TY - JOUR
T1 - Healthy diets in rural Victoria—Cheaper than unhealthy alternatives, yet unaffordable
AU - Love, Penelope
AU - Whelan, Jillian
AU - Bell, Colin
AU - Grainger, Felicity
AU - Russell, Cherie
AU - Lewis, Meron
AU - Lee, Amanda
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, MDPI AG. All rights reserved.
PY - 2018/11/5
Y1 - 2018/11/5
N2 - Rural communities experience higher rates of obesity and reduced food security compared with urban communities. The perception that healthy foods are expensive contributes to poor dietary choices. Providing an accessible, available, affordable healthy food supply is an equitable way to improve the nutritional quality of the diet for a community, however, local food supply data are rarely available for small rural towns. This study used the Healthy Diets ASAP tool to assess price, price differential and affordability of recommended (healthy) and current diets in a rural Local Government Area (LGA) (pop ≈ 7000; 10 towns) in Victoria, Australia. All retail food outlets were surveyed (n = 40). The four most populous towns had supermarkets; remaining towns had one general store each. Seven towns had café/take-away outlets, and all towns had at least one hotel/pub. For all towns the current unhealthy diet was more expensive than the recommended healthy diet, with 59.5% of the current food budget spent on discretionary items. Affordability of the healthy diet accounted for 30–32% of disposable income. This study confirms that while a healthy diet is less expensive than the current unhealthier diet, affordability is a challenge for rural communities. Food security is reduced further with restricted geographical access, a limited healthy food supply, and higher food prices.
AB - Rural communities experience higher rates of obesity and reduced food security compared with urban communities. The perception that healthy foods are expensive contributes to poor dietary choices. Providing an accessible, available, affordable healthy food supply is an equitable way to improve the nutritional quality of the diet for a community, however, local food supply data are rarely available for small rural towns. This study used the Healthy Diets ASAP tool to assess price, price differential and affordability of recommended (healthy) and current diets in a rural Local Government Area (LGA) (pop ≈ 7000; 10 towns) in Victoria, Australia. All retail food outlets were surveyed (n = 40). The four most populous towns had supermarkets; remaining towns had one general store each. Seven towns had café/take-away outlets, and all towns had at least one hotel/pub. For all towns the current unhealthy diet was more expensive than the recommended healthy diet, with 59.5% of the current food budget spent on discretionary items. Affordability of the healthy diet accounted for 30–32% of disposable income. This study confirms that while a healthy diet is less expensive than the current unhealthier diet, affordability is a challenge for rural communities. Food security is reduced further with restricted geographical access, a limited healthy food supply, and higher food prices.
KW - Diet affordability
KW - Food prices
KW - Food security
KW - Healthy diets ASAP tool
KW - INFORMAS
KW - Rural communities
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85056267197&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph15112469
DO - 10.3390/ijerph15112469
M3 - Article
C2 - 30400654
AN - SCOPUS:85056267197
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 15
SP - 1
EP - 16
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 11
M1 - 2469
ER -