Demand for Whole-grain Bread Before and After the Release of Dietary Guidelines-super-<xref ref-type="fn" rid="FN9">†</xref>

The federal government has issued Dietary Guidelines for Americans seven times since 1980, but the 2005 whole-grain recommendation was the first instance in which consumers were given a specific dietary target, that whole grains should be at least half of their grain consumption. Anecdotal evidence pointed to a unique result, an increase in demand for whole-grain foods. Contemporaneous decreases in prices of whole-grain foods, relative to refined-grain foods, however, confound the evidence. We show that for whole-grain bread, there was an increase in retail demand even after accounting for price changes. Separate models for higher- and lower-income consumers show that the demand shift occurred among higher-income consumers, but not for lower-income consumers. Copyright 2012, Oxford University Press.