71% of Older Adults Say Affordability Makes It Difficult to Buy Healthy Food

In a new survey of older adults, the National Council on Aging (NCOA), the national voice for every person’s right to age well, found that 71% of respondents reported affordability is a main obstacle to their ability to choose and purchase healthy foods.

Survey respondents said they are confident in their knowledge of what types of foods are healthy for older adults to eat, but having the funds to purchase that food is often challenging.

“Eating healthy food is essential to aging well, but these results confirm what we already know–far too many older adults are struggling just to afford the basics,” said Gretchen Dueñas-Tanbonliong, NCOA associate director of Health and Wellness.

“With high food costs across the country, it’s more important than ever that we connect older adults who are eligible to programs that can help them afford food, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) and the Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP).

NCOA continues to advocate at the federal level to protect and strengthen these essential nutrition assistance programs.”

The survey was designed to understand older adults’ needs related to nutrition and joint health, their confidence in their knowledge of nutrition and physical activity and their own experiences related to these issues.

Other key findings include:

• Nearly half (48%) of respondents said it was somewhat hard, hard or very hard for their household to regularly get and eat healthy foods in the past 12 months.

• After affordability, respondents cited mobility challenges or physical limitations (22%) and food assistance qualification issues (20%) as the main obstacles to not eating healthy foods.

• Three-quarters of respondents reported feeling joint discomfort in the previous two weeks, and 59% took a pain reliever and 58% stretched or did yoga to feel better.

Older adults and their families can check to see if they are eligible for SNAP, CSFP, SFMNP and other state and local food assistance programs by visiting NCOA’s free and confidential BenefitsCheckUp website, https://benefitscheckup.org.