Affordability of food is one of the key drivers of food choices and purchases at the individual level. Unsurprisingly, the escalating cost of food over the recent years is having concerning impact among vulnerable groups. Diet affordability is also a fundamental pillar of diet sustainability. The food cost barriers that are facing particular groups of the population to achieve sustainable food patterns create further socioeconomic disparities in diet and health. We have recently shown that adults in Quebec adhering to recommendations on healthy food choices in Canada’s Food Guide 2019 and to the EAT-Lancet sustainable dietary pattern spend more dollars on their diet than those who don’t. Investigating trends in diet costs is therefore crucial to informing how food affordability can be better integrated into future dietary guidelines. However, documenting the costs of diet at the individual level is not without challenges. This presentation will provide an overview of the methodological challenges and potential solutions to consider when investigating diet costs at the individual level, with examples of data from Quebec.
Benoît Lamarche is Professor at the School of Nutrition and Scientific Director and founder of the FRQS-funded Research Center on Nutrition, santé et société (NUTRISS). He has published more than 430 peer-reviewed papers on physiological, clinical, epidemiological and public health issues related to nutrition, food and health. His research has been funded by CIHR uninterruptedly for the last 28 years. He currently leads NutriQuébec, the largest population-based study on nutrition and health funded by the Gouvernement du Québec. He has contributed to the training of more than 70 MSc, PhD students and postdocs. He has received numerous awards, including awards from the Société Québécoise de lipidologie, nutrition et métabolisme (Prix des Fondateurs, 2013) and the Canadian Nutrition Society (the Khursheed Jeejeebhoy Award, 2020, Canadian Nutrition Society Fellow, 2024). He has co-written two books with the acclaimed Chef Jean Soulard on the topics of nutrition, sport and health. Benoît Lamarche is an Olympian (1984, 1988) in long track speed skating.