The food retail revolution in China and its association with diet and health

Abstract

The processed food sector in low- and middle-income countries has grown rapidly. Little is understood about its effect on obesity. Using data from 14,976 participants aged two and older in the 2011 China Health and Nutrition Survey, this paper examines patterns of processed food consumption and their impacts on obesity while considering the endogeneity of those who purchase processed foods. A major assumption of our analysis of the impact of processed foods on overweight and obesity was that the consumption of processed foods is endogenous due to their accessibility and urbanicity levels. The results show that 74.5% of participants consumed processed foods, excluding edible oils and other condiments; 28.5% of participants' total daily energy intake (EI) was from processed foods. Children and teenagers in megacities had the highest proportion of EI (40.2%) from processed foods. People who lived in megacities or highly urbanized neighborhoods with higher incomes and educational achievement consumed more processed foods. When controlling for endogeneity, only the body mass index (BMI) and risk of being overweight of children ages two to eighteen are adversely associated with processed foods (+4.97 BMI units, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.66–8.28; odds ratio (OR) = 3.63, 95% CI: 1.45–9.13). Processed food purchases represent less than a third of current Chinese food purchases. However, processed food purchases are growing at the rate of 50% per year, and we must begin to understand the implications for the future.

Food Consumption and its Impact on Cardiovascular Disease: Importance of Solutions Focused on the Globalized Food System

“…This process is accelerating across all LMIC markets (13,82,83). For example, 58% of calories consumed by Mexicans come from packaged foods and beverages, which is similar throughout the Americas (83) and even with the US (66%) (65,84).…”

Nutrient profiling for product reformulation: public health impact and benefits for the consumer

“…In the UK and USA 60 % of the daily energy intake comes from packaged foods; in developing countries and emerging economies packaged foods represent still a minimum of one quarter of the daily energy intake (59)(60)(61)(62) . In this context the actions of the private food sector hold tremendous potential to influence the diet of a population, in terms of scale and reach (63) .…”

Nutrient intake by kindergarten children in Beijing and Xian, China in 2004-2005, with special reference to sources of high sodium intake

“…Nevertheless, the present survey succeeded to show barely sufficient intake of energy and excess intake of Na, which should be taken as baseline findings. In addition, limited intake of fast foods was also of interest, because the small intake may suggest that food market revolution [4] had not prevailed yet in 2004-5 even in urban areas such as Beijing and Xian. Second point may be the quality of food duplicate samples.…”

“…It is well known that the societies in China have been dramatically changing in recent years; the changes involve economy of every family and may affect the nutrition and health of people, especially of children [1][2][3][4]. Improved affordability for better foods may contribute favorably in general.…”

“…For example, the trend of obesity among school children and adolescents coincides in time with economic development [3]. Increased intake of processed food due to income growth may cause overweight and even obesity in young people [2,4].…”