IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ehbiol/v59y2025ics1570677x25000577.html

The impact of super apps on the nutrition transition in low- and middle-income countries: Evidence from Indonesia

Author

Listed:
  • Elmira, Elza Samantha
  • Suryahadi, Asep

Abstract

Many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are experiencing a nutrition transition from traditional diets to high-energy, processed foods, increasing non-communicable disease risks. Digitalization of food systems plays a significant role in shaping this transition. This paper investigates the impact of super app expansions (including food delivery, ridesharing, and other daily life assistance) on nutritional outcomes. We exploit the staggered rollout of Gojek and Grab between 2015 and 2018 in Indonesia to estimate their effects on nutritional and dietary outcomes, combining super app expansion data with Indonesia’s Basic Health Survey (Riskesdas) and the National Socioeconomic Survey (Susenas). We incorporate baseline covariates using a doubly robust difference-in-differences approach to tackle endogeneity issues. The results show that super apps increase BMI, which adversely affects the incidence of overweight and obesity. The effect is more pronounced in cities and districts with online food delivery features. These apps disproportionally increase BMI among individuals who are already overweight/obese, younger, and more affluent (i.e., higher education, higher income, in employment), indicating higher usage among these groups. This is due to increased consumption of unhealthy food (i.e., salty and prepared foods). On the other hand, super apps have the potential to reduce underweight and improve dietary diversity. These findings highlight the role of super apps in the nutrition transition in LMICs.

Suggested Citation

  • Elmira, Elza Samantha & Suryahadi, Asep, 2025. "The impact of super apps on the nutrition transition in low- and middle-income countries: Evidence from Indonesia," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:59:y:2025:i:c:s1570677x25000577
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2025.101524
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570677X25000577
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ehb.2025.101524?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Berger, Thor & Chen, Chinchih & Frey, Carl Benedikt, 2018. "Drivers of disruption? Estimating the Uber effect," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 197-210.
    2. Dominici, Andrea & Boncinelli, Fabio & Gerini, Francesca & Marone, Enrico, 2021. "Determinants of online food purchasing: The impact of socio-demographic and situational factors," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    3. Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C. & Zhao, Jun, 2020. "Doubly robust difference-in-differences estimators," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 219(1), pages 101-122.
    4. Liu, Zhen & Kornher, Lukas & Qaim, Matin, 2024. "Impacts of supermarkets on child nutrition in China," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    5. Lin, Michelle I-Hsuan & Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Ackermann, Klaus, 2024. "The fattening speed: Understanding the impact of internet speed on obesity, and the mediating role of sedentary behaviour," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    6. Andreyeva, Tatiana & Kelly, Inas Rashad & Harris, Jennifer L., 2011. "Exposure to food advertising on television: Associations with children's fast food and soft drink consumption and obesity," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 221-233, July.
    7. Sergio Firpo & Nicole M. Fortin & Thomas Lemieux, 2009. "Unconditional Quantile Regressions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(3), pages 953-973, May.
    8. Tifani Husna Siregar, 2022. "Investigating the Effects of Minimum Wages on Employment, Unemployment and Labour Participation in Java: A Dynamic Spatial Panel Approach," Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(2), pages 195-227, May.
    9. Fernando Rios-Avila, 2020. "Recentered influence functions (RIFs) in Stata: RIF regression and RIF decomposition," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 20(1), pages 51-94, March.
    10. Hall, Jonathan D. & Palsson, Craig & Price, Joseph, 2018. "Is Uber a substitute or complement for public transit?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 36-50.
    11. Tong, Tingting & Dai, Hongyan & Xiao, Qin & Yan, Nina, 2020. "Will dynamic pricing outperform? Theoretical analysis and empirical evidence from O2O on-demand food service market," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 219(C), pages 375-385.
    12. Jiexi Shen & Zhanguo Zhu & Matin Qaim & Shenggen Fan & Xu Tian, 2023. "E‐commerce improves dietary quality of rural households in China," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(S1), pages 1495-1511, December.
    13. Dela Maria Ardianti & Djoni Hartono & Putu Angga Widyastaman, 2023. "Offline and hungry: the effect of internet use on the food insecurity of Indonesian agricultural households," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 11(1), pages 1-18, December.
    14. Callaway, Brantly & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C., 2021. "Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 200-230.
    15. I. D. Brouwer & M. J. Liere & A. Brauw & P. Dominguez-Salas & A. Herforth & G. Kennedy & C. Lachat & E. B. Omosa & E. F. Talsma & S. Vandevijvere & J. Fanzo & M. Ruel, 2021. "Reverse thinking: taking a healthy diet perspective towards food systems transformations," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(6), pages 1497-1523, December.
    16. Ankrah Twumasi, Martinson & Jiang, Yuansheng & Asante, Dennis & Addai, Bismark & Akuamoah-Boateng, Samuel & Fosu, Prince, 2021. "Internet use and farm households food and nutrition security nexus: The case of rural Ghana," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    17. Amber L Pearson & Pieta R Winter & Ben McBreen & Georgia Stewart & Rianda Roets & Daniel Nutsford & Christopher Bowie & Niamh Donnellan & Nick Wilson, 2014. "Obtaining Fruit and Vegetables for the Lowest Prices: Pricing Survey of Different Outlets and Geographical Analysis of Competition Effects," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(3), pages 1-8, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ameye, Hannah & Hülsen, Vivien & Glatzel, Katrin & Laar, Amos & Qaim, Matin, 2025. "Urbanizing food environments in Africa: Challenges and opportunities for improving accessibility, affordability, convenience, and desirability of healthy diets," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cécile Couharde & Rémi Generoso, 2024. "Assessing the Impact of National Air Quality Standards on Agricultural Land Values: Insights from Corn and Soybean Regions," Working Papers hal-04503777, HAL.
    2. Abagna, Matthew Amalitinga & Hornok, Cecília & Mulyukova, Alina, 2025. "Place-based Policies and Household Wealth in Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    3. Liu, Yi & Li, Yao & Pang, Jindong, 2025. "JUE insight: Do ride-sharing services cause urban air pollution?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    4. Lennon, Conor & Maclean, Johanna Catherine & Teltser, Keith, 2025. "Ridesharing and substance use disorder treatment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    5. Posso, Christian & Saravia, Estefanía & Uribe, Pablo, 2023. "Acing the test: Educational effects of the SaberEs test preparation program in Colombia," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    6. Cloud, Cannon & Heß, Simon & Kasinger, Johannes, 2023. "Shared e-scooter services and road safety: Evidence from six European countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    7. Nadja van 't Hoff & Giovanni Mellace & Seetha Menon, 2025. "Gender Differences in Healthcare Utilisation -- Evidence from Unexpected Adverse Health Shocks," Papers 2509.01310, arXiv.org.
    8. Francis,David C. & Kubinec ,Robert, 2022. "Beyond Political Connections : A Measurement Model Approach to Estimating Firm-levelPolitical Influence in 41 Economies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10119, The World Bank.
    9. Arne Henningsen & Guy Low & David Wuepper & Tobias Dalhaus & Hugo Storm & Dagim Belay & Stefan Hirsch, 2024. "Estimating Causal Effects with Observational Data: Guidelines for Agricultural and Applied Economists," IFRO Working Paper 2024/03, University of Copenhagen, Department of Food and Resource Economics.
    10. Federica Alfani & Vasco Molini & Giacomo Pallante & Alessandro PalmaGran, 2024. "Job displacement and reallocation failure. Evidence from climate shocks in Morocco," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 51(1), pages 1-31.
    11. Cocco, Valentin & Chakir, Raja & Mouysset, Lauriane, 2025. "Guilty or scapegoat? Land consolidation and hedgerow decline," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    12. Staples, Aaron J. & Deming, Kristopher & Malone, Trey & Carpenter, Craig W. & Weiler, Stephan, 2024. "Pouring the Paycheck Protection Program into craft beer: PPP employment effects in service-intensive industries," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).
    13. Xin Nie & Jianxian Wu & Han Wang & Weijuan Li & Chengdao Huang & Lihua Li, 2022. "Contributing to carbon peak: Estimating the causal impact of eco‐industrial parks on low‐carbon development in China," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(4), pages 1578-1593, August.
    14. Brancati, Emanuele, 2022. "Help in a Foreign Land: Internationalized Banks and Firms’ Export," IZA Discussion Papers 15458, IZA Network @ LISER.
    15. Bahia, Kalvin & Castells, Pau & Cruz, Genaro & Masaki, Takaaki & Pedrós, Xavier & Pfutze, Tobias & Rodríguez-Castelán, Carlos & Winkler, Hernán, 2024. "The welfare effects of mobile broadband internet: Evidence from Nigeria," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    16. Ben Deaner & Chen-Wei Hsiang & Andrei Zeleneev, 2025. "Inferring Treatment Effects in Large Panels by Uncovering Latent Similarities," Papers 2503.20769, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2025.
    17. Jeanet Sinding Bentzen & Alessandro Pizzigolotto & Lena Lindbjerg Sperling, 2026. "Divine Policy: The Impact of Religion in Government," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 18(1), pages 195-247, January.
    18. Davide Cipullo, 2023. "When Women Take All: Direct Election and Female Leadership," CESifo Working Paper Series 10229, CESifo.
    19. Costanigro, Marco & Dubois, Magalie & Gracia, Azucena & Cardebat, Jean-Marie, 2025. "The Information Value of Geographical Indications," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    20. Carranza, Rafael & Prieto, Joaquín & Sehnbruch, Kirsten, 2025. "Job loss and earnings inequality: Distributional effects of formal re-employment in Chile," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 1020-1036.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:59:y:2025:i:c:s1570677x25000577. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622964 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.