Shop For Success: Experimental Grocery Store Study

USDA Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center

Status: Completed

Conditions: Overweight; Obesity

Treatments: Other: Cross-Price Elasticity; Other: Own-Price Elasticity

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other U.S. Federal agency

Identifiers

NCT04097262

GFHNRC155

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this research is to study how the price of foods affects food buying choices at the grocery store. The researchers are interested in this topic because the price of foods can have a big impact on what people choose to buy and prices change over time. The researchers are doing this study to see how changes in food prices affect what foods mothers choose for their families.

Full description

It is well known that the price of a given food affects the amount of that food an individual purchases. However, little is known about how specific groups, such as overweight/obese and those with lower incomes, change their food purchasing decisions depending on food price changes. Evidence has shown 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 populations 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 to substitute actual food. Food prices will be indicated on each picture. Participants will be given play money and a budget, and ask them to "purchase" foods in the mock grocery store. The price of food will be changed throughout the study to investigate how participants change their purchasing decisions based on these price changes.

Enrollment: 73 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

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 food choice
• Not currently pregnant
• Consent to the 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

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Factorial Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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73 participants in 2 patient groups

Own-Price Elasticity

Experimental group

Description:

The price of fruit will vary (own-price elasticity) while the price of all other foods in the "mock" grocery store will remain constant.

Treatment:

Other: Own-Price Elasticity

Cross-Price Elasticity

Experimental group

Description:

The price of fruit will remain constant while the price of other foods in the "mock" grocery store will vary (cross-price elasticity).

Treatment:

Other: Cross-Price Elasticity