3 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet https://ift.tt/3xA2ee3 by William A. Masters , Tufts University and Anna Herforth , Tufts University The COVID-19 pandemic has caused price spikes for corn, milk, beans and other commodities, but even before the pandemic about 3 billion people could not afford even the cheapest options for a healthy diet. Recent analysis of global food price data reveals that as of 2017, the latest available year , around 40% of the world's population was already forced to consume poor-quality diets by a combination of high food prices and low incomes. When healthy items are unaffordable, it is impossible for people to avoid malnutrition and diet-related diseases like anemia or diabetes . The remaining 60% of the world's 7.9 billion people could afford the ingredients for healthy meals. That, of course, does not mean they always eat a healthy diet. Cooking time and difficulty , as well as the advertising and marketing of other foods, ca...