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Healthy food subsidies

A varied diet based on fruit, vegetables, wholegrain, low-fat dairy products, fish and vegetable oil lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes and certain forms of cancer. An important question is if it is possible to increase the consumption of these groceries through subsidies on healthy food like fruit, vegetables and fish.

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SBU Enquiry Service

Consists of structured literature searches to highlight studies that can address questions received by the SBU Enquiry Service from Swedish healthcare or social service providers. We assess the risk of bias in systematic reviews and when needed also quality and transferability of results in health economic studies. Relevant references are compiled by an SBU staff member, in consultation with an external expert when needed.

Question

Do subsidies of fruit, vegetables and fish have an effect on how much people consume these groceries?

Identified studies

  1. Afshin A, Penalvo JL, Del Gobbo L, Silva J, Michaelson M, O'Flaherty M, et al. The prospective impact of food pricing on improving dietary consumption: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One 2017;12:e0172277.
  2. Niebylski ML, Redburn KA, Duhaney T, Campbell NR. Healthy food subsidies and unhealthy food taxation: A systematic review of the evidence. Nutrition 2015;31:787-95.
  3. Thow AM, Downs S, Jan S. A systematic review of the effectiveness of food taxes and subsidies to improve diets: understanding the recent evidence. Nutr Rev 2014;72:551-65.
Contact SBU
Published: Report no: ut201832 Registration no: SBU 2018/513
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Literature search

Literature search.pdf

Project group

Miriam Entesarian Matsson, Laura Lintamo and Emin Hoxha Ekström at SBU.

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