The impact of price reductions on individuals' choice of healthy meals away from home.
Food high in energy but low in nutritional value is an important contributor to several serious illnesses, and one type of food that is particularly high in energy but low in nutrition is food consumed away from home. In this paper, we examine the demand and willingness to pay for healthy, Keyhole-labelled meals. A Keyhole-labelled meal is particularly low in energy, fat, sugar and salt, but particularly high in fibre. The results suggest that to get the majority of individuals to choose the healthy option regularly it would be necessary to alter the relative price between healthy and less healthy meals. Generally groups of individuals with a poor nutritional intake require a larger compensation (subsidy) before they choose the healthy alternative. About one third of respondents would choose the healthy option regularly if the prices for a healthy and less healthy meal were the same. In particular groups of individuals who already have a relatively good nutritional intake would select the healthy option. Groups with a generally poor nutritional intake (men and individuals with lower education and lower income) would gain health benefits from a subsidy of Keyhole-labelled meals.
['Nordström|Jonas|J|', 'Thunström|Linda|L|']
D000328:Adult D002755:Choice Behavior D003132:Commerce D004032:Diet D004043:Dietary Fiber D005247:Feeding Behavior D005260:Female D005518:Food Preferences D015438:Health Behavior D006801:Humans D008297:Male D062407:Meals D008875:Middle Aged D009752:Nutritional Status D009753:Nutritive Value D012147:Restaurants D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
Healthy Subsidy Food away from home Food demand Restaurant