Jones Nicholas R V, Conklin Annalijn I, Suhrcke Marc, Monsivais Pablo
UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC) Centre for Diet and Activity Research, Department of MRC Epidemiology, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Addenbrooke's Treatment Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC) Centre for Diet and Activity Research, Department of MRC Epidemiology, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Addenbrooke's Treatment Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2014 Oct 8;9(10):e109343. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0109343. eCollection 2014.
The UK government has noted the public health importance of food prices and the affordability of a healthy diet. Yet, methods for tracking change over time have not been established. We aimed to investigate the prices of more and less healthy foods over time using existing government data on national food prices and nutrition content.
We linked economic data for 94 foods and beverages in the UK Consumer Price Index to food and nutrient data from the UK Department of Health's National Diet and Nutrition Survey, producing a novel dataset across the period 2002-2012. Each item was assigned to a food group and also categorised as either "more healthy" or "less healthy" using a nutrient profiling model developed by the Food Standards Agency. We tested statistical significance using a t-test and repeated measures ANOVA.
The mean (standard deviation) 2012 price/1000 kcal was £2.50 (0.29) for less healthy items and £7.49 (1.27) for more healthy items. The ANOVA results confirmed that all prices had risen over the period 2002-2012, but more healthy items rose faster than less healthy ones in absolute terms:£0.17 compared to £0.07/1000 kcal per year on average for more and less healthy items, respectively (p<0.001).
Since 2002, more healthy foods and beverages have been consistently more expensive than less healthy ones, with a growing gap between them. This trend is likely to make healthier diets less affordable over time, which may have implications for individual food security and population health, and it may exacerbate social inequalities in health. The novel data linkage employed here could be used as the basis for routine food price monitoring to inform public health policy.
英国政府已认识到食品价格及健康饮食可承受性对公众健康的重要性。然而，尚未建立跟踪随时间变化的方法。我们旨在利用政府现有的全国食品价格和营养成分数据，调查健康程度不同的食品随时间的价格变化。
我们将英国消费者价格指数中94种食品和饮料的经济数据与英国卫生部国家饮食与营养调查的食品和营养数据相联系，生成了一个2002年至2012年期间的全新数据集。每种食品被归入一个食物类别，并使用食品标准局开发的营养成分分析模型分为“更健康”或“较不健康”两类。我们使用t检验和重复测量方差分析来检验统计学显著性。
2012年，较不健康食品每1000千卡的平均（标准差）价格为2.50英镑（0.29），而更健康食品为7.49英镑（1.27）。方差分析结果证实，在2002年至2012年期间所有价格都有所上涨，但从绝对数值来看，更健康食品的价格涨幅高于较不健康食品：较不健康食品和更健康食品平均每年每1000千卡分别上涨0.07英镑和0.17英镑（p<0.001）。
自2002年以来，更健康的食品和饮料一直比不健康的食品更贵，且两者之间的差距在不断扩大。随着时间推移，这种趋势可能会使更健康的饮食变得更难以承受，这可能会对个人食品安全和人群健康产生影响，并且可能会加剧健康方面的社会不平等。此处采用的全新数据关联方法可作为常规食品价格监测的基础，为公共卫生政策提供信息。
