Note from Connie: It’s been suggested often that one of the reasons that reason obesity is so rampant in the U.S., especially amongst lower income people, is that that sugary and fatty foods and culprit carbs cost less than fresh fruits and vegetables. Now a new study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association purports that this is exactly what’s going on. Jennifer gives you the details.
Adam Drewnowski, Ph.D. and Pablo Monsivais, Ph.D. of the University of Washington examined more than 370 kinds of food at three Seattle-area supermarket chains and found that the price of fresh fruits and vegetables shot up 19.5% over a two-year period.
Meanwhile, fattening candy, pastries, baked goods, and snack foods got cheaper over that same time period, costing 1.8% less.
It’s incredibly sad if people of limited means have a hard time eating well because healthy food is too expensive.
It makes you wonder about our country’s priorities — the government is happy to subsidize corn, which in turn shows up in a ton of foods in the form of high fructose corn syrup but doesn’t think it’s important to subsidize nutritious foods like vegetables and fruits.
Thanks to Medical News Today for the tip on this interesting study.
Jennifer Moore for SUGAR SHOCK! Blog