Optimization of Food Basket: Interconnection of Medical and Economic Factors

Abstract

The food basket contains minimum consumption rates of foodstuffs; it is approved by the Russian Parliament (the State Duma) and forms the basis of the living standards calculations thus influencing expenditure budget and minimum wage. These characteristics of the food basket traditionally attract attention of economists, but its social and medical aspects are usually ignored. At the same time people use the food basket as a model of consumption behavior, and it forms their habits of healthy or unhealthy nutrition. In practice, the goal of budget economy preponderates over social goals, and therefore the food basket features dangerous imbalances which contribute to high morbidity and mortality. The author shows that the food basket does not meet modern medical requirements since it contains excessive amount of saturated fats and salt and is low on fruit, vegetables and fish. As part of an interdisciplinary research, the author develops a method of harmonization of economic and medical factors of the food basket. The current state policy in the field of public health should be brought up to date on the basis of improving the food basket, reducing maximum permitted content of trans­fatty acids and salt in foods, and permitting free import of fruit, vegetables and fish from any country of the world.