Costs Of Mediterranean Diet May Put People Off

Main Category: Nutrition / Diet
Article Date: 18 Sep 2009 - 1:00 PDT

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Mediterranean diets may be healthier, but they also trim the wallet, which may put people off, suggests a study looking at food costs and weight loss, and published ahead of print in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

The researchers assessed the dietary patterns of over 11,000 Spanish university graduates in 2008.

All the participants were already part of the long term SUN study, which began in 1999, to assess the link between diet and the occurrence of obesity and long term conditions, based on questionnaire responses every two years.

The researchers calculated dietary habits from food frequency questionnaires, listing 136 food items, grouped into 30 categories, and measured in grams per day. The costs of foods were calculated using nationally available data.

They then used a validated scoring system to identify whether consumption fell predominantly into the Mediterranean diet category-fish, olive oil, legumes, fruit and vegetables-or a Western diet-high fat, sugar, red meat content.

The results showed that a higher Mediterranean diet score was associated with significantly higher daily costs; on the other hand, a higher Western diet score was associated with significantly lower daily costs.

The higher the Western diet score, the less money was spent on food every day.

A higher food spend was associated with eating both less, overall, consuming fewer energy dense foods, and snacking less between meals than those who spent less.

Around a third (31%) of participants recorded a weight gain of just over half a kilo every year, and after adjusting for factors likely to influence the results, those who spent the most on food were 20% more likely put on weight, irrespective of which dietary pattern they had.

Those who spent more tended to be older, were more likely to be former smokers, and generally weighed more to begin with, explain the authors, which might mean they were more prone to weight gain because of other lifestyle or genetic factors, they suggest.

They also tended to drink more fruit juice, soft drinks, and alcohol, all of which are laden with calories.

The authors say that the evidence in favour of the health benefits of a Mediterranean diet has been steadily accumulating, while the adverse effects of a Western diet on health are not in dispute.

But it may be helpful to tax unhealthy foods and subsidise healthier options, they suggest, because the high cost of a Mediterranean diet may put some people off.

Source
The Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health

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