Washington, March 2

Scientists have been telling Americans about the benefits of healthy eating for decades, and yet more Americans are obese than ever — more than a third of the country.

Now, researchers at Harvard and Tufts Universities have laid out concrete steps officials can take by linking food prices to health effects.

Reducing prices of fruits and vegetables while raising prices for sodas and other sugary drinks could save millions of lives, as per a study released on Tuesday at American Heart Association’s epidemiology and lifestyle meeting in Phoenix.

“A change in your diet can be challenging, but if achieved through personal choice or changes in market place, it can have a profound effect on your health,” Harvard Professor Thomas Gaziano, the report’s lead author, said.

The researchers developed a computer model that predicted a 10 per cent drop in price of fruits and vegetables could reduce death from cardiovascular disease by 1.2 per cent in five years and nearly two per cent in 20 years.

The measures could decrease heart attacks by 2.6 per cent and strokes by four per cent over two decades, the report said. It also found that deaths from cardiovascular diseases could decrease by nearly 0.1 per cent in five years of a price increase of 10 per cent on sugary drinks, and 0.12 per cent within 20 years.

The measures could decrease heart attacks by 0.25 per cent in both timeframes and strokes by 0.17 per cent in 20 years, the report said, adding diabetes could decrease by 0.2 per cent in five years and 0.7 per cent in 20 years.