Food-level nutrient-to-price analysis and modelled costs of Thai dietary guideline baskets using prices from selected retail outlets in Bangkok, Thailand

Healthy diets can be difficult to achieve when food budgets are constrained, but food-based dietary guidelines rarely indicate which commonly consumed foods provide more nutrient value for their cost. This study combined market-price data from selected retail outlets in Bangkok, Thailand, with Thai food-composition data to calculate nutrient-to-price values for 283 commonly consumed foods and to model the costs of food baskets based on Thai Food-Based Dietary Guideline serving recommendations. Rice and starches provided the lowest-cost energy and carbohydrate per Baht. Foods ranking highly for selected micronutrients came from a wider range of groups, including legumes, organ meats, blood products, vegetables, and fruits. Base-case Thai FBDG baskets cost 142.63–204.12 THB/day, equivalent to 40.4%–57.8% of the Bangkok minimum daily wage of 353 THB/day. Nutrient-to-price informed practical baskets cost 73.08–95.12 THB/day and reduced modelled costs by 48.8%–53.4% without changing the Thai FBDG food-group serving structure. These estimates show that food-item choice within the same dietary-guideline structure can materially alter modelled basket costs, but they do not establish nutrient adequacy, household acceptability, or implementation feasibility.