In recent years, the cost of healthy food has increased, causing buyers to turn to cheaper, less healthy alternatives. This rise in price makes healthy food less accessible for the many people that that struggle with low incomes and are using government funded programs such as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). Since the price of healthy food has risen so drastically, unhealthy food is now significantly cheaper in comparison which has caused more people to purchase the unhealthy foods. Unhealthy food is less expensive, therefore more people have been buying junk food which in turn has them suffering the major health effects of a poor diet. This increased price of healthy food has caused the overall health of many low-income families to decrease in particular, in comparison to wealthier, more privileged families. Although some might say that the decrease in health is due to other factors such as activity level, though, having a healthy diet has been shown to be a stronger factor. The health of low income families has been affected by the rise in healthy food prices because they want to get the best value out of their food purchases that they make since it is such a large part of their available income, these families do not have easy access to healthy foods, and they have become reliant on unhealthy food because of its convenience.

A major problem in America now is that parents are trying to spend all of their income in the best way that they can, therefore they spend it on the less healthy option of food because that is what is cheaper. In the article “A High Price for Healthy Food,” it talks about this exact problem. Parker-Pope gives evidence of how for a 1,000-calorie diet, consumers spend around $1.76 for snacks that are energy-dense and up to $18.16 for the nutritious alternative. Consumers are able to see this difference which leads them to factor this into their budget and choose the cheaper option that will provide more calories to fill up their family quicker. Since the gap between prices is so large, it is hard for low income families to make up the large difference. If the gap between healthy and unhealthy food prices was smaller, it would be easier for families to make the transition to eating healthy food.  The video “Are Healthy Foods REALLY More Expensive?” by DNews, discusses this price increase of healthy foods over a period of time. A study was performed in the UK between 2002 and 2012, and it showed that the price increase for 1,000 calories of healthy food was $2.95, whereas the price of unhealthy foods only rose $1.17 for the same amount of calories, in the same amount of time. Although this specific study was performed in the UK, the rise in prices was similar in the United States. An increase such as this is something that is very obvious to the smart consumer trying to stay on their budget. This increase along with price in general being more expensive is a major cause for why consumers are not buying healthy foods as much as they are buying the less healthy alternative. This difference in price is a large struggle for people that rely on government funded programs for their food because of the low allotted amount that they receive. 

Approximately 45.4 million Americans, which is about one-seventh of the population, receive nutritional aid from the government through SNAP as stated in “Food Stamps Feed One in Seven Americans Despite Recovery.” Since there are so many Americans using SNAP, that means that a lot of families are living on a very fixed income, trying to get the most food they can for the cheapest price possible. These Families do not have the luxury of affording healthy food because they cannot afford the high cost. “Higher-quality diets are associated with greater affluence, energy-dense diets that are nutrient-poor are preferentially consumed by persons of lower socioeconomic status (SES) and of more limited economic means” (Darmon, 1107). Although the price difference is the main factor why people with lower incomes or who participate in SNAP are more obese, availability of healthy alternatives is also another major factor. Many low-income families do not even have the opportunity to purchase healthy food for their families because of the location that they are in. “Many of the participants in the food stamps program live in “food deserts”: urban or rural communities where retail stores have extremely limited options in terms of healthy food” (Larsen). This lack of availability mentioned in the statement can have a major impact on what types of food people purchase. For example, those who live in smaller country towns may only have the corner store or the neighborhood market to purchase their groceries. In contrast a family living in a major city that has more nutritional stores such as Whole Foods, which carries only healthy foods or even a cheaper option like a Super Walmart, which would have a lot healthier foods to choose from than a corner market. This availability to more options would also be beneficial to parents who not only want a bargain, but also have picky eaters at home. The local store that they have close by may only have a few fruits and vegetables that their child does not like, but if the child was presented with more options they would be able to find something that they enjoy to eat. This would be very helpful for parents who are very concerned about food being wasted. 

Not only are parents trying to get the best deal for the money they spend, they don’t want to watch the food they spend their hard-earned money on go to waste. In “Economic constraints on taste formation and the true cost of healthy eating,” it is mentioned that this is the case for a lot of parents. People generally feel less guilty if something that they didn’t spend too much money on is wasted, in comparison to when it is something which they spent a lot of money on. The problem with this price variation, aside from the fact that healthy food is generally more expensive, is that the cheaper, less healthy food has a much longer shelf life than healthy foods like fruits and vegetables. For example, a bag of salad may last two or three days after being opened before it wilts whereas a bag of chips can last weeks and even months until beginning to turn stale. With fruits and vegetables, it is a lot easier to know something has gone bad because most of the time it will get moldy and change color. This is not the case with packaged foods, not only will they take a significantly longer period of time to go bad, it will not be as obvious to a consumer and they may still eat it without knowing that it has gone bad.  As a result of this shorter shelf life and an urge to avoid wasting money, parents may come to the conclusion that they will get more value out of their grocery spending if they purchase longer lasting, mainly, unhealthy foods. 

As availability is a major factor on food choices, location and accessibility contributes to diet as well. An article, “Connection between social welfare participation, gender and obesity” states that, “Some 25% of food stamps participants do not have easy access to a supermarket” (Larsen). Majority of the people on food stamps are working long, hard hours and do not have the time nor the transportation necessary to travel far in order to find healthy food to feed their family. Due to this hectic work schedule and lack of transportation, the family ultimately suffers by relying on foods that can be bought at a local store or fast food restaurant. Families have become dependent on these unhealthy foods because of how convenient they are. They also know that not only will it take more time and money to get to supermarkets with a larger variety of healthy choices, but the food will be more expensive, so to them it is not worth it. In the article “Cheap Food Blamed for America’s Obesity Crisis” it states that Americans now only spend one-tenth of their disposable income on food, compared to the quarter that they spent in the 1930s.  This statistic shows that Americans are, in fact, spending less now, and the lack of access to healthy food options is a major cause of this.  Not only is lack of access a problem but not having time due to work also contributes. 

In American society, the majority of families have both parents working a full-time job. The average work day is from 9 am to 5 pm and with traffic included, most adults do not get home until 6 or 7 o’clock at night. After working a long day, most likely making a near minimum wage, parents do not have the time nor financial abilities to prepare a healthy dinner for the family, as this would require going to the grocery store to purchase overpriced foods and then going back home to take the time to prepare and cook the meal - just to have their family complain that they don’t like it.  As a consequence of the unaffordable and time consuming circumstances of healthier foods, many working families result to cheaper, easier alternatives such as unhealthy microwavable dinners or precooked pizzas that lack nutrition. Some parents do not even have the time to do that, they just pick up something such as McDonald’s on their commute home because it is easy and inexpensive and they know their families will enjoy it. The last thing that a parent wants after a stressful day at work is to argue with a child about eating their dinner. Although there have been studies performed, providing a substantial amount of evidence, people still do not believe that this is the reason for the increase in obesity.

“An estimated 12.5 million children between the ages of 2 and 19 are obese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention” (Loop). Many parents blame their children’s obesity on the fact that children and teens are too busy inside playing video games instead of participating in physical activities. Another blame assigned is that children these days are just lazier and that is why there is such an increase in obesity. In the article “Do Video Games Contribute to Childhood Obesity” states that the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) recommends that children get at least 60 minutes of physical activity per day. Parents believe that the recent increase in the time that younger generations spend on social media and the newest technology is causing the rise of obesity. Although physical activity level may play a role in low income families struggling with obesity, their diet plays a larger role. The healthy diet plays a larger role because whereas physical activity is something that can be changed on an individual level, there are many barriers that prevent these families from getting healthy foods. 

While access to healthy food and the price of healthy food are a major cause of obesity in America, a solution could be put in place. There are a variety of different ways that this could be fixed. An option is making sure that there are farmers markets that are easily accessible to everyone and have more reasonable prices than local grocery stores. People who are wealthier could not only donate money, but they could donate healthy foods to areas that do not have the access or money to afford them. Another more general solution is to simply raise awareness in low income areas of the negative effects of a poor diet. By spreading awareness of the negative effects unhealthy foods can have, more people may be willing to go out of their way in order to buy or prepare healthy foods. Awareness also needs to be raised for this problem in general, families should not be financially punished for trying to feed their family healthy meals. 

After analyzing the evidence that shows how the rise in price of healthy food affects low income families, it is clear that there is a positive correlation between the rise in price and obesity. One of the main struggles that low income families face is that they want to get the best value for their food purchases. Since they are living with little income, they want the food they purchase to last as long as possible and be completely finished by their families. Another struggle that low income families face is that if they are on government funded programs such as SNAP they have trouble accessing healthy foods. The areas that people on SNAP live in are barren of healthy food options which makes it impossible for these families to acquire healthy food. Low income families also face the problem of not wanting to waste any food. These families face this issue because healthy food does not last as long as unhealthy food. The fact that healthy food is more expensive and does not last long makes it an unpopular choice among many low-income families. Unhealthy foods will last much longer than healthy foods which makes the unhealthy foods more popular among low income families. Low income families also face the problem of availability of healthy food. These families do not have the available resources located around them in order to provide healthy food for their family. Low income parents often do not have time available to acquire and prepare healthy foods for their family which causes these families to become reliant on unhealthy foods because of their convenience. Because of the convenience and availability, low income families have become very dependent on unhealthy meal options instead of trying to provide a healthy alternative. Many people choose to blame different factors such as video games decreasing activity level. This would not be the case for low-income families because they are struggling to just have the necessities, so they would not have the extra money purchase video games, therefore making unhealthy diet the major cause. After examining how the rise in price of healthy food affects low income families, it is clear that these families struggle the most because of the cost of healthy food.
