Price Effect on Diet and Obesity Risk of Food Assistance Program Recipients

描述（由申请人提供）：食品价格影响个人的食品消费、饮食摄入和体重状况。这种价格效应在使用粮食援助计划（FAP）的低收入人群中最为明显，该计划的年度预算超过500亿美元。先前的研究表明，FAP的参与直接影响个人的营养状况和体重状况。然而，对于食品价格如何影响FAP参与者的食品消费和健康结果，人们的理解有限。该应用程序的长期目标是确定促进低收入美国人体重增加的经济机制。本应用程序的目的是检验食品价格对FAP参与、参与者饮食和肥胖风险的影响。这项提议的研究支持了美国国立卫生研究院的使命，即鼓励采用多学科方法研究导致肥胖的因素。该研究的结果将建立在设计和实施FAPs的基础上，以应对美国日益增长的肥胖流行病。该目标将通过三个具体目标来实现：

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Food prices affect an individual's food consumption, dietary intake, and body weight status. This price effect is most significant among the low-income population that uses food assistance programs (FAP), the annual budget of which is over $50 billion dollars. Previous studies suggest that FAP participation directly affects an individual's nutritional status and body weight status. However, there is a limited understanding regarding how food prices affect FAP participants' food consumption and health outcomes. This application's long term goal is to identify the economic mechanisms that promote weight gain among low-income Americans. The objective of this application is to examine the effects of food prices on FAP participation, participants' diet, and risk of obesity. The proposed study supports the National Institutes of Health's mission that encourages a multidisciplinary approach for studying factors that contribute to obesity. Results of the study will build to design and implement FAPs that will confront the growing obesity epidemic in the U.S. The objective will be pursued through three specific aims: Specific Aim #1: To study the effect of local food prices and cost of living on FAP participation. This aim will be accomplished through longitudinal analysis of the linked National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) with the American Chamber of Commerce Researchers' Association (ACCRA) price dataset. FAP participation will be the primary outcome measures. Cost of living indices and grocery indices around 200 metropolitan areas will be the explanatory variables. Specific Aim #2: To examine the effect of local food prices on FAP participants' dietary intakes. Low cost of unhealthy food has contributed to the obesity epidemic among the low-income population. However, low food prices are important to prevent malnutrition. Therefore, it is important to understand how food prices affect FAP participants' nutritional status. This aim will be accomplished by linking data from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) dataset with the ACCRA price dataset. Specific Aim #3: To measure the effects of local food prices on FAP participants' BMI and risk of obesity. FAP participation can positively contribute to weight gain among adults and children. But little is known about the relationship between local food prices and FAP participants' body weight status and risk of obesity. The proposed research is significant because it will facilitate the determination of the relationship between local food prices and FAP participants' body weight status and risk of obesity. Identification of price effect on FAP participants' diet and health outcomes will have important policy implications.