Healthy Diet Costs $1.50 More Per Day vs. Unhealthy

BOSTONThe healthiest dietsrich in fruits, vegetables, fish and nutscost about $1.50 more per day than the least healthy diets, according to a new study published in the journal BMJ Open.

Researchers at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) conducted a meta-analysis of 27 existing studies from 10 high-income countries that included price data for individual foods and for healthier versus less healthy diets. They evaluated the differences in prices per serving and per 200 calories for particular types of foods, and prices per day and per 2,000 calories (the U.S. Department of Agriculture's recommended average daily calorie intake for adults) for overall diet patterns. Both prices per serving and per calorie were assessed.

The researchers found that healthier diet patternsfor example, diets rich in fruits, vegetables, fish and nutscost significantly more than unhealthy diets, generally high in processed foods, meats and refined grains. On average, a day's worth of the most healthy diet patterns cost about $1.50 more per day than the least healthy ones.

"While healthier diets did cost more, the difference was smaller than many people might have expected," said Dariush Mozaffarian, senior author of the study and associate professor at HSPH and Harvard Medical School. "Over the course of a year, $1.50/day more for eating a healthy diet would increase food costs for one person by about $550 per year. This would represent a real burden for some families. On the other hand, this price difference is very small in comparison to the economic costs of diet-related chronic diseases, which would be dramatically reduced by healthy diets."