The Heart and Stroke Foundation has just come out with its annual report card and it's found some startling discrepancies between the price of healthy foods and where you live.
The report looked at 66 communities across the country and within provinces. It found that depending on where you live - you could be paying between double and nearly six times the average price for healthy foods.
Six apples cost $1 in Toronto, $5 in Calgary and more than $7 in Nunavut. A four-liter jug of milk was $3.49 Vancouver, but $7 in Halifax. And whole wheat pasta cost $2 in Barrie, Ontario but a whopping $11 in the Yukon.
The report also found one in four Canadians occasionally go without buying healthy food because it's too expensive. More disturbingly, one in five always go without buying healthy food.
"We know that healthy eating is key to preventing heart disease and certainly in this economy if you can't afford to buy nutritious food than you're increasing your risk for heart and disease and other chronic diseases," says Dr. Catherine Donovan from the Memorial of the University of Newfoundland.
There was one area, however, where food prices were stable: less nutritious foods like chips and pop.
"The curious thing is many provincial government regulate alcohol and beer -- so regardless if you're in downtown or a remote part of the province you're paying the same price and yet healthy foods are subject to wide regional price variations," says Stephen Samis of the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation is calling on the government to change this -- and regulate the price of healthy foods as well.
And it seems many Canadians are on board, with 86 per cent of those surveyed agreeing that regulations should be put in place so healthy foods are equally affordable, no matter where you live.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Dr. Rhonda Low
