Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2024 May 31;19(5):e0300839. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0300839. eCollection 2024.
Using household-level U.S. food-purchase data, this study investigates pandemic-induced changes in two measures of diet quality, a Berry Index that measures food diversity and a USDAScore that measures adherence to dietary guidelines. Using NielsenIQ consumer panel data and a total of XXX households that neither moved location nor left the panel from 2018 through 2020, we estimate an event-study model where each household's diet quality measures before and during the pandemic period are compared against the same households' scores one year prior. In the two-to-three months following pandemic-based school closures, which spanned the March-June 2020 period, depending on the specific U.S. state, we find modest increases in food diversity (of up to 2.6 percent compared to the prior year) for the Berry Index and larger temporary increases (of up to 8.5 percent) in diet quality as measured by the USDAScore. We also find that households with different demographic characteristics generally follow the same patters; however, households with young children, low-income households, and households that do not own a vehicle exhibit smaller increases.
利用美国家庭层面的食品购买数据，本研究考察了疫情对两种饮食质量衡量指标的影响，分别是衡量食物多样性的 Berry 指数和衡量饮食指南遵守程度的 USDAScore。使用尼尔森 IQ 消费者小组数据和 2018 年至 2020 年期间总计 XXX 户既未搬家也未退出小组的家庭数据，我们采用事件研究模型进行估计，即将疫情期间每个家庭的饮食质量衡量指标与同一家庭一年前的得分进行比较。在基于疫情的学校关闭后的两到三个月内，具体时间跨度为 2020 年 3 月至 6 月，取决于美国各州的具体情况，我们发现 Berry 指数衡量的食物多样性略有增加（与前一年相比最多增加 2.6%），而 USDAScore 衡量的饮食质量则出现更大的暂时增加（最多增加 8.5%）。我们还发现，具有不同人口特征的家庭通常遵循相同的模式；然而，有年幼子女的家庭、低收入家庭和没有汽车的家庭的增幅较小。
