Low‐income household penetration and food healthfulness: A quadrant analysis

Supermarket purchase records provide insight on the diet quality of households. A quadrant analysis was conducted to assess household penetration and product healthfulness from a purchase database of 34,407 low‐income families (income ≤ $35,000 a year) during a two‐year period. Household penetration was defined as number of households that purchased the product divided by total number of households in the database. The 400 highest household penetration items were used for the analysis. A nutrient profiling tool calculated healthfulness for the 400 items. Quadrant analysis graphed each item according to household penetration and healthfulness. Healthfulness scores for the 400 foods and beverages ranged from −13.41 to +8.73 with a median of −0.28, with more than half (59%) obtaining negative healthfulness scores. Thirty‐four percent of the 400 items were processed and sixteen percent of the items were fresh produce. One whole grain product was on the top 400 list. The quadrant analysis was a useful tool for identifying food items that, if changed to a healthier choice, would improve the diets of low‐income shoppers. Grant Funding Source : The University of Texas at Austin