Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: March 29, 2004
Publication Date: July 17, 2004
Citation: Bowman, S.A. 2004. Food price affects food choices and diet quality. [abstract]. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. 36(1):S49. Technical Abstract: Several factors such as price, taste, and food keeping quality influence food purchase practices of adults. This study aims to find out whether adults to whom the price of food was very important had a different dietary pattern than the adults to whom the price of food was not very important. Adult females (N=2,633) in the USDA's 1994-1996 Diet and Health Knowledge Surveys who were mostly responsible for the preparation of meals in their homes were included in the study. Forty-seven percent of the females considered price very important and Fifty-three percent did not. Food price was very important to sixty-nin percent of females from low-income households and to only thirty-two percent of females from high-income households. Females who considered price very important had significantly low intakes of relatively expensive foods such as non-starchy vegetables and lowfat and skim milk. Consequently, their diet was low in dietary fiber, carotene, and calcium. They consumed more non-diet fruit drinks that are inexpensive sources of energy. Significantly low percentages of females from this group met recommendations for vegetables, dairy, total fat, and saturated fat. This group also had a higher body mass index than the other group (26.8 vs.25.4). This study is useful to dietitians who provide guidance, especially to low income food shoppers, on how to buy relatively inexpensive nutritious foods.