IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jfpoli/v35y2010i6p514-520.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The rising disparity in the price of healthful foods: 2004-2008

Author

Listed:
  • Monsivais, Pablo
  • Mclain, Julia
  • Drewnowski, Adam

Abstract

Nutrient-dense foods that are associated with better health outcomes tend to cost more per kilocalorie (kcal) than do refined grains, sweets and fats. The price disparity between healthful and less healthful foods appears to be growing. This study demonstrates a new method for linking longitudinal retail price data with objective, nutrient-based ratings of the nutritional quality of foods and beverages. Retail prices for 378 foods and beverages were obtained from major supermarket chains in the Seattle, WA for 2004-2008. Nutritional quality was based on energy density (kcal/g) and two measures of nutrient density, calculated using the Naturally Nutrient Rich (NNR) score and the Nutrient Rich Foods index (NRF9.3). Food prices were expressed as $/100 g edible portion and as $/1000 kcal. Foods were stratified by quintiles of energy and nutrient density for analyses. Both measures of nutrient density were negatively associated with energy density and positively associated with cost per 1000 kcal. The mean cost of foods in the top quintile of nutrient density was $27.20/1000 kcal and the 4-year price increase was 29.2%. Foods in the bottom quintile cost a mean of $3.32/1000 kcal and the 4-year price increase was 16.1%. There is a growing price disparity between nutrient-dense foods and less nutritious options. Cost may pose a barrier to the adoption of healthier diets and so limit the impact of dietary guidance. Nutrient profiling methods provide objective criteria for tracking retail prices of foods in relation to their nutritional quality and for guiding food and nutrition policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Monsivais, Pablo & Mclain, Julia & Drewnowski, Adam, 2010. "The rising disparity in the price of healthful foods: 2004-2008," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 514-520, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:35:y:2010:i:6:p:514-520
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306-9192(10)00076-X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Putnam, Judy & Allshouse, Jane & Kantor, Linda Scott, 2002. "U.S. Per Capita Food Supply Trends: More Calories, Refined Carbohydrates, and Fats," Food Review/ National Food Review, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, vol. 25(3), pages 1-14.
    2. Christian, Thomas & Rashad, Inas, 2009. "Trends in U.S. food prices, 1950-2007," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 113-120, March.
    3. Frazao, Elizabeth & Meade, Birgit Gisela Saager & Regmi, Anita, 2008. "Converging Patterns in Global Food Consumption and Food Delivery Systems," Amber Waves:The Economics of Food, Farming, Natural Resources, and Rural America, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, pages 1-8, February.
    4. Miller, J. Corey & Coble, Keith H., 2007. "Cheap food policy: Fact or rhetoric?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 98-111, February.
    5. Leibtag, Ephraim S. & Kaufman, Phillip R., 2003. "Exploring Food Purchase Behavior of Low-Income Households: How Do They Economize?," Agricultural Information Bulletins 33711, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    6. Unknown, 1997. "Spotlight: Food Price Changes Vary Regionally," Food Review/ National Food Review, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, vol. 20(2), pages 1-3.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rose, Chelsea M. & Gupta, Shilpi & Buszkiewicz, James & Ko, Linda K. & Mou, Jin & Cook, Andrea & Moudon, Anne Vernez & Aggarwal, Anju & Drewnowski, Adam, 2020. "Small increments in diet cost can improve compliance with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    2. Hadjikakou, Michalis, 2017. "Trimming the excess: environmental impacts of discretionary food consumption in Australia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 119-128.
    3. Nasima Akhter & Naomi Saville & Bhim Shrestha & Dharma S. Manandhar & David Osrin & Anthony Costello & Andrew Seal, 2018. "Change in cost and affordability of a typical and nutritionally adequate diet among socio-economic groups in rural Nepal after the 2008 food price crisis," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(3), pages 615-629, June.
    4. Bradbear, Catherine & Friel, Sharon, 2013. "Integrating climate change, food prices and population health," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 56-66.
    5. Rudi, Jeta & Çakır, Metin, 2017. "Vice or virtue: How shopping frequency affects healthfulness of food choices," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 207-217.
    6. Henry Wolgast & McKenna M. Halverson & Nicole Kennedy & Isabel Gallard & Allison Karpyn, 2022. "Encouraging Healthier Food and Beverage Purchasing and Consumption: A Review of Interventions within Grocery Retail Settings," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-17, December.
    7. Wang, Emily & Rojas, Christian & Bauner, Christoph, 2015. "Evolution of nutritional quality in the US: Evidence from the ready-to-eat cereal industry," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 105-108.
    8. Schneider, Kate, 2021. "Nationally Representative Estimates of the Cost of Adequate Diets, Nutrient Level Drivers, and Policy Options for Households in Rural Malawi," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315035, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. Castellari, Elena & Moro, Daniele & Platoni, Silvia & Sckokai, Paolo, 2018. "Retailers’ strategies and food price dynamics: Evidence from dairy scanner data," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 212-224.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Beghin, John C. & Jensen, Helen H., 2008. "Farm policies and added sugars in US diets," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 480-488, December.
    2. Glauber, Joseph W. & Effland, Anne, 2016. "United States agricultural policy: Its evolution and impact:," IFPRI discussion papers 1543, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    3. Adam Drewnowski & Nicole Darmon & Pablo Monsivais, 2021. "Affordable Nutrient Density: Toward Economic Indicators of Sustainable Healthy Diets," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-9, August.
    4. Coronese, Matteo & Occelli, Martina & Lamperti, Francesco & Roventini, Andrea, 2023. "AgriLOVE: Agriculture, land-use and technical change in an evolutionary, agent-based model," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    5. Strulik, Holger, 2014. "A mass phenomenon: The social evolution of obesity," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 113-125.
    6. Gheorghe Savoiu, 2015. "A Secular Indicator of the Degree of Economic Development and Synthetic Evaluation of Population Well-Being Trends," Romanian Statistical Review, Romanian Statistical Review, vol. 63(4), pages 3-16, December.
    7. Corinna Manig & Alessio Moneta, 2014. "More or better? Measuring quality versus quantity in food consumption," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 155-178, July.
    8. Arkes, Jeremy, 2009. "How the economy affects teenage weight," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(11), pages 1943-1947, June.
    9. Tegegne, Fisseha & Godwin, Sandria L. & Speller-Henderson, Leslie & Dirkson, Margo, 2005. "Food-Security Status and Food-Purchase Decisions of Low-Income Households in Tennessee," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 36(1), pages 1-5, March.
    10. Mancino, Lisa & Kuchler, Fred & Leibtag, Ephraim, 2008. "Getting consumers to eat more whole-grains: The role of policy, information, and food manufacturers," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 489-496, December.
    11. Paolo Nicola Barbieri, 2022. "Social distortion in weight perception: a decomposition of the obesity epidemic," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 39(2), pages 685-713, July.
    12. Darius Lakdawalla & Tomas Philipson, 2007. "Labor Supply and Weight," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 42(1).
    13. Ghimire, Ramesh & Ferreira, Susana & Green, Gary T. & Poudyal, Neelam C. & Cordell, H. Ken & Thapa, Janani R., 2017. "Green Space and Adult Obesity in the United States," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 201-212.
    14. Henson, Spencer & Blandon, Jose & Cranfield, John, 2010. "Difficulty of healthy eating: A Rasch model approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(10), pages 1574-1580, May.
    15. Beach, Robert H. & Kuchler, Fred & Leibtag, Ephraim S. & Zhen, Chen, 2008. "The Effects of Avian Influenza News on Consumer Purchasing Behavior: A Case Study of Italian Consumers' Retail Purchases," Economic Research Report 56477, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    16. Mary A. Burke & Frank Heiland, 2007. "Social Dynamics Of Obesity," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 45(3), pages 571-591, July.
    17. Chenarides, Lauren & Jaenicke, Edward C., 2016. "Store Choice and Consumer Behavior in Food Deserts: An Empirical Application of the Distance Metric Method," 2017 Allied Social Sciences Association (ASSA) Annual Meeting, January 6-8, 2017, Chicago, Illinois 250118, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    18. Arsham Reisinezhad, 2020. "Does income inequality feed the Dutch disease?," PSE Working Papers halshs-03012653, HAL.
    19. Carlson, Andrea & Frazao, Elizabeth, 2012. "Are Healthy Foods Really More Expensive? It Depends on How You Measure the Price," Economic Information Bulletin 142357, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    20. Burkhauser, Richard V. & Cawley, John & Schmeiser, Maximilian D., 2009. "The timing of the rise in U.S. obesity varies with measure of fatness," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 307-318, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:35:y:2010:i:6:p:514-520. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/foodpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.