- A healthy diet helps to protect against malnutrition in all its forms, as well as noncommunicable diseases.
- You need at least nine nutrients to maintain a healthy diet, WHO.
One has to spend at least Sh175 daily to meet the healthy diet recommended by the World Health Organization.
At the same time, people living in Western Kenya and urban areas ate more healthy foods compared to other counties.
This means that in a year, each member of a family aged above two years must part with at least Sh63,875 to maintain a healthy diet.
According to a survey by the African Health Population Fund and Research Centre, one needed to spend at least Sh160 daily to eat healthy five years ago. Today, the cost has gone up by Sh15.
The survey dubbed ‘The cost of healthy eating in Kenya’ analysed 21,512 households across the 47 counties in 2015-16 drawn from the Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey.
WHO recommends specific proportions of nine types of nutrients. But according to the survey, households that met at least six of the nine were considered to have a healthy diet. No household met all of the nine dietary recommendations.
It posits that over 80 per cent of households only met four or less of the nine WHO healthy diet recommendations.
More than 50 per cent of Kenyan households met healthy diet recommendations for only two components; total fats (87 per cent) and dietary fibre (71 per cent).
According to their statistics, households that met six out of the nine healthy dietary recommendations spent on average Sh58,346 per person per year to eat healthy, while those that did not meet any of the recommended dietary requirements spent on average Sh48,720.
“Households that met six of the nine healthy diet recommendations spent approximately Sh9,626 more per person annually compared to those who did not meet the healthy dietary recommendations,” reads part of the report.
These costs, however, change from county to county due to differing costs of food products.
While it costs Sh58,346 overall to eat a healthy diet annually; if you live in urban centres, one has to spend at least Sh76,743 for the same items while in the rural setting, one needs Sh56,226.
Today, those living in urban areas have to spend at least Sh81,994 annually while those in rural areas part with Sh61,477 to eat healthy.
Image: FILE
Contrary to the common belief that people in the rural areas eat more vegetables and fruits, the survey showed that 52 per cent of people in urban areas eat more of it than people in rural setting at 40 per cent.
“In regards to fruits and vegetables, saturated and polyunsaturated fats, urban households met more of the healthy dietary recommendations compared to their rural counterparts,” the report indicated.
Overall, the average HDI score was higher for households in the urban areas than those in the rural areas.
Compared to urban households, rural households met more of the healthy dietary recommendations for dietary fibre, total protein and total carbohydrates.
“Female-headed households had a slightly higher HDI score compared to the male-headed households,” noted the report.
The study also showed that healthy eating was more concentrated among wealthier households.
“Households were more likely to eat healthy if they were of a higher socioeconomic status, lived in rural areas, had children under five years old, headed by a female with secondary and higher education,” read the report.
A different study by APHRC on dietary transitions in Kenyan cities indicated that 90 per cent of people, especially in Nairobi, eat energy-dense, nutrient-poor meals. The study also showed that at least 79 per cent drank sweetened beverages in a span of 24 hours.
WHO recommends a daily dose of at least 400 grammes of fruit, vegetables, legumes (e.g. lentils and beans), nuts and whole grains (e.g. unprocessed maize, millet, oats, wheat and brown rice).
It also recommends 50 grammes or about 12 teaspoons of free sugar for a person of healthy body weight consuming about 2,000 calories per day.
Free sugars are all sugars added to foods or drinks by the manufacturer, cook or consumer, as well as sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates.
Less than 30 per cent of total energy intake from fats is recommended. Unsaturated fats (found in fish, avocado and nuts, and in sunflower, soybean, canola and olive oils) are preferable to saturated fats (found in fatty meat, butter, palm and coconut oil, cream, cheese, ghee and lard) and trans-fats (found in baked and fried foods, and pre-packaged snacks and foods, such as margarine, pies, cookies, biscuits and cooking oils.
It also recommends less than five grammes of iodised salt (equivalent to about one teaspoon) per day.
WHO noted that Kenya, like many low-and-middle-income countries, is experiencing a reduction in infectious diseases but an increasing burden of chronic and degenerative diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.
"As we transition towards stronger economies, studies show that the disease burden of diet-related non-communicable diseases is also rising rapidly, and if left unchecked, it may present a huge and challenging economic burden to the healthcare system."
APHRC study noted that sugar-sweetened beverages such as carbonated soft drinks and fruit juices, foods high in salt such as salty snacks, processed foods, and foods high in saturated and transfats are increasingly forming a significant proportion of diets for many people living in Kenya, thus increasing the risk of NCDs.
“The burden of NCDs in Kenya has been increasing, with unhealthy diets being one of the key risk factors. The rapid growth and urbanisation of Kenya’s population has important implications on its dietary behaviour. Therefore, there is need to understand and address the prevailing and increasing risk factors for NCDs including unhealthy diets,” reads the report.
-Edited by SKanyara