title: [Index of Nutritional Purchasing Power Parity: comparison of caloric costs of a healthy versus an unhealthy diet].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Develop the Index of Nutritional Purchasing Power Parity (Nut3-CiO) as an instrument to compare the caloric costs of a healthy versus an unhealthy diet between regions or cities in a country over time.
  
  
  METHODS
  Indices of caloric prices were constructed and the "law of one price" was used to derive the Nut3-CiO index. Caloric inflation rates were obtained using basic descriptive statistics. The Nut3-CiO was applied in the major cities of Mexico during the period from January 1996 to December 2010.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The statistical behavior of the Nut3-CiO revealed that, in Mexican cities, products for a typical diet are less expensive than products for a healthy diet. The findings showed a cyclical behavior to the index, a high correlation between inflation for the typical diet and inflation for the market basket, and a high persistence of prices.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Nut3-CiO index makes it possible to periodically compare the price differential of two types of diets-typical and healthy-between cities in a single country. This instrument could help health authorities identify the cities where it is easier or more difficult for consumers to access a typical or healthy diet in terms of cost. Furthermore, it makes it possible to estimate the percentage adjustment necessary in each city to attain levels of nutritional purchasing power parity.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigación e Inteligencia Económica, Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla, Puebla, México. alfonso.mendoza@upaep.mx
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mendoza Velázquez
mesh_terms: D003132:Commerce / Q000191:economics; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004032:Diet / Q000191:economics*; D002149:Energy Intake; D005502:Food / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D008800:Mexico; D009753:Nutritive Value; D014504:Urban Health / Q000191:economics