Government Gives San Diego State Professor $430,000 to Study Latino Grocery Store Purchases

A San Diego State University professor was given $430,000 by the federal government to study the grocery store habits of Latino Americans.

According to a report from The College Fix, Professor Iana Castro of San Diego State’s College of Business Administration has received a $430,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to study the grocery store purchases of Latino American families. The purpose of the study is to learn how Latino Americans can combat obesity by making healthier choices at the grocery store.

According to the grant proposal, the study aims to identify the factors that lead Latino families to purchase unhealthy items at the grocery store.

The proposed research will identify in-store and parent-child factors that influence grocery purchasing behavior, a behavior that occurs multiple times per week and has implications for dietary intake and diet quality through foods and beverages consumed. The modifiability of in-store and parent-child factors makes them excellent intervention targets, and examining their influence on grocery purchasing behavior is innovative and significant.

To conduct the study, Castro will follow Latino American families as they walk around the supermarket. She will analyze conversations from the entire shopping trip, particularly those between parents and their children. She plans to utilize eye-tracking technology to determine the products that the shopper’s eyes land on first.

The grant sets out that the project hopes to find solutions that will help promote the adoption of healthier diets amongst the Latino population. “Identifying strategies with the potential to promote the adoption and maintenance of healthier food and beverage purchasing is essential for improving health outcomes, including rates of obesity,” the grant reads.