacks dropped 6 percent in the same period. Sales of lower fat potato chips rose during 1995-98 mostly due to high sales of fat—free Olean products. Lower fat versions of pretzels and microwave popcorn, however, dropped significantly. New product introductions of reduced—and low—fat products, including salty snacks, also fell off, from 1,914 in 1995 to 481 in 1999. (133 kb)

• Use of Food Pantries by Households With Children Rose During the Late 1990s—Although the percentage of U.S. households using food pantries declined roughly 10 percent from 1996 to 2000, the number of visits to food pantries actually increased 2 percent from 1998 to 2000. Households with children accounted for the entire increase in number of visits. Two-parent families made over 20 percent more visits over the 2-year period, and single-parent families also turned to food pantries more often but at a smaller rate of increase. These increases occurred when Food Stamp Program participation was on the decline as a result of a strong U.S. economy and welfare reform legislation, suggesting that not all households that left the program achieved self-sufficiency. (124 kb)

• Farewell to FoodReview—With this issue, FoodReview closes out a 63-year publication run. ERS will launch a new magazine in February 2003. This piece looks back at FoodReview's history, from its 1939 start as a 9-page mimeographed report on the Nation's food supply to the present magazine covering topics as varied and diverse as the U.S. food system. (98 kb)

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