IT IS up to 10 times cheaper to eat a poor diet than a healthy one, new research from the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has found.
The findings were released yesterday by the Healthy Food for All initiative which warned that proposed cuts in social welfare and child benefit would end up costing the Government more in the long term because of nutrition-related problems.
The research, conducted in Dublin in March and April, involved buying food for healthy eating for four typical households over a week-long period. Each household was assumed to be solely dependent on social welfare and child benefit.
It found 33-37 per cent of the expenditure went on fruit and vegetables, while 29-34 per cent was needed to buy lean meat and fish. “Hence it is more affordable to replace lean meat with less expensive processed meats, which are higher in fat, saturated fat and salt,” the study reported.
FSAI nutritionist Dr Mary Flynn said, for a family of two adults and two children shopping in a discount store, the cost of fruit and vegetables worked out at about 45 cent per 100 calories, compared with 17 cent per 100 calories for snacks, chips and biscuits. Fat spreads and oils cost four cent per 100 calories.
Snack foods high in fat, salt and sugar were easier to find than fresh fruit and vegetables, particularly in local shops, she said. Linda Scanlan, of the Northside Partnership, said some people living in the partnership area, which includes Coolock, Kilbarrack and Darndale, had to take two buses to the nearest major retailer. In contrast, one small shopping centre in the area had six takeaways, two pubs and off-licences and one convenience store. A childcare facility in the area told her how it fed children “exceptionally well” on Fridays as some would not get “proper food” again until Monday.
The research found the choice of shops had a big impact on dietary choice, with local convenience stores being up to twice as expensive for healthy foods. Providing a weekly healthy shopping basket for a welfare-dependent household of two parents and two children cost 58 per cent of weekly income in a local shop, 30 per cent in a supermarket multiple and 26 per cent in a discount store.
Marjo Moonen, chairwoman of Healthy Food For All, said social welfare and child benefit cuts recommended in the McCarthy report would put a healthy diet even further out of reach for low-income households. “At a minimum, welfare rates must not be reduced, as this would only further restrict low-income families from eating a healthy diet,” she said.
Ms Moonen said child benefit for older children in welfare-dependent families should be increased by €4 per week, because of their higher nutritional needs.
“We know a healthy diet helps to prevent heart disease, stroke, cancers and obesity. All households, regardless of their income, have a right to food that provides adequate nutrition and protection against common diseases.”
Ms Moonen urged the revision of retail planning guidelines to improve access to cheaper grocery outlets for low-income households. She also called for alternative non-commercial ways of providing healthy food, such as food co-operatives and the expansion of school food initiatives.
