Suchergebnisse

All the main demographic groups (Female and Males aged 11 upwards) in the United Kingdom (UK) do not consume the government s recommended 5 a day target for fruit and vegetables. Understanding how a 50 percent increased consumption of fruit or vegetables would impact on the whole diet of these demographic groups requires the incorporation of price and income elasticities and a diet model similar to Irz et al (2015). This study used data from the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) and price data from Kantar Worldpanel for the period 2008 to 2013. This study has estimated eight demand systems which represent the eight demographic groups of interest. This is a departure from the previous literature which has relied on household level demand systems to represent the different demographic groups. This study estimated similar diet models to Irz et al (2015) and found that increasing fruit consumption would have the most beneficial change in diet as measured by the Mean Adequacy Ratio (MAR). The demographic group of Males aged 11 to 15 resulted in an approximate increase in the MAR of 5 percent thus experienced the largest improvement in diets as a result of a 50 percent increase in fruit. Acknowledgement : This work was funded by the Scottish Government s Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS) Theme 3 programme (Food, Health and Wellbeing).

Many Western countries such as Scotland face the challenge of reducing carbon emissions associated with food systems (Garnett 2011) while also improving dietary nutritional intake (Scottish Government 2016). Both measures together with affordability represent a sustainable diet. The purpose of this paper is to estimate a healthy and sustainable diet for the major demographic groups in Scotland through producing a list of food products which would help create such a diet. The data for the analysis were sourced from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) for the purposes of estimating Scottish food consumption categories and their respective nutrients. The datasets were augmented with prices obtained from 2014 Kantar Worldpanel data in addition to carbon footprint data (cradle to grave). The diet was designed using a linear programming model, which minimised the monetary cost of the diet subject to 22 nutritional constraints based on UK and Scottish dietary recommendations plus a greenhouse gas emission constraint. The results suggest that a sustainable and healthy diet is possible for all the demographic groups. All 22 nutrient constraints were satisfied in the modelling of the healthy and sustainable diet and the cost of the seven-day diet was estimated to be the most expensive for the Female 11-14 group at £18.20. However, the diets are virtually vegetarian based and some quantities of food products are unrealistic, which may pose issues for consumer acceptability.

The analysis of changes in prices is not only important because they directly affect households' affordability and, therefore, their food security but also because they may trigger changes in the composition of their food and drink choices. Thus, an increase in prices may force a household with limited resources to choose a bundle of goods with lower prices that substitute their original choices and are probably of lower quality. This paper considers the situation of each UK country and the implications that trading down in quality within a food and drink category has on nutrition. Two motivations to pursue these analyses are to explore the sort of substitutions that households do within a category due to an increase in prices and, in the UK leaving the European Union (Brexit) context, the impact that an increase in food prices may have on nutrition. After computing estimates for trading down for each country for the period 2007–2014, we regress the annual rate of change by nutrient with respect to the annual trading in quality for six food qualities that are major contributors of fat, sugar and salt to the diet. The results indicate that trading down in quality occurs in most of the studied categories and countries, and when households trade down, they move to products with worse nutritional quality. This points out the need to keep improving the quality of products through reformulation, ensure that consumers are well informed of nutritional quality of products and monitor the effect of changes in prices.

The analysis of changes in prices is not only important because they directly affect households' affordability and, therefore, their food security but also because they may trigger changes in the composition of their food and drink choices. Thus, an increase in prices may force a household with limited resources to choose a bundle of goods with lower prices that substitute their original choices and are probably of lower quality. This paper considers the situation of each UK country and the implications that trading down in quality within a food and drink category has on nutrition. Two motivations to pursue these analyses are to explore the sort of substitutions that households do within a category due to an increase in prices and, in the UK leaving the European Union (Brexit) context, the impact that an increase in food prices may have on nutrition. After computing estimates for trading down for each country for the period 2007–2014, we regress the annual rate of change by nutrient with respect to the annual trading in quality for six food qualities that are major contributors of fat, sugar and salt to the diet. The results indicate that trading down in quality occurs in most of the studied categories and countries, and when households trade down, they move to products with worse nutritional quality. This points out the need to keep improving the quality of products through reformulation, ensure that consumers are well informed of nutritional quality of products and monitor the effect of changes in prices.

This research was funded by the Scottish Government's Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS) and responsive opportunity funding from the Scottish Environment, Food and Agriculture Research Institutes (SEFARI). ; Peer reviewed ; Publisher PDF

FUNDING This research was funded by the Scottish Government's Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS) and responsive opportunity funding from the Scottish Environment, Food and Agriculture Research Institutes (SEFARI). ; Peer reviewed ; Publisher PDF