Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) cost Americans hundreds in billions of dollars. High cholesterol levels, which are closely related to diet habits, are a major contributor to CVD. In this paper we study whether changes in food prices are related to cholesterol levels and whether taxes or subsidies...

This paper investigates the relationship between WIC program participation and purchases of WIC related food. Nielsen Homescan data 2008 to 2010 provide unique information with food expenditures including details on household’s demographics and reported WIC participation status. Using scanner...

Recent research has shown that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is effective in reducing food insecurity. Questions remain, however, about whether SNAP also has any effects on the quality of low-income households’ diets. These questions have surfaced in the context of the...

In this study, we use a unique dataset designed by researchers at the University of Chicago and collected by Mathematica Policy Research to investigate whether there is a significant correlation between diet quality and time spent preparing food. Overall, our results indicate that, when...

In this paper, we estimate the effect of food prices on food insecurity for SNAP recipients using data from the Current Population Survey and the recently published Quarterly Food At Home Price Database. We form a local food price index based on amounts of food for a household of four as...