TY - JOUR
T1 - Mother's nutritional label use and children's body weight
AU - Chang, Hung Hao
AU - Nayga, Rodolfo M.
N1 - Funding Information:
Hung-Hao Chang acknowledges partial funding support from the National Science Counsel of Taiwan under Grant No: 95-2415-H-002-041. The data used in the analysis is provided by the Bureau of Health Promotion, Department of Health and National Health Research Institute in Taiwan. The interpretation and conclusions do not represent those of Department of Health and National Health Research Institute. The authors accept responsibility for any remaining errors or omissions.
PY - 2011/4
Y1 - 2011/4
N2 - In spite of a growing body of literature studying the determinants of children's obesity, relatively little is known about the association between parental nutritional label use and children's body weight. To bridge this gap, this study examines the effect of mother's nutritional label use on children's body mass index and overweight. Using data from the 2001 National Health Interview Survey in Taiwan, a two-stage econometric model is proposed and estimated with a semiparametric method. Results indicate that mother's nutritional label use leads to lower probability of children becoming overweight or obese, and a non-linear relationship between mother's nutritional label use and children's BMI is evident. For mothers who seldom use nutritional labels, label use does not lead to a reduction in children's BMI. In contrast, for mothers who are frequent nutritional label users, label use contributes negatively to children's BMI. However, the magnitudes of these effects are relatively small, suggesting that additional instruments or policies are needed if further reduction in children's body mass index is desired.
AB - In spite of a growing body of literature studying the determinants of children's obesity, relatively little is known about the association between parental nutritional label use and children's body weight. To bridge this gap, this study examines the effect of mother's nutritional label use on children's body mass index and overweight. Using data from the 2001 National Health Interview Survey in Taiwan, a two-stage econometric model is proposed and estimated with a semiparametric method. Results indicate that mother's nutritional label use leads to lower probability of children becoming overweight or obese, and a non-linear relationship between mother's nutritional label use and children's BMI is evident. For mothers who seldom use nutritional labels, label use does not lead to a reduction in children's BMI. In contrast, for mothers who are frequent nutritional label users, label use contributes negatively to children's BMI. However, the magnitudes of these effects are relatively small, suggesting that additional instruments or policies are needed if further reduction in children's body mass index is desired.
KW - Children's body mass index
KW - Nutritional label use
KW - Overweight
KW - Semiparametric method
KW - Taiwan
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79952314665&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.foodpol.2010.10.007
DO - 10.1016/j.foodpol.2010.10.007
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:79952314665
SN - 0306-9192
VL - 36
SP - 171
EP - 178
JO - Food Policy
JF - Food Policy
IS - 2
ER -
