The Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute (INDI) have released a report on the cost of healthy eating and specialised diets in Ireland, which focuses on the varying costs of healthy foods.
The report is the most comprehensive review of specialised diets and food costs that has been carried out in Ireland in the past decade. The study examines how the cost of the special diets-and the requirements for a healthy food diet in general varies considerably depending on where a person shops and finds that weekly food costs in some cases are almost 60% more on average in convenience stores than in the large low-cost stores.
It also shows that a person on the lowest social welfare income could meet the full cost of the most expensive prescribed special diet for less than one third of their income if they shopped at one of the large low-cost stores.
The study also found that -
compared with the estimated costs of a normal healthy eating diet, the typical actual additional cost of a special diet is between €3 and €8 per week, depending on the type of diet concerned and on the type of shop or supermarket in which people normally buy their groceries
some existing diets are no longer relevant, in the light of the latest dietary and medical views, while other conditions warrant special diets at some higher cost.
The study recommends a new framework for categorising the various diets in which all of the prescribed diets would fall into one of four categories:
Gluten Free Diet
Low Lactose Milk Free Diet
High Protein High Calorie Diet
Liquidised Altered Consistency Diet
Minister for Social Affairs, Séamus Brennan TD, said that he recognises that not everybody is in a position to do their shopping at the cheapest shops and for this reason he intends to base the new diet supplement scheme at the highest pricing structure - food costs at convenience stores - in order to protect the position of those who cannot shop around because of location, age, health or for other reasons.
