The high cost of healthy eating
Increases in food prices, particularly in remote areas of Australia, may be contributing to the growing burden of obesity and chronic disease among people of low socioeconomic status and other vulnerable groups, according to senior nutritionists.
Research published in the latest issue of the Medical Journal of Australia shows that Australians living in very remote areas pay an average of 30 per cent more than city-dwellers for a fortnight's "standard basket" of healthy food.
Ms Michelle Harrison, Senior Public Health Nutritionist at Queensland Health, Principal Public Health Nutritionist Dr Amanda Lee, and colleagues, assessed the change in cost and availability of healthy foods in different areas of Queensland between 1998 and 2004.
They found that, in 2004, the average cost of a standard basket of healthy food was $395.28 a fortnight in remote areas - 30 per cent higher than in major cities.
Between 2001 and 2004, the average cost of the standard basket in very remote areas increased by 18 per cent ($76.93), compared with 14.0 per cent ($48.45) for Queensland as a whole.
Factors contributing to the higher prices in remote areas include the cost of transportation and refrigeration, double handling of produce through secondary wholesalers, and the small numbers of consumers (precluding the option of bulk-buying discounts).
"Interventions to make basic healthy food affordable and accessible to all would help reduce the high burden of chronic disease", say the authors.
In an editorial in the same issue of the Journal, Dr Karen Webb, Co-Director of the NSW Centre for Public Health Nutrition, and Professor Stephen Leeder, Director of the Australian Health Policy Institute at the University of Sydney, suggest that poor business and stock management practices and a lack of accountability lead to higher food prices.
"The lack of clear store governance roles and procedures set down by community committees has hindered attempts to improve store management practices," say Dr Webb and Prof Leeder.
However, they say recent changes in community and retail practices are helping to counter these problems through improved guidelines and schemes to recruit and train local people, including Indigenous people, to work in retail positions, and to improve the efficient freight of perishable goods to remote areas.
There remains considerable scope to expand efforts to address the issue of inequitable food prices, the authors say.
The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.
Both original articles can be viewed at www.mja.com.au.