One of the strongest determinants of food choice is the monetary cost to the consumer. Some evidence suggests that low quality diets are forced on poorer individuals because of the prohibitive costs of higher quality nutrition. For example, a cross sectional study1 based on nutrition data taken from the NHANES study 2001-2002 in the US explored the associations between food costs and various socioeconomic factors. As expected, higher Healthy Eating Index (2005) scores were associated with higher diet costs, suggesting that high quality diets are more expensive than lower quality diets. This may explain part of the association between poverty and the increased risk of lifestyle diseases. In fact, the study found strong associations between education levels, income and the cost of diet. In particular, higher diet costs were associated with consumption of more fruit and vegetables, foods that are expensive when energy adjusted.
Switching to a higher quality diet may therefore be cost prohibitive for certain low income groups. Interestingly however, the authors of this study reported a number of low income groups that ate high quality diets. These included Mexican Americans and certain Hispanic groups, whose traditional foods are include high intakes of whole grains and spices. When categorising foods, the study listed intakes of vegetables, legumes, and fruit as being both expensive and of high dietary quality. However they also suggested that whole grains, milk and milk products add quality to the diet but are cost neutral. Increasing intakes of the latter foods therefore may be an effective strategy to improve diet quality in low income groups without creating additional costs. Adopting some of the dietary practices of Mexican or Spanish cuisine may be a cost effective way of improving the diet.
RdB
