Healthy eating has emerged as something of a luxury in emerging markets. In contrast, the cost of junk food continues to decrease; encouraging consumers to binge more.This comes as a great concern as rising costs of healthy eating might deter consumers from consuming healthy food more frequently.

According to a recent study, the cost of fruits and vegetables rose by 91% in the last two decades. The cost of processed foods instead fell by a fifth in emerging markets such as Brazil, China, South Korea and Mexico from 1990 to 2012. This clearly indicates the junk food trend will soon make headway into most emerging markets.

Lower prices encourage consumers to adopt unhealthy eating habits. Hence, obesity has become the new face of poverty. Conditions such as blood sugar spikes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure as well as bloating are some of the health conditions that result from an unhealthy diet.

Is the solution increased subsidies for fresh fruit and vegetables financed by a tax on junk food?

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Tanushree Mukherjee