Start Date: February 2017

ID #: 74369

Principal Investigator: Mary Muth, PhD, MS

Organization: Research Triangle Institute

Funding Round: Round 10

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Improvements in the healthiness of packaged foods and beverages consumed by children and adolescents could have an impact on obesity through improved dietary intake patterns. Food manufacturers have new incentives to reformulate foods in response to changes in the Nutrition Facts label (NFL) and serving sizes scheduled to go into effect in 2018. The overall goal of this study is to determine whether reformulation of foods typically consumed by children and adolescents has improved the healthiness of available foods, and to develop an understanding of the characteristics of food manufacturers that have reformulated foods. Specific aims are to: 1) assess types and frequencies of reformulation for packaged foods frequently purchased by households with children using household-based scanner data linked to nutrient content data; 2) estimate net changes in nutrients purchased by households with children across demographic groups; and 3) using regression analysis, determine the characteristics of food manufacturers that are more likely to reformulate foods to reduce calories, saturated fats, sugars, and sodium and increase fiber. Existing commercial datasets on food purchases, attributes of foods, and attributes of food manufacturers will be used.

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