Obesity is more than a body image problem: it is a medical condition recognized by World Health Organization (WHO), and it's growing in an alarming rate. Since 1980, obesity has increased to almost twice. In 2008, over a billion adults ranging from 20 years old and above were considered overweight. In 2012, no less than 40 million children below 5 were diagnosed as being obese or overweight.
Obesity is also considered one of the major causes of serious disorders such as cardiovascular diseases and certain kinds of cancer. However, it's also preventable. According to WHO, a healthy diet and increased physical activity are two of the simple but effective ways to eliminate it.
However, if one looks at the prices of these so-called healthy food choices, eating a nutritious diet may become harder to achieve.
A group of researchers from University of Cambridge published a study in PLOS ONE, revealing the sharp increase of food prices especially among those that are considered healthy such as fruits and vegetables. They turn out to be 3 times costlier than "junk food."
For the study, the researchers looked into the consumer price index from 2002 to 2012, especially on the 94 types of food and drinks, including those deemed healthy based on their low sugar and fat content.
What they discovered is that although prices of food generally increased over the last 10 years, the healthy ones were consistently more expensive.
For instance, a person can buy a healthy food at £5.65 per 1,000 kcal back in 2002. However, its less-than-healthy version was worth only £1.77. Fast forward to a decade after, the same healthy food was already worth £7.49, a sharp increase of over 75%, while the junk food rose to only £2.50 or less than 30%.
For the researchers, the study brings to light one of the major concerns of the United Kingdom in terms of food production and availability. It's essential that people can access healthy food at an affordable price, and the government can do that through price monitoring.
