Making a Healthy Diet More Affordable
Eating a healthier diet, such as the one recommended
by the U.S. government, is no easy undertaking — not least because of
its high cost. A new study published Thursday in the journal Health Affairs
calculates that it would cost the average American an extra $380 in
fruits and vegetables per year to meet the government's recommendation
for potassium intake alone.
Healthy foods are expensive. Conversely, the unhealthier your diet
gets, the less it costs. The study found that for each 1% increase in
calories from saturated fat, food costs decline by $.28; for each 1%
increase in calories from added sugar, the savings equal $.07.
"Nutrients actually cost money and one reason people of limited means
select foods with poor nutrition is because they are forced to," says
senior author Adam Drewnowski, director of nutritional sciences and
professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health at the
University of Washington. "When the dietary recommendations came out,
they told us to eat fish, they told us to eat fresh fruits and
vegetables, but there wasn't really anything about cost. And in the
current economic climate, we really should be talking about that."
Not only are fresh, whole foods costly, there isn't enough of them to
go around. Regarding the U.S. food supply, the researchers wrote:
The current system has proved to be remarkably effective in the provision of calories, but not as good at supplying nutrients. More fundamentally, the system currently falls short of producing enough vegetables and fruit to supply Americans with even the minimum recommended number of daily servings of these foods.
Based on data from the Seattle Obesity Study, in which a regionally
representative sample of 1,123 adults filled out surveys about their
food consumption patterns, expenses and caloric intake, Drewnowski and
his team calculated what it would cost for people to improve their diets
to meet government guidelines.
Specifically, the researchers looked at the cost of boosting the four
main nutrients that are most lacking in the average American diet:
dietary fiber, potassium, calcium and vitamin D. To determine food
prices, researchers averaged costs from three large conventional grocery
chains: Albertsons, Safeway and Quality Food Centers.
Potassium was, calorie for calorie, the most expensive nutrient. U.S.
guidelines recommend that Americans get 4,700 mg of potassium each day,
but study participants got just 2,800 mg per day on average. In order
to make up the difference, each person would have to spend an additional
$1.04 per day on foods specifically dedicated to upping potassium
levels. Getting enough dietary fiber and vitamin D would cost an
additional 35 cents each. Calcium was plentiful enough in most diets and
from cheap sources that it didn't really affect cost.
Those who spent the most on food also had the most nutrient-rich
diets and the diets lowest in saturated fat and added sugar. The
researchers suspect that food cost is a major contributing factor in
eating behavior. So, if the solution isn't to eat less healthful foods,
what can consumers do to improve their diet without going broke?
1. Know how to get the most bang for your buck
"Based on our data on food prices and nutrient composition, consumers
could get potassium from bananas more cheaply than from nectarines,
even though nectarines contain more potassium per calorie than bananas
do," wrote the researchers. Bananas are cheap, and each one provides 450
mg to 500 mg of potassium.
2. Choose 'double duty' items
Bananas contain potassium, but they're also rich in dietary fiber —
another nutrient most Americans don't get enough of. Likewise, beans are
a cheap source of dietary fiber and many varieties like white beans are
also good sources of calcium.
3. Try dried or preserved fruits
Dried and preserved fruits can be cheaper, have a longer shelf life
and are sometimes even denser in nutrients than the fresh versions. For
example, dried prunes are a great, cheap source of dietary potassium,
but they typically fly under consumers' radar. One pitfall of eating
dried fruits is that they're high in sugar, so it's best to be moderate.
4. Diversify
As with all dietary matters, it's a balancing act between getting
enough nutrients while keeping calories down. Potatoes are a cheap
source of potassium, for example, but you would need to consume an
unreasonable 11 servings per day to get the recommended amount of the
nutrient. A solution? For each serving of potatoes in your diet,
add one serving of bananas, milk, seeds and nuts. You might not get the
full 4,700 mg of potassium, but you'll be moving in the right
direction.
Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2011/08/04/how-to-make-a-healthy-diet-more-affordable/#ixzz1U5kPWrCk
