The Relative Caloric Prices of Healthy and Unhealthy Foods Differ Systematically across Income Levels and Continents.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Relative prices of healthy/unhealthy foods have been implicated in the obesity epidemic, but never extensively quantified across countries or empirically linked to undernutrition.

Objectives

This study compared relative caloric prices (RCPs) for different food categories across 176 countries and ascertained their associations with dietary indicators and nutrition outcomes.

Methods

We converted prices for 657 standardized food products from the 2011 International Comparison Program into caloric prices using USDA Food Composition tables. We classified products into 21 specific food groups. We constructed RCPs as the ratio of the 3 cheapest products in each food group, relative to the weighted cost of a basket of starchy staples. We analyzed RCP differences ac

SUBMITTER: Headey DD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6825829 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature