At scale, I would agree with this, although I wouldn't say "prevents", I would say "discourages". You should definitely notice large effects at scale in any economy, in this case, people definitely do buy more junk food because it's cheaper
(I even do this, and I prefer healthy foods when possible! But at your typical gas station, junk:healthy::10:1, which is not quite the same problem)
vegatables, and fruit to a lesser extend, is much cheaper than junk food. Why isn't that encouraging healthy eating?
I believe junk food is like smoking. Everyone knows it's not a healthy choise, but they do it anyways. People are choosing to eat unhealthy food because they want to, it tastes good.
That's a nice belief, but evidence shows people choose junk food because of availability, price, associated preparation time and a lack of nutritional education.
The further down the income ladder you go the more those factors come into play rather than the simplistic "it tastes good" conclusion.
evidence shows people choose junk food because of availability, price, associated preparation time and a lack of nutritional education.
Oh I believe it. I would just phrase it as: people take the easy way out when it comes to eating. They prefer something that is front of them, cheap and they don't need to cook.
You can't ignore personal responsibility. Plenty of poor folks eat health meals.
You say 'they want to' but you ignore that junk food is designed to amplify the superficially appealing qualities of the food without regard to the nutritive value.
Nobody 'wants' that. What they want is good tasting food that is also nutritious. That costs more.
(I even do this, and I prefer healthy foods when possible! But at your typical gas station, junk:healthy::10:1, which is not quite the same problem)