Nudging Nutrition: Setting Healthier Defaults in Stores and in Homes

描述(由申请人提供)：本申请涉及广泛的挑战领域01：行为、行为改变和预防，以及特定挑战主题01-OD-101：测试默认选项以促进更健康的行为。我们提出了一组三个相关的研究，目标是关于食物决策的两个关键地点：超市和家庭。前两项研究的重点是超市环境，以确定设置新的默认设置--营养信息或补贴和/或税收结合营养信息--是否鼓励购买更健康的食品。第一项研究利用了创新的超市购物点营养信息计划实施前后的扫描仪数据。具体地说，我们测试营养信息计划的实施是否以及如何影响不太健康和更健康的食品的购买，以及实施如何影响商店的总销售额。我们假设营养信息减少了不太健康食品的销售，增加了健康食品的销售；对商店销售的净影响是一个经验性问题。第二项研究进行随机对照试验，结合营养方面的购买点信息来衡量超市购物对不健康食品税和健康食品补贴的反应。我们假设税收会减少不健康食品的购买量，但出于心理原因，补贴会增加健康食品的购买量，但价格弹性的确切幅度将引起人们的极大兴趣，原因有几个，包括(1)更好地理解消费者关于食品的行为，以及(2)预测税收和补贴对鼓励健康饮食和预防肥胖的影响。我们还假设，结合营养信息，税收或补贴的效果将对增加健康食品和减少不健康食品的购买产生更大的影响。第三项研究聚焦于家庭环境，将确定设置新的默认设置--更小的盘子、更小的器皿，以及在厨房柜台而不是厨房桌子上提供食物--是否会影响人们在家里用餐时的食物数量。我们假设，使用较小的盘子将导致较低的消耗量，从而导致(成人)体重减轻。由于我们预计儿童在成长过程中体重会增加，我们将跟踪儿童标准身高/体重表中的BMI。总的来说，这三项研究将极大地提高我们对营养看门人如何在两个关键场所(超市和家庭)做出决定的理解，并将为促进健康饮食和预防肥胖的公共卫生政策提供信息。 与公共健康相关：该项目将测试将简单的基于健康的信息与对不太健康的食品征税和对更健康的食品征收补贴相结合，试图改善饮食的有效性。几项研究表明，税收本身的效果不那么好。此外，我们将研究家庭服务行为对食物消费的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application addresses broad Challenge Area 01: Behavior, Behavioral Change, and Prevention, and specific Challenge Topic 01-OD-101: Test default options to promote healthier behaviors. We propose a set of three related studies that target two critical locations for decision- making about food: the supermarket and the home. The first two studies focus on the supermarket environment to determine if setting new defaults - nutritional information or subsidies and/or taxes combined with nutrition information - encourage purchases of healthier food. The first study utilizes scanner data from before and after the implementation of an innovative supermarket point-of-purchase nutrition information program. Specifically, we test whether and how the implementation of the nutrition information program affected purchases of less healthy and more healthy foods, and how the implementation affected total store sales. We hypothesize that nutrition information decreases the sale of less healthy foods and increases the sale of healthy foods; the net effect on store sales is an empirical question. The second study conducts randomized controlled trials to measure the responsiveness of supermarket purchases to taxes on unhealthy foods and subsidies for healthy foods combined with point of purchase information on nutrition. We hypothesize that taxes will decrease purchases of unhealthy foods less than subsidies will increase purchases of healthy foods for psychological reasons, but the exact magnitude of the price elasticities will be of great interest for several reasons, including (1) a better understanding of consumer behavior regarding food and (2) projecting the impact of taxes and subsidies to encourage healthy eating and prevent obesity. We also hypothesize that the effect of taxes or subsidies will have a larger impact on increasing healthy food and reducing unhealthy food purchases when combined with nutrition information. The third study focuses on the home environment and will determine if setting new defaults - smaller plates, smaller utensils, and serving foods from kitchen counters rather than kitchen tables - influences the quantity of food people eat during meals at home. We hypothesize that the use of smaller plates will lead to lower consumption and therefore weight loss (in adults) As we expect children to gain weight at they grow, we will track BMI in relation to standard height/weight tables for the children. Collectively, these three studies will greatly enhance our understanding of how nutritional gatekeepers make decisions in two critical venues (the supermarket and the home) and will inform public health policy to promote healthy eating and to prevent obesity. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This project will test the effectiveness of combining simple health based information with a tax levied on less healthy foods and subsidy on more healthy foods in trying to improve diets. Several studies have shown the taxes by themselves to be less effective. Further, we will examine the impact of home serving behaviors on food consumption.