Replacing Fats and Sweets With Vegetables and Fruits - A Question of Cost
LEXINGTON, MA., Jan. 23, 2005 - New research on the cost analysis of total diets in a French community published in the American Journal of Public Health by French and American researchers from Paris and Seattle suggests that the fight against obesity and poor nutrition - at least for the lower classes - appears to be partly an economic problem.
Study authors Adam Drewnowski, PhD, Nicole Darmon, PhD, and Andre Briend, PhD note that there has not been much attention given to the monetary costs of various types of diets.
"The replacement of fats and sweets with vegetables and fruit has become a standard public health recommendation. Studies on diet and health have focused on the glycemic index of foods, on fat content, and on the energy density of the diet. Absent from the mainstream literature, however, has been any consideration of diet costs."
Their cost analysis of actual total diets clearly demonstrated that fats and sweets offer dietary energy at very low cost. Each 100 g of fats and sweets was associated with a net reduction of €0.05 - €0.40 in daily costs.
Each additional 100 g of vegetables and fruit was accompanied by an increase in diet costs of €0.18 - 0.29 per day.
This study might help to explain why lower classes in French and American societies consume a preponderance of "junk food" and why these classes are particularly hard hit by the raging obesity epidemic.
It's a question of cost.
How Much Should We Eat?
Replacing Fats & Sweets With Vegetables and Fruits—A Question of Cost
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