By Amy Rolph
It’s expensive to eat well — far more expensive than eating poorly. And the gap between the price of healthy and unhealthy food is growing larger, according to research from the University of Washington.
A group of researchers at the UW’s Center for Public Health Nutrition tracked the cost of roughly 380 food items over the course of four years. They visited Safeway, QFC and Albertsons stores in the Seattle area to document how the prices fluctuated.
The results? Prices increased across the board. But the price of healthy food — produce and whole grains, among other things — rapidly outpaced the price of items like soda and jelly beans. “That’s not a good pattern,” said lead researcher Pablo Monsivais. “Already, the foods that are the most nutrient dense are the most costly to begin with. It’s kind of making a bad situation worse.”