We know that eating a healthy, balanced diet helps prevent many types of chronic disease, so it may come as no surprise to hear that an improved diet can have a profound impact on lowering healthcare costs as well. In the last few years there have been several new studies working to quantify these savings at a large scale, measuring the cost reductions associated with a widespread shift toward healthier diets.
In 2018, researchers in Canada looked at the economic burden attributable to not meeting Canadian food recommendations for 8 categories of food, some considered protective and others categorized as harmful in terms of chronic disease risk. In the protective category, they looked at 1) vegetables, 2) fruits, 3) whole grains, 4) milk, and 5) nuts and seeds. In the harmful category they considered 6) processed meat, 7) red meat, and 8) sugar-sweetened beverages. Overall, not meeting dietary recommendations, by either exceeding recommended levels of “harmful” foods or failing to reach recommended levels of “protective” foods, was found to be responsible for CAD$13.8 billion/year. They found that this was more significantly more costly at a national level than the economic burden of not getting enough exercise (estimated to be CAD$9.3 billion). Low intake of whole grains and nuts and seeds were found to have the highest individual cost impacts among the various food groups, coming in at CAD$3.3 billion each.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Oldways Whole Grains Council
