Anecdotally, the cost of a healthy diet—rich in fruits, vegetables, fish, and nuts, for example—has been assumed to be higher than that of a diet consisting of unhealthy processed foods. Now research from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) has quantified that cost difference, often cited as a barrier to eating well, as roughly $1.50 more per person per day. That’s “smaller than many people might have expected,” says senior study author Dariush Mozaffarian, an associate professor at HSPH and Harvard Medical School. It’s “the cost of a cup of coffee,” or about $550 a year ($2,200 for a family of four).
The findings, based on a meta-analysis of 27 studies undertaken in 10 high-income countries, are part of a larger effort to understand how government policy and existing food-supply systems affect health. The research shows that a healthy diet is affordable for most people, Mozaffarian says, given that “for 60 percent to 70 percent of Americans, $1.50 a day is not a big deal.” Nevertheless, he adds, it is a “big barrier” for the remaining 30 percent to 40 percent of the population—even though the economic costs of chronic diseases related to poor diet vastly exceed the higher price of healthy food. There is a public benefit, therefore, to ensuring that everyone eats well, as he and his fellow authors, including research fellows Ashkan Afshin, Gitanjali Singh, and Mayuree Rao (the lead author), point out.
There is broad consensus about which foods are particularly good or bad. “We should emphasize reducing the things we know are unhealthy like processed meats, highly refined starches, sugars, and carbohydrates, trans fat, and sodium,” Mozaffarian says, and “highlight the things we know are good like fruits, vegetables, nuts, vegetable oils, and fish. Many other foods, like chicken or eggs, are “kind of in the middle”—neutral in terms of health effects…
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