IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/zbw/espost/225633.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does dietary diversity reduce the risk of obesity? Empirical evidence from rural school children in China

Author

Listed:
  • Tao, Chang
  • Zhao, Qiran
  • Glauben, Thomas
  • Ren, Yanjun

Abstract

Childhood and adolescence overweight and obesity have implications for both health consequences and economic burden. Although it has been an emerging public health problem for primary school children in rural China and the importance of the diet–health link has been stressed for many years, rigorous analysis of the dietary diversity and obesity among children is rare. To clarify this issue, this study provides a better understanding of the functional linkage between dietary diversity and obesity by analyzing data from nearly 8500 rural primary students (aged from 10 to 13 years old) covering three provinces in China. Our estimation results show that there is a significantly negative correlation between dietary diversity and the probability of being overweight among primary students. In particular, for subgroups with higher dietary diversity, the negative correlation between dietary diversity and the incidence of overweight or obesity is stronger, and the absolute value of the coefficient is greater. The results also suggest that the increase in the consumption frequency of all dietary categories can significantly lead to a lower proportion of overweight. Thus, we conclude that higher dietary diversity can help to lower the risk of overweight and obesity among primary school children, presumably through increasing the daily frequency of food intakes and developing a more diverse dietary pattern.

Suggested Citation

  • Tao, Chang & Zhao, Qiran & Glauben, Thomas & Ren, Yanjun, 2020. "Does dietary diversity reduce the risk of obesity? Empirical evidence from rural school children in China," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 17(21).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:225633
    DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17218122
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/225633/1/Tao_2020_dietary_diversity.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.3390/ijerph17218122?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Liu, Xiaoou & Zhu, Chen, 2014. "Will knowing diabetes affect labor income? Evidence from a natural experiment," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 124(1), pages 74-78.
    2. Qihui Chen & Chunchen Pei & Yunli Bai & Qiran Zhao, 2019. "Impacts of Nutrition Subsidies on Diet Diversity and Nutritional Outcomes of Primary School Students in Rural Northwestern China—Do Policy Targets and Incentives Matter?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-14, August.
    3. Qihui Chen & Chunchen Pei & Qiran Zhao, 2018. "Eating More but Not Better at School? Impacts of Boarding on Students’ Dietary Structure and Nutritional Status in Rural Northwestern China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-18, August.
    4. Jie Liu & Qingshan Yang & Jian Liu & Yu Zhang & Xiaojun Jiang & Yangmeina Yang, 2020. "Study on the Spatial Differentiation of the Populations on Both Sides of the “Qinling-Huaihe Line” in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-25, June.
    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. Zeqi Liu & Wei Si & Qiran Zhao & Chang Tao, 2021. "Does Subjective Dietary Knowledge Affect Sugar-Sweetened Carbonated Beverages Consumption and Child Obesity? Empirical Evidence from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-20, April.

    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. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), 2016. "Global Nutrition Report 2016: From Promise to Impact: Ending Malnutrition by 2030," IFPRI books, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), number 978-0-89629-584-1.
    2. Seuring, Till & Serneels, Pieter & Suhrcke, Marc, 2019. "The impact of diabetes on labour market outcomes in Mexico: A panel data and biomarker analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 233(C), pages 252-261.
    3. Jiwei Sun & Shuoben Bi & Bashar Bashir & Zhangxi Ge & Kexin Wu & Abdullah Alsalman & Brian Odhiambo Ayugi & Karam Alsafadi, 2023. "Historical Trends and Characteristics of Meteorological Drought Based on Standardized Precipitation Index and Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index over the Past 70 Years in China (1951–," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-25, July.
    4. Zeqi Liu & Wei Si & Qiran Zhao & Chang Tao, 2021. "Does Subjective Dietary Knowledge Affect Sugar-Sweetened Carbonated Beverages Consumption and Child Obesity? Empirical Evidence from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-20, April.
    5. Zhu, Chen & Zhang, Xiaohui & Zhao, Qiran & Chen, Qihui, 2018. "Hybrid marriages and phenotypic heterosis in offspring: Evidence from China," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 102-114.
    6. Zheng Shen & Xiaodong Zheng & Yiwen Tan, 2019. "The Spillover Effects of Spousal Chronic Diseases on Married Couples’ Labour Supply: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-18, October.
    7. Chen, Qihui, 2020. "Am I Late for School? Peer Effects on Delayed School Entry in Rural Northwestern China," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304415, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    8. Xiong, Yu-Tong & Zhang, Jing & Chen, You-Peng & Guo, Jin-Song & Fang, Fang & Yan, Peng, 2021. "Geographic distribution of net-zero energy wastewater treatment in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    9. Qihui Chen & Chunchen Pei & Yunli Bai & Qiran Zhao, 2019. "Impacts of Nutrition Subsidies on Diet Diversity and Nutritional Outcomes of Primary School Students in Rural Northwestern China—Do Policy Targets and Incentives Matter?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-14, August.

    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:zbw:espost:225633. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zbwkide.html .

    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.