In a study from Michigan Medicine, scientists found three-quarters of people over age 50 in the United States say the rising cost of groceries has affected them somewhat or a lot and nearly a third say they’re eating less healthily because of increased food costs.
But food cost inflation has hit certain groups of older adults harder, especially people who rate their physical or mental health as fair or poor, and those in lower-income households or with fewer years of formal education.
The new findings come from a National Poll on Healthy Aging.
In the poll, the team found more than a third of people aged 50 to 80 say the rising cost of groceries has impacted them a lot, with 41% of those in their 50s and early 60s saying this compared with 30% of those aged 65 to 80.
Overall, the percentages saying this was higher among those who rate their physical health as fair or poor (46%), those who rate their mental health as fair or poor (58%), and those with household incomes under $30,000 (56%) and those who have a high school education or less (48%).
The pinch of inflation is having a direct impact on what foods older adults are buying.
More than a third (36%) of those aged 50 to 64 said their diet is less healthy because of rising costs, compared with 24% of those aged 65 to 80.
Across the entire poll population, the percentages saying they were eating less healthily because of cost were higher among those who rate their mental health as fair or poor (54%), those with household incomes under $30,000 (48%), those who rate their physical health as fair or poor (46%), and those who have a high school education or less (40%).
Respondents also answered questions asking them to look back on the past 12 months, and say whether two statements were often true, sometimes true, or never true about their household.
In all, 4% of older adults said it was often true that they worried that their food would run out before they got money to buy more, and 15% said this had been sometimes true.
Meanwhile, just under 4% said that this had actually happened to them often, and another 12% said it had happened sometime in the last 12 months.
These experiences of food insecurity were more common among those with fair or poor physical or mental health, and those with incomes under $30,000.
Those who live alone were also more likely to say they had run out of food before they had money to get more.
Those who had experienced food insecurity in the last 12 months were three times as likely to say that they are now eating less healthy diets because of the rise in food costs, compared with those who had not experienced food insecurity (66% vs 22%).
The United States Department of Agriculture’s data shows that grocery costs rose 13% from July 2021 to July 2022, and predict a continued increase of another 10% in 2023.
If you care about nutrition, please read studies that drinking black tea could help lower blood pressure, and diet soda drinkers have a lower colon cancer death risk.
For more information about nutrition, please see recent studies that coconut oil may help improve cognitive function in Alzheimer’s disease, and results showing this diet could improve heart health, even with red meat.
The study was conducted by Preeti Malani et al and published in…
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