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Study: Healthy Food Isn’t More Expensive
Noel Hendrickson / Digital Vision / Thinkstock
Cost is often used as an excuse for not eating healthy, but healthy eating isn’t as hard on your wallet as many believe. Healthy food can be affordable, according to a new study from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service [CNN.com].
Researchers looked at three different ways to analyze food cost—price per calorie (used in previous studies), price per edible gram, and price per average portion. They found that the first way (price per calorie) showed that healthy food was more expensive, but the cost was similar when analyzed using the other two options.
So, how does it work? A chocolate donut has 240 calories and many people eat two or three, while a banana has 105 calories. While the banana is more expensive per calorie, you’ll probably only eat one to feel full. That makes it cheaper per edible gram and per average portion. Overall, they found that foods high in saturated fat, sugars, and sodium were more expensive than fruits, veggies, dairy, and grains when analyzed using these methods.
Read “Shop Smarter, Save Money” for budget-friendly grocery shopping tips.
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