Cheaper fruit & veg "would cut deaths from stroke and other diseases”
Each year thousands of deaths could be prevented by taxing unhealthy foods and subsidising healthy ones. These are the findings of a new study which links the correlation between the cost of healthy foods and shopping behaviour.
The study (published in BMC Medicine) estimated what affect subsidies on healthy foods and taxes on unhealthy foods would have on the annual number of deaths in the US from cardiometabolic diseases. They defined healthy foods as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds. In the study the taxed unhealthy foods were red meat and sugary drinks.
The researchers from Tufts University, Massachusetts found that altering the prices of healthy and unhealthy foods by 10% could prevent 23,000 deaths per year. A 30% price change would almost triple the estimated number of deaths prevented.
The greatest effect in lowering the price of fruit and veg would be seen in deaths from strokes. The number of deaths from diabetes were mostly changed through taxes on sugary drinks.
Published Friday 1 December 2017
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