Nutrition Transition with Accelerating Urbanization? Empirical Evidence from Rural China

Abstract

Although rapid urbanization is often considered as one of the most important drivers for changing dietary patterns, little attention has been paid to rural areas despite the profound transformation they have undergone. Using longitudinal data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) for the period from 2004 to 2011, this study seeks to better understand the relationship between the urbanization of rural areas and dietary transition, with the focus on nutrition intake and dietary quality. Our results suggest that with increasing urbanization, rural residents tend to have on average lower calorie intakes but higher dietary quality. Specifically, increasing urbanization consistently reduces carbohydrate consumption and reduces fat consumption after a turning point; protein consumption first decreases and then increases after the turning point with increasing urbanization. Urbanization shows a significant and positive effect on the Healthy Eating Index (HEI). In addition to sociodemographic changes, we find that changing consumer preferences and knowledge serve as important determinants in explaining the dietary transition in rural China from 2004 to 2011. In our study, urbanization appears to positively affect rural residents’ healthy food preferences and dietary knowledge. This study is a first attempt for better understanding the nutrition transition resulting from accelerating urbanization in rural China; several limitations and areas for future research have been highlighted.

Thirty-Year Urbanization Trajectories and Obesity in Modernizing China

“…Urbanization is a dramatic process and may result in divergent influences on health at different stages. Increasing urbanization was found to reduce carbohydrate consumption consistently and reduce fat consumption after a turning point [ 37 ]. Abdominal adiposity in China was found to be positively associated with urbanization in the 1990s and changed to a negative association in the 2000s [ 1 ].…”

“…With the “urban–rural coordination development” strategy, proposed by the Chinese central government, rural residents’ living in China improved dramatically [ 37 , 39 ]. They also experienced the rapid transition towards energy-dense diets and lower physical activities, which implied a narrowing gap in the risk of obesity with more urbanized areas [ 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ].…”

Internet Access and Nutritional Intake: Evidence from Rural China

“…As obesity has gradually become an important problem in China [2,5,36,59], it is important to evaluate the impacts of internet access on the health of China's rural residents. Despite the lack of data concerning the body mass index (BMI), we compared our results with the nutritional intakes as recommended by the Food and Nutrition Development Outline in China (FNDO) (2014-2020) [60] and the Dietary Pyramid as recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (DGCR) (2016) [61].…”

“…Ending malnutrition is one of the main targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [1]. China has experienced a nutritional transition over the past 4 decades [2][3][4][5][6]. In China, both urban and rural residents are switching from low-fat, traditional food, mainly based on cereals and vegetables, with few animal products, to a Western-style diet that is high in saturated fat and sugar and low in fiber [7][8][9].…”

Internet Access and Nutritional Intake: Evidence from Rural China

“…Because obesity has gradually become an important problem in China [2,5,36,59], it is important to evaluate the impacts of internet access on the health of China's rural residents. Despite the lack of data concerning body mass index (BMI), we compared our results with the nutritional intakes as recommended by the Food and Nutrition Development Outline in China (FNDO) (2014-2020) [60] and the Dietary Pyramid as recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (DGCR) (2016) [61].…”