Switch to healthier eating can cost you more

After a wholesome diet goes about 1.50 more a day than junk food, study finds

By Brenda Goodman

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, 6 december, 2013 HealthDay News)-really does it cost more to stick to a healthy diet? The answer is Yes, but not as much as many people think, according to a new study.

Review research combined results of 27 studies from 10 different countries compared the cost of healthy and unhealthy diets.

The Verdict? A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts, and fish costs about one person about $ 1.50 more per day--or $ 550 per year--compared with a diet high in processed grains and meats, fats, sugar and convenience foods.

Big ran protein prices. The researchers found that healthy proteins--think part of skins and Boneless Skinless chicken breasts--29 cents more expensive per serving compared to less healthy sources, like a fried chicken nugget.

The study was published online december 5 in the journal BMJ open.

"For many low-income families, this can be a real obstacle to healthy eating habits," said study author Mayuree Rao. She is a junior research fellow in the Department of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, in Boston.

A family of four who is after the USDA's thrifty eating plan, for example, has a weekly food budget of approximately $ 128. An additional $ 1.50 per for each person in the family a day adds up to $ 42 for the week, or about 30 percent of the family's total food tab.

Rao said that there would not be much of a difference for many middle-class families, though.

She said that "$ 1.50 is if the price of a cup of coffee and really just a drop in the bucket when you consider the billions of dollars spent each year on diet-related chronic diseases".

Researchers who were not involved in the review had good things to say about its conclusions.

"I think that an average difference in cost $ 1.50 per person per day is very significant," said Adam Drewnowski, Director of nutritional sciences program at the University of Washington, in Seattle. He has compared the cost of healthy versus unhealthy diets.

Drewnowski said that at an additional $ 550 per year for 200 million people would exceed the entire annual budget for food aid in the United States.

Dr. Hilary Seligman, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, said healthy food can be expensive for the families in a way that goes beyond its cost at checkout. Therefore, she said, the strict cost comparison in this review, probably underestimate the true burden to a person's budget.

She points out, for example, that people in poor neighborhoods that lack large grocery stores may not be able to afford the gas to drive to buy fresh fruits and vegetables. They can work several jobs and don't have time to prep food from scratch.