The cost of a healthy diet: a South African perspective
SOURCE: Nutrition
OUTPUT TYPE: Journal Article
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2010
TITLE AUTHOR(S): N.J.Temple, N.P.Steyn
KEYWORDS: DIETARY HABITS, FOOD AND NUTRITION, FOOD PRICES, FOOD SECURITY, HEALTH, POVERTY
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 6655
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/3960
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/3960
OUTPUT TYPE: Journal Article
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2010
TITLE AUTHOR(S): N.J.Temple, N.P.Steyn
KEYWORDS: DIETARY HABITS, FOOD AND NUTRITION, FOOD PRICES, FOOD SECURITY, HEALTH, POVERTY
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 6655
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/3960
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/3960
If you would like to obtain a copy of this Research Output, please contact Hanlie Baudin at researchoutputs@hsrc.ac.za.
Abstract
Energy-dense foods are relatively cheap sources of energy but typically have a low nutrient density. People with a low income may therefore select a relatively less healthy diet. The high energy density of such diets helps explain the association between obesity and low socioeconomic status. Most studies have been carried out in highly developed countries. We have extended this research to South Africa. Some foods, such as oats, beans, carrots, and apples, are moderately priced sources of energy and are healthy (i.e., they have a low energy density and are nutrient dense). However, such foods are likely to be less desired than many other foods, such as candy, cookies, jam, and chocolate, that have a similar cost (in terms of food energy) but are less healthy. We compared the cost of a typical South African diet with a healthier one. On average, the healthier diet costs 69% more, but this estimate is greatly affected by food choices. For a family whose household income is exceeded by one-third of the population, this increased expenditure represents about 30% of total household income. This could be decreased to about 10% to 15% if a healthy diet is carefully designed. Overall, a healthy diet is unaffordable for most South Africans. This shows the importance of not only educating people in developing countries to the importance of a healthy diet but also explaining how to make such a diet affordable. A more effective strategy is government intervention that manipulates food prices.-
Related Research Outputs:
- Price and availability of healthy food: a study in rural South Africa
- What's in the lunchbox?: dietary behaviour of learners from disadvantaged schools in the Western Cape, South Africa
- How diverse are our diets?
- What's in the lunchbox?
- Protecting food insecure households against rapid food price inflation
- You are what you eat and you eat what you can afford
- Draft protocol for social monitoring in the downstream areas of the LHWP: use of riverine resources by individuals and households; income and standards of living of households; nutritional and food security indicators; selected public health indicators
- Exploring definitions of food insecurity and vulnerability: time to refocus assessments
- The status of household food security targets in South Africa
- A national perspective on household food and nutrition security
- Editorial: does dietary knowledge influence the eating behaviour of adolescents?
- Nutrindo a pobreza rural - Relacoes agrarias inalteradas na Africa do Sul
- Cost of a healthy diet: most South Africans cannot afford to eat well
- How diverse is the diet of adult South Africans?
- Food on the table and disease at the door: insights from low-income countries and regions for measuring innovation
- Street foods and fast foods: how much do South Africans of different ethnic groups consume?
- Protect food insecure households against rapid food price inflation
- Diet and mortality rates in sub-Saharan Africa: stages in the nutrition transition
- Agro-food market policy and food security in South Africa
- Food for thought: the community work programme