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“EXCELLENCE THROUGH KNOWLEDGE” P A G E 54 Promoting Caribbean Agriculture to Promote Health: Beyond Dietary Guidelines This study was conducted to determine which food items have the best nutrition value for money in securing a healthy diet to combat non-communicable diseases. Several studies have evaluated whether healthier foods or diets cost more but a full range of health criteria has rarely been explored. Rather than merely comparing high and low energy dense foods, this study also included type of fat, vitamin, mineral and fibre content of foods in classifying them as healthy and less healthy. Commonly consumed foods were ranked according to their nutritional value and potential positive or negative contribution to the development of major health problems in Jamaica such as obesity and chronic diseases. The costs of 158 food items were averaged from supermarkets, municipal markets and wholesale outlets in six parishes across Jamaica. The cost of foods was then compared according to their nutritional value. The study found that some of the commonly consumed foods were cheap with low nutritional value. Other items were low ranked but costly. The results highlighted those traditional Caribbean food crops which were highly ranked yet less costly. Caribbean agriculture policy should reposition their strategy to ensure that many of the traditional nutritious foods can be easily accessible. In so doing the burden of the main health problem-non-communicable diseases, can be substantially reduced via an agriculture policy. Henry, Fitzroy J; Deonne Caines; and Sherene Eyre This research was published in: Nutrition and Food Technology: Open Access, 2 (1). And the full article available at :http://dx.doi. org/10.16966/2470-6086.111. Fitzroy J. Henry