Sounds like a huge figure, doesn’t it? (US)$50 billion a year to be saved simply by switching everyone to a healthier diet. But that’s the amount researchers recently calculated could be saved by helping people avoid such scourges as heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes…
Healthier Diets could help reduce cost of treating preventable heart disease,
stroke and type 2 diabetes by (US)$50 billion a year…
A team from Brigham and Women’s Hospital’ and the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University wanted to know, in concrete terms, just what the impact of poor dietary habits was on the health care system. Their method produced a dollar figure representing how much could be saved if everyone simply ate better…
What they did
According to an abstract of the study findings, Study Corresponding Author Dr. Thomas Gaziano and colleagues focused on the impact of 10 food groups – Fruits, Vegetables, Nuts/Seeds, Whole Grains, unprocessed Red Meats, Processed Meats, Sugar-sweetened Beverages, polyunsaturated Fats, Seafood omega-3 Fats and Sodium. Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), the team created a representative U.S. population sample of individuals aged 35-85 years. Using a process they developed called the CVD PREDICT model, the team analyzed individual risk of cardiometabolic disease and associated costs for the sample population based on respondents’ current dietary patterns. They then re-calculated costs for health care cost56s if everyone’s diet was optimized to the healthiest amounts of the 10 foods and nutrients.
What they found
“There is a lot to be gained in terms of reducing risk and cost associated with heart disease, stroke and diabetes by making relatively simple changes to one’s diet,” said Gaziano. “Our study indicates that the foods we purchase at the grocery store can have a big impact. I was surprised to see a reduction of as much as 20 percent of the costs associated with these cardiometabolic diseases.”
The team found that suboptimal diets account for $301 per person in terms of health care-related costs. This translates to more than $50 billion nationally, 84 percent of which is due to acute care. Costs were highest for those with Medicare ($481/person) and those who were eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid ($536/person).
Three dietary factors contributed most to these costs: consumption of Processed Meats, low consumption of Nuts/Seeds, and low consumption of Seafoods containing omega-3 Fats.
The takeaway
“We have accumulating evidence from the Food-PRICE collaborative research work to support policy changes focused on improving health at a population level. One driver for those changes is identifying the exorbitant economic burden associated with chronic disease caused by our poor diets. This study provides additional evidence that those costs are unacceptable. While individuals can and do make changes, we need innovative new solutions – incorporating policy makers, the agricultural and food industry, healthcare organizations, and advocacy/non-profit organizations – to implement changes to improve the health of all Americans,” said Co-Senior Study Report Author Renata Micha of Tufts.
“Our work illustrates the need for interventions or policies that incentivize healthier dietary behavior as these changes have the potential to have a big impact and reduce the health and financial burden of cardiometabolic disease,” Gaziano concurred.
My take
Holy jumpin’ Calories! The U.S. alone could save (US)$50 billion in health care cost a year if people just changed their dietary habits to a healthier regimen? Let’s have a follow-on study looking at Cancer and other preventable diseases.
The problem, though – as Gaziano and Micha have pointed out – is you can take a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. I believe it would take a really heavy dose of incentivizing to get most folks to change their established eating habits. Then, there’s the cultural dimension: many newcomers have brought with them beloved food traditions from their former home places that may not be so healthy. Just try and get them to give those up!
Of course, as the Study Report Authors also point out, there’s financial the barrier to healthy eating changes that face the poor, seniors and those on fixed incomes. Fruits, Veggies, Nuts, Seafood and other foods recommended under the much lauded Mediterranean Diet.
As I’ve said in this space before, the appropriate authorities will have to work together to make healthy foods both affordable and attractive for all. I don’t see it happening in the U.S. anytime soon.
~ Maggie J.