Title: The impact of preschoolers on household food and beverage purchases changed significantly between 2000 and 2011

Abstract

We examine differences in household purchases of consumer packaged foods/beverages among those with and without preschool children in 2000 and 2011This analysis included 152,008 households from years 2000 and 2011 of a nationally representative survey of household purchases (Nielsen Homescan). Foods and beverages with universal product codes were linked with nutrition facts panel data to compute total calories and volume purchased for key food and beverage categories corresponding to top sources of per capita calorie intake among preschoolers (from NHANES). Random‐effects longitudinal models examined differences in per capita household food and beverage purchases by race among those with and without preschoolers (children 2–5 y) for each food/beverage group.Preschool households in 2011 purchased less milk (−24 kcal), sweet snacks (−42 kcal), juice (−15 kcal) and carbonated beverages (−22 kcal) per capita/d than those in 2000. White preschool households decreased the most in purchases of sweet snacks (−48 kcal/d). Hispanic preschool households had the greatest decrease in purchases of milk per capita (−25 kcal/d, vs. −23 kcal/d for White); the decrease in purchases of milk was lowest among Blacks (−21 kcal/d). Whites saw the greatest decrease in savory snacks (−17 kcal).There were major declines in purchases of milk as well as foods/beverages that are major sources of empty calories between 2000 and 2011 for households with preschoolers.Grant Funding Source: We thank the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Grant 67506) and the National Institutes of Health (R01 HL104580 and CPC 5 R24 HD050924) for financial support. We also wish to thank Dr. Phil Bardsley for exceptional assistance with the data management and programming, Ms. Frances L. Dancy for administrative assistance, Mr. Tom Swasey for graphics support, and Carmen Piernas for assistance in this effort.