Does Internet Use Connect Us to a Healthy Diet? Evidence from Rural China

Abstract

Dietary patterns in China have changed dramatically over the past few decades as the Internet has become rapidly available. Based on data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (2006–2011), we use a two-way fixed effects model and an instrumental variable approach to determine the impact of Internet use on the dietary quality of rural residents. The results indicate that Internet use could significantly improve the dietary quality of Chinese rural residents, with an increase of about 10.4% in the China Food Pagoda Score (CFPS), mainly due to the increase in the dietary quality score for five food groups: fruits, meats, eggs, oil, and salt. We also found that Internet use significantly increased the consumption amounts of milk and its products (4 g), fruits (31 g), eggs (8 g), and vegetables (34 g), while also decreasing the intake of salts (2 g) and oil (6 g). A possible mechanism is that Internet use improves the dietary knowledge of rural residents, thus optimizing their dietary structure. Moreover, the effect of the Internet was greater among females and those who prepare food for a family. Rural residents without a college degree enjoyed more benefits. In summary, governments should further promote Internet penetration in rural areas for health purposes.

Does nutrition knowledge training improve dietary diversity and nutrition intake? Insights from rural China

“…Taking the ICT facility as an example, a village equipped with an ICT facility has an 11.6% higher probability of providing regular nutrition knowledge training. The ICT facilities are effective in helping to reduce information transition and searching costs (Bensley et al, 2011; Ma & Jin, 2022), helping build health information capacity and motivating rural residents to participate in nutrition knowledge training. Bensley et al (2011) also found that the Internet is more efficient than traditional in providing nutrition education and changing food consumption patterns in the United States.…”

“…Rural households usually rely on their traditional dietary concepts when making food consumption decisions (Ma & Jin, 2022; Xu et al, 2020). For example, rice porridge is widely considered an adequate food for people with stomach diseases and diarrhea (Adams et al, 2010).…”

Does Internet use connect smallholder farmers to a healthy diet? Evidence from rural China

“…Finally, the findings of this study are somewhat different from those of existing studies. Ma et al found that the Internet use significantly increased the consumption amounts of milk and its products, fruits, eggs, and vegetables ( 39 ). Lin et al found that there is a strong correlation between problematic Internet use and poor dietary patterns of university students ( 94 ).…”

“…With reference to existing studies, this paper introduces three types of control variables, namely, variables on individual household head characteristics, variables on household characteristics, and variables on village characteristics ( 39 , 76 , 77 ). Household characteristics include gender, age, and education level; the number of household members and net household income per capita ; village characteristics include village transportation conditions and economic status.…”

“…Along with the rapid development of the digital economy and the extensive embedding of digital technologies, China's rural socioeconomic sectors are undergoing profound digital transformation (36)(37)(38). Internet is not only a key element in enhancing production efficiency, but has also become an important driving force in upgrading the structure of farmers' diets (39,40). In the context of the increasing capacity of rural dwellers to use digital technology, digital skills have an impact on the structure of farm households' diets mainly through the following pathways.…”