Financial costs of healthful eating: A comparison of three different approaches

Abstract In the last decade, governments of most developed countries have established dietary guidelines for their populations in an effort to lower the incidence and prevalence of chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease, hypertension, certain cancers, and diabetes. However, although little quantitative analytical work has been undertaken, concern has been expressed about the potential increases in the financial costs of following a diet that complies with these dietary guidelines. To determine whether it is necessarily more expensive to follow a healthful diet, three pricing analyses were undertaken. An analysis of the potential cost of direct substitution of healthful alternatives for less healthful food choices (e.g., product-by-product substitution through the use of fat, fiber, or salt-modified alternatives, etc.) indicated that this approach would result in a more costly diet, while providing limited nutritional improvement at the population level. Pricing of self-selected diets of people whose diets currently comply with the dietary guidelines and targets for healthful eating showed that these people are currently paying more per megajoule for their diet. However, costing of diets that conformed to a new healthful eating plan, designed to produce eating patterns that meet both the dietary goals set for components of the food supply such as dietary fat, refined sugars or fiber, and the recommended daily intakes for energy, protein, vitamins, and minerals showed that healthful eating need not be more expensive and indeed, for most people, would bring cost savings. This study highlighted the need to consider the cost implications of recommendations made in nutrition education material and dietary guidelines, and to promote readjustment in the balance of foods in the diet rather than direct substitution of one particular food, or group of foods, by a “healthier” alternative.