Dgania-Yaroslaviz Naama, Blaychfeld Magnazi Moran, Kaufman-Shriqui Vered
Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nutrition Sciences, Ariel University, Kiryat Hamada 3, Ariel, Israel.
Nutrition Division, Ministry of Health, Jerusalem, Israel.
Isr J Health Policy Res. 2025 Mar 27;14(1):15. doi: 10.1186/s13584-025-00675-7.
Dietary guidelines for families with children are designed to meet the Dietary Recommended Intake. However, the cost of a healthy diet and the extent to which families can afford it in Israel is unclear.
The age distribution and the number of children per household by income quintile and geographic area in Israel in 2018 were obtained from the Central Bureau of Statistics. Food cost information was purchased from the commercial company Stornext. The cost of the recommended food items in the healthy diet for adults and children (by age group) was calculated using standard food portions and meal frequency and expressed as a percentage of the households net income. The proportion of households for which food expenditures exceeded 15% of the net income was calculated, followed by changes in food prices during 2018.
The average daily cost of a healthy diet for an average Israeli family was 35.5 ± 7.7 New Israeli shekels (equivalent to $9.7 ± $2.11). For households with children, the median monthly cost of the recommended diet, as a percentage of net household income was 20%. There was an inverse association with socioeconomic status, as the median monthly food expenses for the first (lowest) quintile were 55% of the household's net income and only 9.3% of the 5th (highest) income quintile. By geographic residential area, the median percentage of the net income from monthly dietary costs was 23%. The highest costs were in Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem. Lunch made up 47% of food expenditures, if theoretically omitted, diet expenditures for households with children would decrease by an average of 15%. The food group that composed the highest component of the food budget was the vegetable group, with an average cost of 29% monthly, followed by the meat and meat substitutes group (19%).
This theoretical calculation shows that two-thirds of the households with children in Israel could not purchase the recommended diet in 2018, with significant disparities according to socioeconomic status. Policymakers should consider steps to decrease health inequality in food affordability, targeting the three middle-lower income quintiles. Our findings suggest the need to expand the provision of school lunches. Further research is required to examine how changes in household food costs influence consumers' food choices and the potential health implications of the high expenses identified in this study.
针对有孩子家庭的饮食指南旨在满足膳食推荐摄入量。然而，在以色列，健康饮食的成本以及家庭能够负担得起的程度尚不清楚。
从中央统计局获取2018年以色列按收入五分位数和地理区域划分的家庭年龄分布及每户子女数量。食品成本信息从商业公司Stornext购买。使用标准食物份量和用餐频率计算成人及儿童（按年龄组）健康饮食中推荐食品的成本，并表示为家庭净收入的百分比。计算食品支出超过净收入15%的家庭比例，以及2018年期间食品价格的变化。
以色列普通家庭健康饮食的平均每日成本为35.5±7.7新以色列谢克尔（相当于9.7±2.11美元）。对于有孩子的家庭，推荐饮食的月成本中位数占家庭净收入的20%。与社会经济地位呈负相关，因为第一（最低）五分位数家庭的月食品支出中位数是家庭净收入的55%，而在第五（最高）收入五分位数中仅为9.3%。按居住地理区域划分，每月饮食成本占净收入的中位数百分比为23%。成本最高的地区是朱迪亚、撒马利亚和耶路撒冷。午餐占食品支出的47%，理论上若省去午餐，有孩子家庭的饮食支出将平均减少15%。构成食品预算最高组成部分的食物类别是蔬菜类，每月平均成本为29%，其次是肉类及肉类替代品类（19%）。
这一理论计算表明，2018年以色列三分之二有孩子的家庭无法购买推荐饮食，且根据社会经济地位存在显著差异。政策制定者应考虑采取措施减少食品可负担性方面的健康不平等，目标是收入处于中下水平的三个五分位数群体。我们的研究结果表明有必要扩大学校午餐的供应。需要进一步研究以考察家庭食品成本变化如何影响消费者的食物选择以及本研究中确定的高成本对健康的潜在影响。
