Daily, Week-Part, and Holiday Patterns in Consumers’ Caloric Intake

Abstract

The authors predict and demonstrate daily, week-part, and holiday patterns in consumers’ caloric intake using a national food consumption panel data set. They show that daily caloric intake is characterized by intermeal carryover effects, such that balancing between a preceding and a subsequent meal is stronger when both the meals are from the same day than from adjoining days. They also show that panelists’ caloric intake on weekends and holidays is systematically different from their intake on weekdays and nonholidays. Additional analyses reveal that the panelists are similar in their daily bracketing behavior and, to some extent, in their holiday bracketing behavior, but in terms of week-part bracketing behavior, panelists in the 25–35 age group, panelists in the 30-plus body mass index group, and panelists from professional heads of households show a large increase in weekend intake.