Tatiana Andreyeva, PhD
Dr. Tatiana (Tania) Andreyeva is Director of Economic Initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University. Before joining the Rudd Center, she worked at RAND Corporation on a variety of health policy issues, including health promotion, retirement behavior, health care systems, obesity, and mental health. Dr. Andreyeva completed her PhD at the Pardee RAND Graduate School in Santa Monica.
Contact: (203) 432-8432; tatiana.andreyeva@yale.edu
Research Interests
Ongoing USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) Food Assistance & Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) Research Projects
Ongoing Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Research Projects
Other Funding Sources
Recently Completed Research Projects
Recent Publications
Research Interests
Dr. Andreyeva's current research focuses on the determinants of access to healthy foods in low-income communities and the role of economic incentives in food choices and diet, including food prices and taxation, and the federal assistance and nutrition programs (particularly WIC, SNAP, and CACFP). Dr. Andreyeva's research also examines the effects of food marketing on children's diet and obesity and economic implications of weight stigma in youth.
Ongoing USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) Food Assistance & Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) Research Projects
The Economics of Beverage Choices among WIC and SNAP Participants
Goal: To access beverage choices of low-income households
Principal Investigator: Tatiana Andreyeva PhD
Co-Investigators: Kathryn E. Henderson, PhD and Marlene B. Schwartz, PhD
Start Date: October 1, 2011
End Date: September 30, 2012
Summary:
Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are a target for reduction in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Concerns have been raised about SSB purchasing with Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. Recently, New York City and five states have sought a waiver from the USDA to allow restrictions on the purchasing of certain foods and beverages with SNAP benefits. Data on what SNAP recipients buy with their benefits is limited. It is also unknown if SNAP recipients are aware of and sensitive to the tax relief provided in states that apply a sales tax to SSB purchases, from which SNAP purchases are exempt. Policy changes, such as the recent revisions to the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) food packages, could shift purchasing patterns from unhealthy foods and beverages. Our project will use 2009-2011 supermarket scanner data to assess beverage-purchasing behaviors among WIC and SNAP recipients in several New England states.
Objectives:
1. To describe refreshment (i.e., non-alcoholic) beverage purchases among WIC and SNAP recipients and methods of payment used (SNAP benefits, non-SNAP tender).
2. To draw on a natural experiment of different state sales tax policies to assess their effects on beverage purchasing patterns among SNAP recipients.
3. To evaluate changes in beverage purchasing behaviors among WIC recipients after the revisions to WIC food packages.
WIC Food Package Revisions: Impact on Food Purchases and Access to Healthy Foods
Goal: To access the impact of the WIC food package revisions on WIC customer purchases of major healthy food categories
Principal Investigator: Tatiana Andreyeva, PhD
Co-Investigators: Kathryn E. Henderson, PhD and Marlene B. Schwartz, PhD
Start Date: October 1, 2010
End Date: March 31, 2012
Summary:
For many American families, limited access to healthy foods is a barrier to improving diet and health. Federal food assistance programs are one potential strategy to expand access to better nutrition in underserved communities. Recent revisions to the WIC food packages were designed to increase the provision of healthy foods to low-income women, infants, and children. Our project evaluates the impacts of this policy change on access to healthy foods and purchasing behavior among WIC participants. Using scanner data from a major supermarket chain in two states, we compare WIC customer purchases before and after the revisions (2009-2011). To understand trends in food market factors and see if anticipated positive policy effects on access to healthy foods remain consistent over time, we conduct store inventories in a representative sample of food retailers 18 to 20 months after the revisions. Finally, we explore trends in market factors for any differential impacts of the policy change.
Objectives
1. To assess the impact of the WIC food package revisions on WIC customer purchases of major WIC food categories (fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and lower-fat milk).
2. To describe the use of cash fruit and vegetable vouchers, including number of servings of fruit and vegetables per voucher and per serving costs.
3. To assess the food environment through store inventories and identify changes in availability, variety, and prices of WIC foods compared to the pre-revision and first-year post-reform assessment.
4. To identify factors that modify the impact of the WIC revisions.
Ongoing Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Research Projects
Healthy Eating Research (Round 3): Building Evidence to Prevent Childhood Obesity
Improving nutrition in childcare settings in the context of food insecurity
Goal: To assess the feasibility and impact of childcare nutrition policies to decrease excess caloric consumption in the context of food insecurity.
Principal Investigator: Marlene B. Schwartz, PhD
Co- Investigator: Tatiana Andreyeva, PhD
Start Date: 2009
End Date: 2011
Food Marketing in Youth
Goal: To identify issues of food marketing to children and propose strategies for decreasing its impact.
Principal Investigator: Kelly D. Brownell, PhD
Co- Investigator: Tatiana Andreyeva, PhD
Start Date: 2008
End Date: 2013
Other Funding Sources
Rudd Foundation: Center for Food Policy and Obesity
Goal: Conduct multidisciplinary research and policy analysis on national and global issues related to diet, nutrition, food and obesity.
Principal Investigator: Kelly D. Brownell, PhD
Director of Economic Initiatives: Tatiana Andreyeva, PhD
Recently Completed Research Projects
USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) Food Assistance & Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) Research Grant
Access to Healthy Foods: The role of market competition, WIC Policy and Food Vendor Attitudes.
Goal: To evaluate the effect of changes in WIC food packages on access to healthy foods in low-income communities.
Principal Investigator: Marlene B. Schwartz, PhD
Co- Investigator: Tatiana Andreyeva, PhD
Start Date: 2008
End Date: 2011
Summary:
This study examined how the 2009 WIC food package revisions, market factors, and food vendor attitudes influenced access to affordable healthy foods for economically disadvantaged families. Data were collected from 252 stores in five Connecticut cities and towns to examine the store and market level determinants of the retail food landscape. The study assessed how the availability, variety, quality, pricing of healthy foods, and the purchasing power of food assistance benefits were influenced by store type, market competition among local food retailers, local fast food outlets, and town socio-demographic characteristics were influenced by the 2009 WIC food packages revision. Data collection lasted for two years and took place before and after the WIC package revisions to identify changes in the availability and pricing of healthy foods in low-income neighborhoods. Food vendor surveys were conducted to relate the beliefs and attitudes of food vendors about healthy foods and participation in the food assistance programs with the provision of healthy foods. Finally, administrative data was used to monitor changes in the number, type, and location of WIC-authorized vendors throughout the state of Connecticut following the WIC reform.
A report from this project: http://ddr.nal.usda.gov/bitstream/10113/48404/1/CAT31079664.pdf
Healthy Eating Research (Round 2): Building Evidence to Prevent Childhood Obesity
Documenting the range and quality of existing preschool food policies in Connecticut
Goal: Study nutrition policies and practices in Connecticut preschools
Principal Investigator: Marlene B. Schwartz, PhD
Investigator: Tatiana Andreyeva, PhD
Start Date: 2007
Completion Date: 2010
In the News
To Ban or Not to Ban: The Debate on Sugary Drinks and SNAP
Health leaders in South Carolina would like to limit the purchase of sugary drinks with food stamps in an effort to slow the obesity epidemic.
ABC News Charleston, February 2013
Food Stamps Buy up to $2.1 Billion a Year in Sugary Drinks, Study Says
The federal food assistance program SNAP pays $1.7 billion to $2.1 billion for purchases of sugar-sweetened beverages every year, a new Rudd Center study has found.
Los Angeles Times, September 2012
Publications
Andreyeva T, Luedicke J, Tripp AS, Henderson KE. Effects of reduced juice allowances in food packages for the Women, Infants, and Children Program. Pediatrics. 2013 Apr;131(5):919-927.
Andreyeva T, Luedicke J, Henderson KE, Tripp AS. Grocery store beverage choices by participants in federal food assistance and nutrition programs. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2012 Oct;43(4):411-418.
Andreyeva T, Luedicke J, Middleton AE, Long MW, Schwartz MB. Positive influence of the revised Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children food packages on access to healthy foods. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. 2012 Jun;112(6):850-858.
Andreyeva T, Middleton AE, Long MW, Luedicke J, Schwartz MB. Food retailer practices, attitudes and beliefs about the supply of healthy foods. Public Health Nutrition. 2011 Jun;14(6):1024-1031.
Andreyeva T, Chaloupka FJ, Brownell KD. Estimating the potential of taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages to reduce consumption and generate revenue. Preventive Medicine. 2011 Jun;52(6):413-416.
Andreyeva T, Kelly IR, Harris JL. Exposure to food advertising on television: Associations with children’s fast food and soft drink consumption and obesity. Economics and Human Biology. 2011 Mar.
Andreyeva T, Long MW, Henderson KE, Grode GM. Trying to lose weight: Diet strategies among Americans with overweight or obesity in 1996 and 2003. Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 2010 Apr;110(4):535-542.
Andreyeva T, Long MW, Brownell KD. The impact of food prices on consumption: A systematic review of research on price elasticity of demand for food. American Journal of Public Health. 2010 Feb;100(2):216-222.
Andreyeva T, Blumenthal DM, Schwartz MB, Long MW, Brownell KD. Availability and prices of foods across stores and neighborhoods: The case of New Haven, Connecticut. Health Affairs. 2008 Sep/Oct;27(5):1381-1388.
Puhl RM, Andreyeva T, Brownell KD. Perceptions of weight discrimination: Prevalence and comparison to race and gender discrimination in America. International Journal of Obesity. 2008 Mar;32:992-1000.
Press Releases
4/29/13: Federal food assistance program encourages healthy beverage purchases
Efforts to encourage healthy beverage choices by people receiving federal food assistance are paying off, according to a study by the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity. The study shows that purchases of 100% juice declined among participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) after the program changed in 2007 to offer foods that better reflect dietary recommendations for Americans.
9/17/12: Federal food program pays billions for sugar-sweetened beverages
The federal government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) pays at least $2 billion annually for sugar-sweetened beverages purchased in grocery stores alone, according to a study by the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity.
5/23/12: National food policy programs improve access to healthy foods
Access to healthy food in underserved communities has improved significantly after changes in federal nutrition and food assistance programs, according to a study by the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. Published in the June, 2012, issue of the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the study shows that the revisions in food packages for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) have increased the availability and variety of healthy foods in WIC-authorized and non-WIC convenience and grocery stores.
4/9/08: Weight Discrimination Increasing Among American Adults
A study by Rudd Center researchers, published in the journal Obesity, is the first to document patterns of weight discrimination in the United States, and shows that perceived discrimination against overweight people is on the rise.
