Obesity has increased dramatically in the past 25 years. The consumption of added sugar has increased significantly during the same time period. Previous research indicates a direct correlation between the consumption of added sugar and the prevalence of obesity. Sugar has been identified in multiple studies as having addictive or opiate-like qualities. Unquestionably, added sugar consumption has contributed to the current obesity epidemic. Here, we apply a reference price economic model to attempt to describe sugar consumption. Using consumption and price data from the Economic Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, we made a reference price estimation of domestic refined sugar (sucrose) consumption. Using time-series econometric techniques, we tested the effects of internal and external reference prices, in the form of first differenced own price and price of other nutrient classes, respectively, on sugar demand. Results indicate that internal and, particularly, external reference prices do indeed play a role in consumption decisions. However, the model lacks socioeconomic variables that may help to provide a more complete consumption picture.

The purpose of this study was to investigate parents' perceptions of the food consumption practices and nutrition-related needs in a resource-constrained community, in terms of daily eating patterns, current knowledge and attitudes with regards to food choice, food production and food preparation, as well as community-based nutrition-related needs and information to be included in an intervention aimed at community-wide health and well-being. The study forms part of a broader research project, which aims to facilitate health and well-being in resource-constrained communities, in support of reaching identified Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs). Interpretivism was utilised as meta-theoretical lens and a qualitative research approach was followed. I selected Bronfenbrenner's Ecosystems Theory as guiding framework for the current study. A Participatory Reflection and Action (PRA) research design was utilised to generate data with 22 purposefully selected parents from three primary schools in the Bronkhorstspruit area. Data were generated and documented through PRA-based workshops, observation, visual techniques, field notes and a reflective journal. Following inductive thematic analysis, five themes and related sub-themes emerged. The first theme relates to the daily eating patterns of the community, reflecting food consumed during breakfast, lunch and dinner. Secondly, healthy eating practices were identified as a theme, indicating that community members had a clear understanding of what healthy eating practices entails, available resources to inform healthy eating practices and current informational needs in terms of healthy eating practices. The third theme highlights food preparation practices, where women take responsibility for food preparation by means of a variety of methods. The fourth theme emphasises food purchasing practices, where community members buy from larger chain-stores, local shops and informal traders. Finally, the fifth theme indicates food production practices, where community members prefer to grow their own vegetables. Based on the findings it can be concluded that this community's food consumption patterns are primarily affected by factors in the macrosystem, namely poverty and unemployment. At the macro-level, access to healthy food, cost of healthy food and the influence of the media are aspects influencing the perceptions and decisions of community members such as parents. Changed food consumption practices and nutrition-related needs within the community may, in turn, effect change in the macrosystem by informing related future interventions. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Educational Psychology / MEd / Unrestricted

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This essay is firstly a methodological pilot study. We have investigated if qualitative methods, in this case semi-structured interviews and focus group interviews, can be used to complement existing empirical findings about food consumption. The study’s approach has also been to map out what variables that affects individuals choices regarding food consumption and how their choices are affected by governmental information. Through a historical overview of food consumption in Sweden, we can show how the governmental and individual roles have changed due to increased globalization and urbanization. We have also used a social-psychological theoretical framework and previous empirical findings to analyze why individuals not always act as themselves and others wish. The results from this study shows that students generally are more aware than other individuals regarding sustainable choices. Still, they find it difficult to specify why one choice is more sustainable than another, for example between conventional, organic and locally produced food. The majority of the respondents claimed that high pricing was the main obstacle for them to consistently go for the more sustainable choice. When talking about price, some of the respondents expressed that, both the external and the self-perceived image of what the life of a student includes further contributes to the idea of a ‘poor student with limited choices’. There is still an ongoing need to study social phenomena in the everyday live. We can, in line with this study’s litterature, note that several aspects of everyday life are corrected by the government. Regarding food consumption, that is characterized by individualism and act in the grey area between governmental ideals and the practice of everyday life, the need for knowledge is even bigger. Increased knowledge is crucial to make a sustainable urban development possible and we claim that qualitative methods can act as an important tool to illustrate and affect attitudes and norms.

The motivation to eat is influenced by both internal physiological demands and by external stimuli with positive or negative associations. A conditioned stimulus (CS) associated with food can potentiate eating in sated subjects, whereas a CS associated with a negative affect can suppress eating in hungry subjects. Although the amygdala has been implicated in these behaviors, the neural mechanisms that underlie this type of non-homeostatic eating are poorly understood. To investigate the role of BLA neurons in CS+ potentiated eating and CS- lick suppression, we developed a behavioral paradigm in mice in which eating behavior could be assessed in conditions of low or high satiety and in relation to CS presentations while recording neural activity using freely-moving endoscopic calcium imaging. We found that satiety partially decreases responses to the CS+, and the neural representation of the CS+ becomes more similar to the CS-. Additionally, we tested the hypothesis that CS-evoked activity is casually involved in CS+ induced licking or CS- lick suppression by using optogenetics during this task. Silencing of BLA glutamatergic neurons labelled by NL189 prevents CS- lick suppression during low satiety and does not affect licking during the CS+. The combination of cellular imaging and optogenetics results indicates that BLA neuronal activity evoked by the CS- is critical for lick suppression, whereas CS+ activity might facilitate appetitive behavior, but this activity is not critical for cue-induced eating.

Background: The current unsustainable situation of the seafood industry requires innovative solutions and there is an opportunity for companies to provide consumers with plant-based options which would enable them to eat seafood without harming the oceans. However, there are still several barriers keeping consumers from choosing plant-based products, such as limited knowledge, social norms, and cultural settings. Previous studies regarding how a cultural context and storytelling might be used to influence people towards more plant-based eating, especially relating to plant-based seafood are limited. Therefore, it is interesting to examine how companies offering plant-based foods can use culture and certain narratives held by consumers in their branding to integrate them into the Swedish culture and influence consumers towards a more sustainable consumption.   Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate what narratives influence consumers, and how companies offering plant-based food can use these narratives to drive a change towards more sustainable consumption among people in Sweden.   Method: Using a semi-structured approach, two focus groups were conducted and two different companies offering plant-based food were interviewed. Furthermore, this qualitative research uses an inductive approach, and the gathered data was later analyzed under a thematic analysis which was the foundation for the conceptual framework.   Conclusion: The myths and narrative towards plant-based substitutes are a noteworthy barrier to adoption, and cultural branding seems to be a favorable strategy for brands offering plant-based food. The findings suggest that culture and childhood experiences have a substantial influence on consumer demand for different types of foods, and that a change in dietary patterns requires a change in the surrounding cultural norms. Brands offering plant-based products need to understand the cultural norms of their target customers and leverage cultural contradictions to offer products that align with personal values.

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My study examined the influence of agricultural extension advice on household food consumption and food security outcomes in Malawi. I utilized a pooled cross-sectional dataset from the Malawi Integrated Household Survey (IHS) and Integrated Household Panel Survey (IHPS) conducted in 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019. To identify the effects, multivariate linear and logistic regression models were employed, considering various factors and incorporating fixed effects for survey wave, district, and data collection month. My findings revealed heterogeneity in the impacts of agricultural extension advice on food consumption and food security outcomes. Specifically, the results showed a positive correlation between agricultural extension advice and food consumption, but a negative association with household food security. These outcomes imply that while the adoption of agricultural extension advice improves household food consumption, it does not completely address the underlying threats to food security faced by maize producing-households in Malawi.

This dissertation consists of three essays, each covering very distinct topics under the broad umbrella of Development Economics, each set in a different region of the developing world (Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia). The one element that loosely ties them together is that they each seek to add, in a small way, to our understanding of factors that contribute to, and in some cases may entrap people in, poverty: factors such as (lack of) geographic mobility, hunger, and disease. In the first chapter, I use the natural experiment of military conscription in Argentina, which randomly assigned not only military service, but also the location of service, to study the effect of this temporary displacement on long-run migration rates. I then use a rich source of administrative earnings and employment data to investigate the labor-market implications of conscription and, in particular, displacement. I find that conscription on the whole caused a small increase in the likelihood of appearing in the formal labor force, and a small increase in earnings particularly for those who were assigned to serve in the Navy. Assignment to military service outside of one's province of origin increased the likelihood of living outside the province of origin by 2.5 percent, and while the net effects of this displacement on earnings and employment are imprecisely estimated, the evidence suggests that there are modest long-term benefits of conscription in Argentina that are not fully attributable to displacement. In the second chapter, I investigate the effects of Ramadan on calorie consumption and labor supply among Muslim households in rural Malawi. Across four rounds of household survey data, I find no evidence of a decrease in calorie consumption during Ramadan on average. I do, however, find evidence that working-age people reduce their weekly work by about three hours, or nearly 20 percent, on average. This finding on calories shows substantial variation across the different rounds of data. The evidence presented calls into question the hypothesis that consumption during Ramadan should fall more dramatically when the holiday overlaps with the harvest (when baseline consumption levels are relatively high compared to the rest of the year), compared to when Ramadan falls near the annual hunger season (when baseline consumption levels tend to be much lower). I discuss potential implications of this variation for our understanding of seasonal consumption patterns. The third and final chapter, which is authored jointly with Kaivan Munshi and Nancy Luke, discusses a randomized intervention conducted in rural South India aimed at improving rates of treatment completion for tuberculosis. Tuberculosis (TB), despite being a highly treatable disease, kills well over 1 million people every year, with 95 percent of cases and deaths appearing in developing countries. India bears the largest TB burden of any country, with more than 25 percent of the world's total yearly cases. A key factor for successful management of TB is ensuring that patients complete the full six-month (or more) treatment regimen: missing even a few doses of the prescribed medications increases the likelihood of relapse and development of a drug-resistant strain of TB, which is much more difficult and costly to treat effectively. We conduct an intervention allowing patients to select a community member to serve as a Directly Observed Treatment (DOT) provider to help ensure compliance with the full treatment regimen. Although patients assigned a Community DOT provider report significantly more frequent visits and higher rates of satisfaction compared to our control group, we do not find any significant improvement in treatment outcomes among those assigned this intervention. We explore several potential explanations for this finding and suggest potential avenues for future research.

Grön konsumtion och grönt medborgarskap är begrepp som blivit vanligare i takt med ökad medvetenhet om miljöpolitiska problem, klimatutveckling och vår omgivnings tillstånd och framtid. Livsmedelskonsumtion står för en väsentlig del av växthusgasutsläppen ett vanligt hushåll orsakar varje år och utgör därmed en adekvat avgränsning till den här studien. I det här arbetet presenteras båda begreppens bakgrund och betydelse baserat på en litteraturstudie. Skillnader, likheter och signifikanta karaktärsdrag analyseras för att sedan utgöra grunden till uppbyggandet av en enkätundersökning. Undersökningen baseras på fyra huvudgrenar; Generella karaktäristiska egenskaper Nivå av klimatanknytning Förändringsbenägenhet i syfte att konsumera mer miljövänligt Drivkrafter som kan kopplas till typiska konsumtionsbaserade aktiviteter Studien avgränsades till kollektivt beteende kring livsmedelskonsumtion. Resultatet av enkätundersökningen visade en överrepresentation av grönt medborgarskap och en positiv inställning till värderingar med tydlig psykologisk och moralisk koppling till miljö och konsumtion. Respondenterna svarade även i enlighet med grön konsumtion, vilket var framträdande vid påståenden om mervärde i utförande av vissa konsumtionsrelaterade aktiviteter. Slutsatsen av arbetet belyser svårigheterna i att gruppera grön konsumtion och grönt medborgarskap i två separata kategorier för att använda dem som en klassificering och/eller gruppering av mänskligt beteende. Däremot kan de med fördel användas som ett verktyg för att diskutera drivkrafter, livsstil, värderingar och sociala attityder kring miljömedvetenhet i olika sammanhang. / Green consumption and green citizenship are concepts that are established with increased awareness of environmental policy issues, climate change and the current state and the future of the environment. The aim of this study was to examine the background and meaning of these pro-environmental concepts based on a literature study. A survey was constructed based on the analyze given in the study, containing specific differences, similarities and significant characteristics for green consumption and citizenship. The survey contained four main characteristic indicators; General characteristic ideals Connection to nature Willingness to change Driving forces connected to commonly targeted consumption-based behaviors The results of this study showed an overrepresentation of green citizenship and a positive attitude towards the values with distinct psychological connection to the environment and consumption patterns. The results also responded in accordance with green consumption, most commonly regarding to consumption-based behaviors contributing a psychological added value. The conclusion of the work highlights the difficulty of dividing green consumption and green citizenship into two separate categories in order to use them as a classification and/or grouping of human behavior. On the other hand, they can advantageously be used as a discussion tool in subjects related to driving forces, lifestyles, values and social attitudes about environmental awareness in different contexts.