Monitoring the Affordability of Healthy Eating: a Case Study of 10 Years of the Illawarra Healthy Food Basket

Overview

Journal Nutrients

Date 2012 Jan 19

PMID 22254001

Citations 3

Authors

Peter Williams

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Healthy food baskets have been used around the world for a variety of purposes, including: examining the difference in cost between healthy and unhealthy food; mapping the availability of healthy foods in different locations; calculating the minimum cost of an adequate diet for social policy planning; developing educational material on low cost eating and examining trends on food costs over time. In Australia, the Illawarra Healthy Food Basket was developed in 2000 to monitor trends in the affordability of healthy food compared to average weekly wages and social welfare benefits for the unemployed. It consists of 57 items selected to meet the nutritional requirements of a reference family of five. Bi-annual costing from 2000-2009 has shown that the basket costs have increased by 38.4% in the 10-year period, but that affordability has remained relatively constant at around 30% of average household incomes.

Citing Articles

Use of Linear Programming to Develop Cost-Minimized Nutritionally Adequate Health Promoting Food Baskets.

Parlesak A, Tetens I, Jensen J, Smed S, Gabrijelcic Blenkus M, Rayner M PLoS One. 2016; 11(10):e0163411.

PMID: 27760131 PMC: 5070943. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0163411.

Costing 'healthy' food baskets in Australia - a systematic review of food price and affordability monitoring tools, protocols and methods.

Lewis M, Lee A Public Health Nutr. 2016; 19(16):2872-2886.

PMID: 27609696 PMC: 10270823. DOI: 10.1017/S1368980016002160.

Testing the price and affordability of healthy and current (unhealthy) diets and the potential impacts of policy change in Australia.

Lee A, Kane S, Ramsey R, Good E, Dick M BMC Public Health. 2016; 16:315.

PMID: 27067642 PMC: 4828857. DOI: 10.1186/s12889-016-2996-y.

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