By Monica Eng, Tribune Newspapers September 12, 2012 Does a
healthy diet cost more than a junk-food diet in America? That
depends on whom you ask, how you measure food and, most
important, if you know how to cook. Earlier this year the U.S.
Department of Agriculture released a new analysis indicating
that fruits, vegetables, grains and low-fat milk tend to be less
expensive by weight and serving size than fatty, sugary foods
and meat, fish and poultry. The takeaway message, according to
its authors: Healthful foods actually cost less than foods we
are supposed to restrict. This ran counter to many studies that
have measured the cost of "good" and "bad" foods by calorie and
concluded that nutrient-poor foods generally cost less. But
recently another group of researchers, including Adam
Drewnowski, director of nutritional sciences at the University
of Washington in Seattle, decided to look at it from another
angle: by the cost of foods that deliver key nutrients,
especially those associated with lower risk of c