Meals-for-Moms: Experimental Grocery Store Study
Meals-for-Moms: Experimental Grocery Store Study
This is a study about how the price of foods affects food 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.
It is well known that the price of a given food affects the amount of that 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 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 prices 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. 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.
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 choice

 -  Not currently pregnant

 -  Consent to 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