Nutrient Dense, Low-Cost Foods Can Improve the Affordability and Quality of the New Zealand Diet-A Substitution Modeling Study
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Date
2021-07-27
Open Access Location
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MDPI (Basel, Switzerland)
Rights
CC BY 4.0
Abstract
The high prevalence of non-communicable disease in New Zealand (NZ) is driven in part by unhealthy diet selections, with food costs contributing to an increased risk for vulnerable population groups. This study aimed to: (i) identify the nutrient density-to-cost ratio of NZ foods; (ii) model the impact of substituting foods with a lower nutrient density-to-cost ratio with those with a higher nutrient density-to-cost ratio on diet quality and affordability in representative NZ population samples for low and medium socioeconomic status (SES) households by ethnicity; and (iii) evaluate food processing level. Foods were categorized, coded for processing level and discretionary status, analyzed for nutrient density and cost, and ranked by nutrient density-to-cost ratio. The top quartile of nutrient dense, low-cost foods were 56% unprocessed (vegetables, fruit, porridge, pasta, rice, nuts/seeds), 31% ultra-processed (vegetable dishes, fortified bread, breakfast cereals unfortified <15 g sugars/100 g and fortified 15–30 g sugars/100 g), 6% processed (fruit juice), and 6% culinary processed (oils). Using substitution modeling, diet quality improved by 59% and 71% for adults and children, respectively, and affordability increased by 20–24%, depending on ethnicity and SES. The NZ diet can be made healthier and more affordable when nutritious, low-cost foods are selected. Processing levels in the healthier, modeled diet suggest that some non-discretionary ultra-processed foods may provide a valuable source of low-cost nutrition for food insecure populations.
Description
Copyright: © 2021 by the authors.
Keywords
cost and cost analysis, diet, economic models, ethnic groups, food quality, food security, nutrients, socioeconomic factors, Adult, Child, Costs and Cost Analysis, Diet, Energy Intake, Fast Foods, Humans, New Zealand, Nutrients
Citation
Starck CS, Blumfield M, Keighley T, Marshall S, Petocz P, Inan-Eroglu E, Abbott K, Cassettari T, Ali A, Wham C, Kruger R, Kira G, Fayet-Moore F. (2021). Nutrient Dense, Low-Cost Foods Can Improve the Affordability and Quality of the New Zealand Diet-A Substitution Modeling Study.. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 18. 15. (pp. 7950-).