The cost implications of a healthy diet

A balanced diet is an essential element of a healthy lifestyle. The cost of healthy food may affect consumer purchase. The aim of this study was to compare the prices of healthy and less healthy foods in Maltese supermarkets and to determine whether the former are really more expensive. A list of 102 food items, consisting of 51 healthy and 51 less healthy food items were selected from previous literature and also taking the Healthy Eating Index-2010 (HEI-2010) into consideration. Food price data per 100g was collected from five supermarkets across the five geographical districts of Malta to ensure a representative sample.peer-reviewe