**AWARDS ISSUED PRIOR TO JANUARY 20, 2025, WERE FUNDED UNDER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE PRIORITIES AND POLICIES OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION.** IMPROVEMENTS IN DIET QUALITY CAN BE ACHIEVED BY A COMBINATION OF MORE NUTRITIOUS PRODUCTS (I.E. REFORMULATION) AND HEALTHIER CONSUMER CHOICES. ALTHOUGH PRODUCT REFORMULATIONS HAVE BEEN AT THE FOREFRONT OF POLICY DISCUSSIONS AND HAVE OFTEN BEEN VOLUNTARILY ADOPTED BY FIRMS, THERE HAVE BEEN SCANT EFFORTS TO QUANTIFY THEM AND ANALYZE THEIR EFFECTS. WE PROPOSE TO STUDY FOOD REFORMULATION AND SEVERAL OF ITS ECONOMIC AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS IN THE U.S. A KEY COMPONENT OF THE PROPOSAL IS THE ASSEMBLY OF A LARGE DATASET DOCUMENTING PRODUCT REFORMULATIONS OVER THE LAST SEVENTEEN YEARS AND ACROSS ALL REGIONS OF THE U.S. THE ASSEMBLED DATASET WILL BE USED TO: A) QUANTIFY AND DOCUMENT THE MAJOR PRODUCT AND NUTRIENT REFORMULATIONS IN THE U.S., B) DOCUMENT AND INVESTIGATE POTENTIAL DIETARY AND NUTRITIONAL DISPARITIES ACROSS SUBPOPULATIONS, C) INVESTIGATE POTENTIAL POLICY-INDUCED CAUSES OF PRODUCT REFORMULATIONS AND OF CHANGES IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND HEALTH OUTCOMES, AND D) DEVELOP A THEORETICAL OLIGOPOLY MODEL FOR MANUFACTURERS AND TEST ITS PREDICTIONS ON THE OBSERVED LEVELS OF REFORMULATION. OUR RESULTS WILL BE USEFUL FOR POLICY MAKERS IN THE ONGOING DEBATE AS TO HOW MORE EFFECTIVELY IMPROVE DIET QUALITY AND REDUCE DISPARITIES IN NUTRITIONAL INTAKE AND HEALTH. IN PARTICULAR, THE RESULTS WILL POINT TOWARDS AREAS IN WHICH REFORMULATION VIS-À-VIS IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSUMER CHOICES MAY BE A MORE EFFECTIVE POLICY TOOL (OR VICE VERSA).

University Of Massachusetts, Amherst MA

Investigators