Struggles in the Search for Healthy Food Options

How Can Individuals and Companies Help Change the Culture?

MILWAUKEE, July 22, 2015 - Welcome to the “fully cooked” and “heat and eat” generation. Research shows nearly two-thirds of us buy prepared food and time spent cooking at home has been cut nearly in half over the past 50 years.

This has led to an increase in health problems, including obesity, especially in areas of low income and low access to healthy food options and grocery stores (sometimes referred to as “food deserts”).

“The issue of food access is one we need to understand a lot more about,” says Professor of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics Dave Weatherspoon of Michigan State University. “It’s tied into the overall health of individuals. We need to understand preferences and purchases and how we can influence them to curb this problem.”

Weatherspoon takes an in-depth look at how the choices of individuals, corporations, and advertisers all play a role in “The Relationship Between Supermarket Concentration and the Shopping Habits of the Urban Poor: A Prepared Foods Example”.

His paper will be presented July 27th as part of the 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis.

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Contact: Allison Scheetz
Senior Communications Manager
(414) 918-3190
Email: ascheetz@aaea.org