Food-for-Families: Relationship Between Income, Obesity, and Food Purchasing Using an Experimental Grocery Store Study

It is well known that the price of a given food affects the amount of that item 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 on 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 price 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. The 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.