It’s widely believed that following a healthy diet is quite expensive. In this post, we’re going to review a study conducted by HSPH (Harvard University School of Public Health) on cost of eating healthy diet compared to that of an unhealthy one.
The research revealed that the healthiest diet costs approximately $1.50 more compared to the least healthy ones. The finding of the study, which was also published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Open, was based on the most thorough examination to date assessing the costs of foods associated with healthy diet patterns and less healthy ones.
According to Mayuree Rao, a junior research fellow at HSPH in the Department of Epidemiology and lead author of the study, though healthier foods are believed to come at higher prices restricting better diet habits heavily, the scientific evidences of this proposition have not been evaluated systematically until then. And the actual cost differences have not been characterized before the study as well.
The team of researchers considered a meta-analysis of 24 available studies from 10 economically developed countries that included cost of individual foods and for healthy versus less healthy diets as a foundation of the study. Differences in prices per 200 calories and per serving for certain types of foods, and prices per 2,000 calories (recommended average daily calorie consumption for adults by the U.S. Department of Agriculture) and per day for overall diet patterns were assessed. Prices were evaluated per calorie as well as per serving as prices may fluctuate depending upon the unit of comparison.
The study revealed that more nutritious diet patterns such as diets rich in vegetables, fruits, fish and nuts cost substantially higher than least nutritious diets like those rich in refined grains, meats and processed foods. On average, a day of following the healthiest diet patterns cost approximately $1.50 more compared to the least healthy ones.
According to the researchers, foods that are part of unhealthy diets may come at cheaper prices because food policies have heavily concentrated on production of inexpensive and high volume items. It has generated a complicated network of farming, transportation, storage, processing, manufacturing and trading capabilities that promote sales of heavily processed food items for maximum industry profit. They opined, keeping in mind the reality, that forming a similar infrastructure to encourage production of healthier foods might facilitate their increased availability and lowered prices, making nutritious diets more affordable.
According to Dariush Mozaffarian, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and HSPH and senior author of the study, the research provided the most accurate picture to date on actual differences of cost of healthy and unhealthy diets. He also said that despite the expensive nature of healthier diets, the difference wasn’t as much as expected by many people. Over a span of one year, the additional cost of $1.50 per day for consuming a healthy diet would raise food cost by approximately $550 per year for one person. For some families, this would be quite expensive and might be out of reach and thus policies need to be implemented to help offset the burden, Mozaffarian said. On the contrary, this cost difference is very little when compared to the high economic costs of chronic diseases triggered by unhealthy diets, which healthy diets would lower dramatically.
Research fellows Gitanjali Singh from Department of Nutrition and Ashkan Afshin from Department of Epidemiology were other members, who participated in the study as HSPH authors.
Sources of the fund for the research included a national Heart, Lung and Blood Institute cardiovascular epidemiology grant for training in global health, the environment and behavior; a HSPH’s Genes and the Environment Initiative grant; and a training grant from National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in academic nutrition.
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