The Healthy Diet Basket is a valid global standard that highlights lack of access to healthy and sustainable diets

Abstract

The Healthy Diet Basket (HDB) is a standard developed from food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG) for the measurement of the Cost and Affordability of a Healthy Diet—a new indicator of food security tracked by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Bank. Here we analysed the HDB’s economic, nutritional and environmental characteristics of least-cost diets relative to 16 national FBDG and the EAT-Lancet reference diet. The HDB cost averaged US$3.68 per person per day in 2021, slightly lower than most FBDG. Macronutrient levels fell within acceptable macronutrient distribution ranges, and the average mean adequacy ratio of 15 micronutrients and protein was 95% for the HDB, equivalent to the average mean adequacy ratio across FBDG. The HDB’s carbon and water footprints were found to be similar to the EAT-Lancet reference diet. These findings demonstrate the use of the HDB as a global standard and highlight the lack of access to healthy and sustainable diets globally.