A Healthy, Well-Nourished Population

Overview

Improved nutrition has been a key goal of all modern societies. Sound nutrition frees a nation and its people to pursue goals that improve the human condition. A healthy and well-nourished population is more productive and able to focus its energies on the provision of goods and services associated with a highly developed society. In 1900, households relied primarily on local food production, and the predominant nutritional problems were low caloric intake and inadequate intakes of certain vitamins and minerals. Today, a hallmark of the American agricultural system is that consumers enjoy year-round abundance of nutritious and affordable foods. With prosperity, however, comes new challenges. More overview...

Related Briefing Rooms

Diet, Consumption, and Health	Food Markets and Prices
• Diet Quality and Food Consumption	• Food CPI, Prices, and Expenditures
	• Food Marketing System in the U.S.
	• Global Food Markets

Features

Improving Data to Analyze Food and Nutrition Policies—The Economic Research Service sponsored this study by a panel of experts at the National Research Council of the National Academies. The panel reviewed data needs to support research and decisionmaking for USDA's food and nutrition policies and programs. The panel also assessed the current data infrastructure and recommended enhancements to it. The study can be applied to a broad range of activities across both public and private sectors.

Food, Nutrition, and Time Use Patterns—A new data survey on how Americans spend their time can inform food assistance and nutrition policies and programs. This information also will allow the study of obesity, eating patterns, and time use; time use patterns by food stamp recipiency status; and the relationship between the time use patterns of parents and their children's participation in school meal programs.

The U.S. Food Marketing System, 2002—This report focuses on recent trends in the food supply chain. Chapters on food manufacturing, wholesaling, grocery retailing, and food service provide a detailed overview of structure, performance, information systems, new technology, and foreign direct investments. The report also contains a comprehensive set of appendix tables containing sales, concentration, trade, productivity, and other indicators. Also see related data on Food Market Indicators.

WIC and the Retail Price of Infant Formula—Rebates from infant formula manufacturers to State agencies that administer the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) support over one-quarter of all WIC participants. However, concerns have been raised that WIC and its infant formula rebate program may significantly affect the infant formula prices faced by non-WIC consumers. This report presents findings from the most comprehensive national study of infant formula prices at the retail level. For a given set of wholesale prices, WIC and its infant formula rebate program resulted in modest increases in the supermarket price of infant formula, especially in States with a high percentage of WIC formula-fed infants. However, lower priced infant formulas are available to non-WIC consumers in most areas of the country, and the number of these lower priced alternatives is increasing over time. A two-page Research Brief highlights the report's findings.

ERS's magazine, Amber Waves, has articles on nutrition, food assistance, and food markets topics, including food security in the United States, the food choices of older Americans, how much food stamps reduce child poverty, some of the determinants of food prices, and balancing food costs with nutrition goals in WIC.

Recommended Readings

The Food Assistance Landscape—This periodical provides a brief overview of USDA's domestic food assistance programs. Each issue contains recent program statistics, such as expenditure, participation, and benefit levels, as well as information on related economic and social indicators, such as unemployment rates, income growth, and food price inflation. It also discusses a recent ERS study that examined patterns of entry into and exit from the Food Stamp Program.

Issues in Food Assistance—The Issues in Food Assistance series, part of ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program, addresses a variety of topics related to the USDA food assistance programs. Issues briefs currently available cover changes in the Child and Adult Care Food Program, food insecurity, and the standard deduction in the food stamp benefit formula. Upcoming briefs will cover such topics as low-income rural Americans, private food aid (food pantries, food kitchens, etc.), low-income families, unemployment, the U.S. economy, and self-sufficiency among former food assistance receivers.

America's Eating Habits: Changes and Consequences—This compendium provides different perspectives on nutrition problems in the United States. Healthier diets might prevent $71 billion per year in medical costs, lost productivity, and the cost of premature deaths associated with these conditions.

See all recommended readings...

Recommended Data Products

Food Consumption (Per Capita) Data System—ERS annually calculates the amount of food available for human consumption in the United States. This series tracks historical national aggregate consumption of several hundred basic commodities. It is the only continuous source of data on food and nutrient availability in the United States and provides data back to 1909 for many commodities. See also the related report, Food Consumption, Prices, and Expenditures, 1970-97.

Current Population Survey (CPS) Food Security Supplement Data—The CPS-FSS is the source of national and State-level statistics on food insecurity and hunger used in USDA's annual reports on household food security.

National data useful in food and nutrition assistance research—Brief descriptions of national surveys and data sets with links to the sponsoring organizations.

Recent Research Developments

Benefits of Proposed Nutrition Labeling Rule Estimated—USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service has proposed requiring that nutrition information be provided for fresh meat and poultry products. This information could be provided by including a "Nutrition Facts" label like those now placed on processed food products. According to ERS estimates, changes in consumer behavior in response to the nutrition information could lead to healthier food choices, thereby reducing medical costs, productivity losses, and premature death from diet-related diseases, such as stroke, coronary artery disease, or cancer. ERS estimates that the benefits associated with these diet-related health improvements could be as much as $145 million per year.

Related Links

Food and Nutrition Service—The agency responsible for administering the Nation's food and nutrition assistance programs.

Food and Nutrition Information Center (FNIC)—One of several information centers at USDA's National Agricultural Library. Access all of FNIC's resource lists and databases, as well as many other food- and nutrition-related links.

Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion—The focal point within USDA where scientific research is linked with the nutritional needs of the American public.

National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program—The office in the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) of USDA charged with funding research in biological, environmental, physical, and social sciences relevant to agriculture, food, and the environment.