Healthy eating may soon be a luxury.

The price of eating a nutritious diet is only becoming costlier, according to a UW study published in a Dec. 2007 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

Dr. Adam Drewnowski, director of the UW Center for Public Health and Nutrition, and Dr. Pablo Monsivais, a research fellow at the center, studied food prices at grocery stores around Seattle in 2004. They found that while the price of high-calorie, low-nutrient foods have stayed constant, more nutritious fare has become increasingly expensive.

During the two-year span of the study, Drewnowski and Monsivais found that items like fruits and vegetables had the highest price inflation, with some jumping up nearly 20 percent from their initial values. Candy and pastries, however, showed a minimal increase in price.

“That the cost of healthful foods is outpacing inflation is a major problem,” Drewnowski said in a press release. “The gap between what we say people should eat and what they can afford is becoming unacceptably wide. If grains, sugars and fats are the only affordable foods left, how are we to handle the obesity epidemic?”

The results of the study found that lean meats, low-fat dairy products and fruits and vegetables were associated with higher monetary costs, which is a problem for Americans attempting to manage their weight and stave off chronic diseases.

“Improving the nutrients-to-energy ratio in the American diet is the stated goal of the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans,” Drewnowksi and Monsivais wrote in the report. “Being able to replace fats, sweets and snacks with less energy-dense options is becoming an ever greater economic challenge.”

The inability to afford healthier food is particularly a point of contention for college students struggling with minimal funds and few alternatives when it comes to mealtime.

Freshman Natalie Baker found it hard to maintain a strictly healthy diet when she came to the UW.

“I’d like to be completely vegetarian,” she said, “but the options on campus are not conducive to that. If I had the choice, I would go shopping at Whole Foods all the time, but I can’t afford it. As it is, the salads at places like the HUB are too expensive for what you get.”

Despite the economic constraints of college students and the lure of lower-priced, less healthy food, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Campus convenience stores, many of which are tax free, have begun to stock a small section of organic foods.

Additionally, campus cafeterias serve vegan and vegetarian alternatives, which tend to be lower in price than the meat dishes.

Baker is pleased with the options at the dining halls.

“I hit up the salad bar at 1101 a lot, and they’re always offering vegetarian options,” she said. “I’m fine with the healthy foods offered now — as long as they don’t get more expensive.”

[Reach reporter Kyle Frischkorn at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]