National Food Consumption Patterns: Converging Trends and the Implications for Health

Worldwide, obesity almost tripled between 1975 and 2016 and is now prevalent in both rich and poor countries. Using annual food availability data produced by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) covering half a century in 118 countries, this article explores the diets that are central to the problem of obesity, identifying groups of countries with similar consumption patterns. Applying algorithms from the fuzzy clustering literature, five distinct consumption patterns are revealed whose dietary composition broadly corresponds to diets that we label ‘Western’, ‘Traditional’, ‘Mediterranean’, ‘Tropical’ and ‘Vegetarian’. Despite differences in dietary characteristics, all five share two common themes: rising total calories and declining healthiness, both of which are linked to the substitution of plant-based foods with food derived from animals. That the evidence points to a convergence on the ‘Western’ diet, the most obesogenic and least healthy of all the diets we consider, is a cause for concern. The key message is that in a future where people are predicted to live longer – but not necessarily healthier – lives, recent efforts to address the challenge are prescient, and as the results in the article imply, need to be heeded globally.     

Dietary patterns and body mass indices among adults in Korea: evidence from pseudo panel data

The debate over the association between dietary patterns and obesity has not been settled in the literature. Some studies suggest that there are significant differences in mean body mass index across dietary patterns whereas other studies refute that result. The objective of this study is to test whether dietary patterns have a significant effect on body mass index in Korean adults when controlling for calorie intake and several sociodemographic factors. We present new evidence derived from pseudo panel data created from a series of cross‐sections. Our results from the pseudo panel analysis show that some of the dietary patterns that were identified from the Korean adults’ food intake survey have a significant effect on body mass index. Specifically, males with the “beef and processed food” (P < 0.05), or “pork and alcohol” (P < 0.05) dietary pattern had significantly higher BMIs, whereas females with the “fast food” (P < 0.1) or “ramen and bakery” (P < 0.01) dietary pattern had higher BMI.     

Agricultural production and children's diets: evidence from rural Ethiopia

We study the relationship between pre‐school children's food consumption and household agricultural production. Using a large household survey from rural Ethiopia, we find that increasing household production diversity leads to considerable improvements in children's dietary diversity. However, we also document how this nonseparability of consumption and production does not hold for households that have access to food markets. These findings imply that nutrition‐sensitive agricultural interventions that push for market integration are likely to be more effective in reducing under‐nutrition than those promoting production diversity.     

收入增长、饮食结构转变与食物系统碳排放——来自中国6省住户调查数据的证据

目的 食物系统碳排放在全球碳排放中的比重已达到30%。聚焦居民收入增长对食物消费结构变化的影响及其带来的碳排放效应,从饮食结构视角考察居民收入增长导致的食物系统碳排放变动。方法 文章从微观视角运用EASI需求系统模型分析不同收入增长模式下食物系统碳排放的可能增长路径。结果 （1）收入增长会使碳排放密集型的牛羊肉等动物类食物的消费量快速增长;（2）在不考虑收入分布变化的收入增长10%～50%的情景下,人均食物系统碳排放的变动在-5.23%～13.99%,收入差距缩小和中等收入群体壮大的收入增长模式则会使排放进一步增加;（3）在收入增长幅度低于30%时,农业减排技术进步可以有效中和食物系统碳排放增长,反映出农业减排技术进步对于减缓食物系统碳排放的重要性和有限性。结论 有必要制定依靠农业减排技术创新为核心的综合减排策略,进一步促进饮食的健康和环境协同增效,引导居民的饮食结构向果蔬等植物类食物及“低畜肉,高禽、蛋、奶、水产品”的动物类饮食结构转变。     

Agricultural Commercialisation and Nutrition in Smallholder Farm Households

Commercialisation of smallholder agriculture is important for rural economic growth. While previous studies have analysed effects of commercialisation on productivity and income, implications for farm household nutrition have received much less attention. We evaluate the effects of commercialisation on household food security and dietary quality with a special focus on calorie and micronutrient consumption. We also examine transmission channels by looking at the role of income, gender, and possible substitution effects between the consumption of own-produced and purchased foods. The analysis uses survey data from farm households in Kenya and a control function approach. Generalised propensity scores are employed to estimate continuous treatment effects. Commercialisation significantly improves food security and dietary quality in terms of calorie, zinc and iron consumption. For vitamin A, effects are insignificant. Commercialisation contributes to higher incomes and increased nutrients from purchased foods, but it does not reduce the consumption of nutrients from own-produced foods. Enhancing market access is important not only for rural economic growth, but also for making smallholder agriculture more nutrition-sensitive.     

A Note on Evaluating Agricultural Policy in the Presence of Health Care Cost Externalities: Dairy Production Quotas and Coronary Heart Disease Costs

The purpose of this note is to illustrate that the health cost externalities related to food consumption are significant and can be large enough to have implications for the economic evaluation of agriculture and food policy. The individual dietary intake of fats can affect the probability of being afflicted with coronary eart disease (CHD). While fat consumption is primarily a private decision, much of the annual $7.4 billion cost of CHD in Canada is borne socially through publicly funded health care, disability and pension plans. This note calculates the per-unit disease cost externality from saturated fatty acid consumption in Canada to be $5.07 per kilogram of saturated fatty acid. To demonstrate the importance for policy analysis, the disease cost externality was incorporated in a conventional welfare analysis of dairy production quotas in Canada. The externality was large enough to make the restrictive production quotas no further from social optimum than the competitive equilibrium. The importance of the disease cost externality suggests much more research is needed to incorporate these and other health cost externalities into many types of agricultural policy analysis.     

Food Consumption Patterns and Nutrition in Urban Java Households: The Discriminatory Power of some Socioeconomic Variables

Food consumption patterns are undergoing substantial change in many countries as economic development proceeds. The trend is a move away from traditional cereals towards higher-value and higher-protein foods. Explaining such changes only in terms of traditional economic variables can lead to biased estimates of income effects and perhaps biased projections of food demand. Household survey data from Indonesia are used to measure the importance of several socioeconomic variables in explaining differences in household food consumption patterns and nutrition. Household expenditure and the level of women's education are shown to be the most influential in this explanation.     

中国西南贫困山区道路与农户食物获得能力——基于贵州住户调查数据的分析

本文采用国内外研究最常用的3d—24h膳食回顾法,调查贵州普定县随机抽取的3个行政村8个自然村的全户数据,运用多元回归方程分析西南贫困山区道路是否会影响其农户食物获得能力。研究发现,调查地区农民的基本温饱问题尽管已经能够得到基本保障,但农民的营养结构还不太合理,蛋白质摄入量普遍不足,膳食质量有待进一步提高;居住地离集贸市场越远、道路状况越差,农民食物的多样性及膳食综合评价得分(DDP分值)越差。     

Can mobile phones improve nutrition among pastoral communities? Panel data evidence from Northern Kenya

The digital revolution and the ongoing dissemination of mobile phones carry several prospects for smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. Food insecurity and low dietary quality remain major issues among African smallholders. Mobile phones could potentially facilitate access to food markets and thus improve food security and nutrition, but research on such types of effects remains scarce. In this study, we analyze whether mobile phones improve dietary quality among pastoral communities in Northern Kenya. We use six rounds of household panel data covering the period between 2009 and 2015. During this period, mobile phone ownership in the sample increased from less than 30% to more than 70%. Regression models with household fixed effects allow robust estimation while reducing potential issues of unobserved heterogeneity. The estimates show that mobile phone adoption and use are positively and significantly associated with dietary diversity. The effects are particularly large for frequent mobile phone users. We also examine the underlying mechanisms. Mobile phone use improves dietary diversity mainly through better access to purchased foods. These results encourage the promotion of mobile phone technologies as a valuable tool for nutritional improvements, especially in remote rural settings with poor access to food markets.     

Poverty,food intake,and malnutrition: implications for food security in developing countries

The relation between household income, food intake, and nutritional status in less developed countries is examined, and a framework that explicitly relates household behavior patterns with public policy options designed to improve the nutritional status of the rural and urban poor is presented. For rural areas, nutritional and health status depends largely upon the levels of private inputs provided by households. In turn, level depends upon income. Consequently, increasing income may also lead to improvements in nutrition and health status. Regrettably, post-World War II development strategy in most developing countries has undervalued the potential contribution of agricultural development to economic development. Domestic economic policies practiced thus far have most probably had serious negative effects upon the nutrition and heal status of the poorest segments of developing nations. Economic development policy reform is therefore called for as a measure to alleviate rural poverty in developing countries.     

The nutrition transition to 2030. Why developing countries are likely to bear the major burden

Considerable increases in food consumption, shifts in consumption patterns and changes in the entire food system have occurred globally. These changes, initially limited to the industrialized world, are now being experienced at an even faster pace in many of the advanced economies of the developing world. The past evolution of this transition in nutrition and lifestyles is by now well documented. Based on FAO's outlook for global food and agriculture, this paper outlines the likely future changes in food consumption patterns and the global trajectory of the nutrition transition over the next 30 years. It presents the main drivers of the nutrition transition and examines their influence on the prospective changes in consumption patterns. The paper illustrates how the current burden of undernourishment and malnutrition in developing countries is likely to compound the adverse effects of the nutrition transition, notably the increasing prevalence of obesity and non-communicable diseases (NCDs); it shows how and where the current problem of undernutrition could create a growing future burden of overweight, obesity and NCDs and that both undernourishment and overnutrition are likely to co-exist for a long time in the vast majority of developing countries, creating a widespread double burden of malnutrition.     

非遗烹饪技艺创新融合促进传统饮食健康化

中国烹饪技术源远流长,技艺精湛,众多食品烹饪技法均为非物质文化遗产.对传统的非物质文化遗产烹饪技艺进行创新融合,既能达到保健、养生的目的,又能很好的传承中国的非物质文化遗产,值得深入研究和实践.根据笔者多年的研究和实践,众多非遗烹饪技艺需要创新以便适应现代人们的饮食需求.比如在非遗烹饪技法中,腌制带来的高钠摄入可以通过...     

Modelling the likely impact of healthy eating guidelines on agricultural production and land use in England and Wales

Quadratic programming techniques were applied to household food consumption data in England and Wales to estimate likely changes in diet under healthy eating guidelines, and the consequences this would have on agriculture and land use in England and Wales. The first step entailed imposing nutrient restrictions on food consumption following dietary recommendations suggested by the UK Department of Health. The resulting diet was used, in a second step as a proxy for demand in agricultural commodities, to test the impact of such a scenario on food production and land use in England and Wales and the impacts of this on agricultural landscapes. Results of the diet optimisation indicated a large drop in consumption of foods rich in saturated fats and sugar, essentially cheese and sugar-based products, along with lesser cuts of fat and meat products. Conversely, consumption of fruit and vegetables, cereals, and flour would increase to meet dietary fibre recommendations. Such a shift in demand would dramatically affect production patterns: the financial net margin of England and Wales agriculture would rise, due to increased production of high market value and high economic margin crops. Some regions would, however, be negatively affected, mostly those dependent on beef cattle and sheep production that could not benefit from an increased demand for cereals and horticultural crops. The effects of these changes would also be felt in upstream industries, such as animal feed suppliers. While arable dominated landscapes would be little affected, pastoral landscapes would suffer through loss of grazing management and, possibly, land abandonment, especially in upland areas.     

Home gardens,household nutrition and income in rural farm households in Odisha,India

Home gardens have been an integral part of the recent food-based interventions aimed at stimulating changes in dietary patterns and improving nutrition. However, evidence of their effects on food security, dietary quality, child anthropometry and incomes is limited, particularly among vulnerable populations groups. Using panel data from a sample of approximately 1900 households from vulnerable population groups in Odisha, India, difference-in-differences and other econometric techniques, we analyse the effects of home gardens on food security, dietary quality, child anthropometry and income. On average, home gardens contribute to better household food security, higher dietary quality of men and women but do not contribute to higher children's dietary quality and anthropometry. Also, home gardens increase monthly per adult equivalent incomes by 37% and reduce the prevalence of poverty by 11.7 percentage points. Quantile regression results suggest that home gardens enhance food security and incomes in all quantiles, but richer farmers benefit more than poorer farmers. Overall, home gardens can enhance household food security, dietary quality of men and women, and income gains among vulnerable farming population groups, but they may not suffice to improve child dietary quality and anthropometry.     

Does a nutritious diet cost more in food deserts?

Food deserts and their potential effects on diet and nutrition have received much attention from policymakers. While some research has found a correlation between food deserts and consumer outcomes, it is unclear whether food deserts truly affect consumer choices. In this article, we compare food prices in food deserts, defined as low‐income, low‐access census tracts, and nonfood deserts to observe whether and to what extent consumers face higher prices for a complete diet in food deserts. If a nutritionally complete diet costs significantly more in food deserts, resident consumers may be constrained from consuming healthier foods. We use store‐level scanner data from a nationally representative sample and calculate a census‐tract level Exact Price Index (EPI) based on a food basket defined by the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP). The EPI addresses potential biases from both product heterogeneity and variety availability. We find that the overall price impact of living in a food desert is small; low‐access areas have only 3.5% higher EPI than high‐access counterparts. However, consumers who are constrained to shop within their own census tracts face a much higher EPI than high‐access counterparts (9.2%). The higher EPI primarily comes from lower variety availability in food deserts.     

Diet transformation in Africa: the case of Ethiopia

Africa's food systems are changing fast amid rapid economic growth, emerging urbanization, and structural transformation. In this study, we use four rounds of nationally representative data from Ethiopia to document changes in household food consumption patterns over a period of unprecedented economic growth. We find that while the share of food in the total consumption basket is declining, food quantities and calorie intakes have considerably increased between 1996 and 2011. A decomposition analysis suggests that this was mostly driven by improvements in household incomes—a finding that is consistent across the calorie distribution. Also, the content of the food basket is changing with a gradual shift toward high‐value foods such as animal products, fruits and vegetables and processed foods. Overall, this diet transformation has important implications for the food security debate and for agricultural and food policy in the country.     

Food Consumption Trends in the Pacific Rim

The growing affluence of the Pacific Rim countries has changed food consumption patterns. Diets in the region have become more diverse and well-balanced nutritionally. Western-style foods are becoming increasingly popular and available to people in the region. The rapid growth of fast-food chains and supermarkets present U.S. agricultural exporters with a myriad of opportunities for exporting food products to the Pacific Rim. Food producers who are willing to modify their products to the tastes of Pacific Rim consumers will have the most success. By reformulating food products and developing new packaging technologies more high-value foods can be sold in the Pacific Rim. U.S. food processors must also develop improved methods of processing traditional foods eaten by people in the region into more convenient forms. Finally, it is important for U.S. agricultural exporters to keep a close watch on the changing trends in food consumption in the region in order to stay competitive and increase their opportunities for entering new markets.     

Who Will Feed China in the 21st Century? Income Growth and Food Demand and Supply in China

This study uses resource‐based measures to explore the evolution of China's demand and supply for food. China's dietary shift from plant to animal‐based foods, induced by its income growth, is likely to impose considerable pressure on agricultural resources. China's demand for food on this measure appears consistent with global trends, while China is an out‐performer on the supply side, producing much more food than its income level and land endowment would predict. China's current per capita income is in a range where consumption growth is high and in excess of production growth, but the gap between supply and demand is likely to diminish as population and per capita consumption growth decelerate. Continuing agricultural productivity growth and sustainable resource management will be important influences on the growth of China's future net import demand for food.     

Taxing Snack Foods: Manipulating Diet Quality or Financing Information Programs?

This paper investigates consumers' likely response to a proposed tax on snack foods that addresses public health issues generated by rising U.S. obesity rates. We estimate demands for particular snack foods and show they are price inelastic after accounting for quality variation. We calculate impacts of a range of ad valorem taxes on the demand for salty snack food. The impacts on dietary quality are small, and negligible at the lower tax rates. If taxes were earmarked for funding information programs, as several proponents suggest, taxes would generate a revenue stream the public health community could use for nutrition education.     

Dietary Globalization in Chinese Breakfasts

Demand for nontraditional foods is on the rise in China. Data from household surveys and consumer food diaries in Beijing, Nanjing, and Chengdu are examined to measure the effects of demographics on consumption of nontraditional food products. We focus on bakery and dairy products, two categories of foods that are rarely consumed in traditional Chinese breakfasts. We find that income, time constraints, and education positively affect the inclusion of nontraditional foods in the breakfast meal. Our results suggest that younger consumers are leading the transition to new global consumption patterns that integrate nontraditional foods into urban Chinese breakfasts. The implications of these findings for wheat and milk production and processing industries are discussed.