Fruit and vegetable prices are killing us

Health is a diamond with many facets, polished or dulled by the government policies upon which it is set. But for such policies to work, scientific evidence must direct them.

One such facet is food. When Hippocrates said 2,500 years ago, “Let thy food be thy medicine,” the foods he referred to came from plants. Yet, few scientific studies illuminated his wisdom.

Today, a growing body of research shows life-threatening chronic illnesses like cardiovascular diseases and Type-2 diabetes can be treated and even prevented with a high-fibre diet of whole or minimally processed plant-based foods, including fresh fruits and vegetables.

In 2019, such compelling evidence motivated Health Canada to revise its dietary guidelines and Food Guide. Both now recommend that at least 75 per cent of our diet comes from plants and, among protein foods, we eat plant-based protein more often.

All should be well except for one thing: 70 per cent of Canadians haven’t adopted Health Canada’s recommendations. That statistic joins another: 39.5 per cent of Canadians believe eating more fresh fruits and vegetables is beyond their financial reach. Both numbers come from a recently published study by Dalhousie University researchers, which suggests a troubling mismatch between what we should eat and what we can afford.

Dr. Teela Johnson is a hospitalist at Providence Healthcare in Scarborough, Ont. Her patients suffer from debilitating chronic diseases like Type-2 diabetes and vascular diseases that are precursors for heart disease and stroke. While most would like to eat baskets of berries and leafy greens, they can’t.

Food deserts pepper their low-income neighbourhoods. Stores selling fresh produce are many bus stops away. Convenience marts provide the bulk of their groceries — much of it ultra-processed and full of sugar and fat.

Dr. Johnson recognizes people’s ability to follow the Food Guide is determined by the accessibility and affordability of fresh produce. Neither is within easy reach of the nearly six million food-insecure Canadians, including children, pensioners, people marginalized by racism, disabilities or mobility challenges, and those living in rural, northern or Indigenous communities.

Not when food prices catapulted by 10.3 per cent in 2022 and still remain high at 8.3 per cent in April. Not when some of the most significant increases were for fruits at 11.4 per cent and vegetables at 12.7 per cent. Nibble on this: According to Statistics Canada's April Consumer Price Index report, the price of apples leaped 15.4 per cent and oranges 12 per cent, while potatoes jumped 14.2 per cent and tomatoes 11 per cent.

Here’s another tidbit: A study by researchers at the University of Alberta estimates the cost of not meeting Food Guide recommendations to be $13.8 billion annually — $5.1 billion in direct health care and $8.7 billion in lost productivity.

“All kinds of expensive health care happens on the treatment end,” Johnson says, “when we fail to provide preventative interventions like making fresh fruits and vegetables and other plant-based foods more affordable and accessible.”

Given Canada’s agricultural abundance, this paradox demands attention. Without these interventions, Canada’s food security and public health will continue to decline.

Health Canada recognizes this. In 2020, it provided $1.5 million in funding to the Public Health Agency of Canada for a pilot program offering fruit and vegetable vouchers to 30 communities facing food insecurity.

But Health Canada alone can’t shoulder all the federal responsibility for improving the health of nearly 40 million people. Other government departments must step up.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) is a logical choice. Policy workers there are developing a sustainable agriculture strategy for producers and a renewed food policy for consumers. Public health and food security should be unifying links.

“The production of foods that make us healthy can also make the Earth healthy. And if we recognize fruits and vegetables as the gold standard of healthy foods, we need policies to lower their costs and increase their accessibility,” says Johnson.

Equity and justice are necessary for advancing public health and food security goals. AAFC’s agriculture strategy must boost support to growers so they can produce more fruits and vegetables. Its food policy must establish permanent low-cost produce markets and fruit and vegetable voucher programs across Canada.

Such actions would pay for themselves by preventing chronic diseases, reducing costly treatments and increasing worker productivity.

Health is a diamond, but it should not be a luxury. Neither should fruits and vegetables.

Karen Levenson is an environmentalist and plant-based activist and author. She worked in the advertising and marketing industry in Canada and the United States for over 25 years before becoming a biodiversity campaigner for several Canadian and American non-profits. She holds an MFA in film and video from York University and kick-started the women’s studies program at Brandeis University, where she was its first graduate. She sits on the board of Canadians for Responsible Food Policy.

Maddie Youngman (she/they) holds a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin and a master's degree in philosophy from the University of Alberta. Maddie is currently a researcher and graduate student at the University of Alberta and works on topics within philosophy, such as environmental and social justice, queer and feminist philosophy, and Indigenous philosophies. Maddie is currently working on a research project on Canadian food policy and social justice.