ResearchCurrent ResearchIs Price a Barrier to Eating More Fruits and Vegetables for Low-Income Families?
Section snippets
Methods
The data collection for this study consisted of developing the Thrifty Food Plan and 2005 Dietary Guidelines market baskets and surveying supermarkets for food prices. The hypotheses were tested by analyzing cost differences by neighborhood income level and by store type, and cost differences between the Thrifty Food Plan and 2005 Dietary Guidelines market basket.
Comparison of the Thrifty Food Plan and 2005 Dietary Guidelines Market Baskets
To determine if a family would pay more if they followed newer vs the older dietary guidelines, the quantities, average price per serving, and average cost of the 2005 Dietary Guidelines market basket and the Thrifty Food Plan market basket were compared.
Quantity
Following the 2005 Dietary Guidelines recommendations for fruits and vegetable consumption, a family of four would purchase fewer consumable cups of fruits and vegetables compared to the shopping list for the Thrifty Food Plan (Table 2). The
Discussion
The lower cost of the 2005 Dietary Guidelines compared to the Thrifty Food Plan market basket was unexpected, and is the result of how the two market baskets were compiled. The 2005 Dietary Guidelines market basket was based on the minimum recommendations for a sedentary family, whereas the Thrifty Food Plan market basket is based on an optimal food plan. However, the decrease in cups consumed is 17% whereas the decrease in cost is only 4%. The decrease in cost is much less because the cost of
Conclusions
The results of this study suggest that the budgetary cost of increasing fruit and vegetable consumption to levels recommended in the 2005 Dietary Guidelines may be more of a barrier to healthful eating than the price per serving of fruits and vegetables. Nutrition education should take the food price environment into account. Food and nutrition professionals could counsel patients to use bulk and warehouse format stores because they have the lowest prices, and they could monitor prices at local
D. Cassady is an assistant professor and J. Culp is a community health program supervisor, Department of Public Health Sciences, and K. M. Jetter is an assistant research economist, Agricultural Issues Center, University of California, Davis.
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D. Cassady is an assistant professor and J. Culp is a community health program supervisor, Department of Public Health Sciences, and K. M. Jetter is an assistant research economist, Agricultural Issues Center, University of California, Davis.