Abstract
BackgroundThis paper describes the rationale, development and final protocol of the Healthy Diets Australian Standardised Affordability and Pricing (ASAP) method which aims to assess, compare and monitor the price, price differential and affordability of healthy (recommended) and current (unhealthy) diets in Australia. The protocol is consistent with the International Network for Food and Obesity / non-communicable Diseases Research, Monitoring and Action Support’s (INFORMAS) optimal approach to monitor food price and affordability globally.MethodsThe Healthy Diets ASAP protocol was developed based on literature review, drafting, piloting and revising, with key stakeholder consultation at all stages, including at a national forum.DiscussionThe protocol was developed in five parts. Firstly, for the healthy (recommended) and current (unhealthy) diet pricing tools; secondly for calculation of median and low-income household incomes; thirdly for store location and sampling; fourthly for price data collection, and; finally for analysis and reporting. The Healthy Diets ASAP protocol constitutes a standardised approach to assess diet price and affordability to inform development of nutrition policy actions to reduce rates of diet-related chronic disease in Australia. It demonstrates application of the INFORMAS optimum food price and affordability methods at country level. Its wide application would enhance monitoring and utility of dietary price and affordability data from a health perspective in Australia. The protocol could be adapted in other countries to monitor the price, price differential and affordability of current and healthy diets.
Highlights
This paper describes the rationale, development and final protocol of the Healthy Diets Australian Standardised Affordability and Pricing (ASAP) method which aims to assess, compare and monitor the price, price differential and affordability of healthy and current diets in Australia
Potential systematic errors could be minimised by the utilisation of detailed dietary survey data in the Confidentialised Unit Record Files (CURFs) from the Australian Health Survey (AHS) 2011–12 [31] and the Australian 2011–13 food composition database [32], both of which were unavailable at the time of the pilot study [29]
The healthy diets Australian Standardised Affordability and Pricing methods (ASAP) current diet pricing tool The current diet pricing tool constitutes the sum of the mean intake of specific foods and drinks, expressed in grams or millilitres, in each age/gender group corresponding to the four individuals comprising the reference household, as reported in the AHS 2011
Summary
This paper describes the rationale, development and final protocol of the Healthy Diets Australian Standardised Affordability and Pricing (ASAP) method which aims to assess, compare and monitor the price, price differential and affordability of healthy (recommended) and current (unhealthy) diets in Australia. The protocol is consistent with the International Network for Food and Obesity / non-communicable Diseases Research, Monitoring and Action Support’s (INFORMAS) optimal approach to monitor food price and affordability globally. Less than 4 % of the population consume diets consistent with the evidence-based Australian Dietary Guidelines [2, 3]; on average, at least 35% of the total daily energy intake of adults and at least 39% of the energy intake of children [4] are derived from unhealthy ‘discretionary’ food choices, defined as foods and drinks high in saturated fat, added sugar, salt and/or alcohol that are not required for health [3]. Lee et al Nutrition Journal (2018) 17:88 the relative price and affordability of current and healthy (recommended) diets have been assessed rarely, as opposed to the relative price of selected pairs of ‘healthy’ and ‘less healthy’ foods [6]
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