Urbanization, Lifestyle Changes and the Nutrition Transition

The rapid shift in the stage of nutrition towards a pattern of degenerative disease is accelerating in the developing world. Data from China, as shown by the China Health and Nutrition Survey, between 1989 and 1993, are illustrative of these shifts. For example, an increase from 22.8 to 66.6% in the proportion of adults consuming a higher-fat diet, rapid shifts in the structure of diet as income changes, and important price relationships are examples that are presented. There appears to reflect a basic shift in eating preferences, induced mainly by shifts in income, prices and food availability, but also by the modern food industry and the mass media. Furthermore, the remarkable shift in the occupations structure in lower-income countries from agricultural labour towards employment in manufacturing and services implies a reduction in energy expenditure. One consequence of the nutrition transition has been a decline in undernutrition accompanied by a rapid increase in obesity. There are marked differences between urban and rural eating patterns, particularly regarding the consumption of food prepared away from home. Other issues considered are the fetal origins hypothesis, whereby the metabolic efficiencies that served well in conditions of fetal undernutrition become maladaptive with overnutrition, leading to the development of abnormal lipid profiles, altered glucose and insulin metabolism and obesity. Furthermore, obesity and activity are closely linked with adult-onset diabetes. The shift towards a diet higher in fat and meat and lower in carbohydrates and fibre, together with the shift towards less onerous physical activity, carries unwanted nutritional and health effects. It is also clear that the causes of obesity must be viewed as environmental rather than personal or genetic.

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Nutrition in transition: The changing global nutrition challenge

ADAIR, LINDA S. AND BARRY M. POPKIN. Are child eating patterns being transformed globally? Obes Res. 2005; 13:1281–1299. Objective: To examine the extent to which child dietary patterns and trends are changing globally. Research Methods and Procedures: Diets of children 2 to 19 years of age were studied with nationally representative data from Russia and the United States, nationwide data from China, and regional data from metropolitan Cebu, Philippines. Twenty-four-hour dietary recalls were examined at several points in time to examine trends in calories consumed away from home, snacking behavior, and soft drink and modern fast food consumption. Urban–rural trends were compared. Results: U.S. and Cebu youth consume more than one-third of their daily calories and a higher proportion of snack calories from foods prepared away from home. In contrast, away from home food consumption is minimal in Chinese and Russian children. U.S. and Cebu youth consume about one-fifth of their total daily energy from snacks, but snacks provide a much lower proportion of energy in Russia (16%) and China (where snacks provide only 1% of energy). Fast food plays a much more dominant role in the American diet (20% of energy vs. 2% to 7% in the other countries), but as yet does not contribute substantially to children’s diets in the other countries. Urban–rural differences were found to be important, but narrowing over time, for China and Cebu, whereas they are widening for Russia. Discussion: This research suggests that globalization of the fast food and other modern food sectors is beginning to affect child eating patterns in several countries undergoing nutrition transition. However, the contribution of fast food and soft drinks to the diet of children remains relatively small in China, Russia, and Cebu, Philippines, relative to the United States.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1038/oby.2005.153

Are Child Eating Patterns Being Transformed Globally

Understanding the patterns and trends of sodium intake, potassium intake, and sodium to potassium ratio and their effect on hypertension in China

China is undergoing a marked transition in its diet and nutritional status patterns. This study determines the structural change in the impact of income on food consumption in China during 1989-93. Utilizing data from a longitudinal study of 3800 households in China evidence points to a shift in the relationship between income dietary structure and total nutrient intake at the macrolevel. Overall it is noted that the increase in income over time in the country coincided with a shift in the demand for inferior and normal food groups. In addition there was a pronounced increase in the income elasticity for more luxury foods during the specified period while less superior goods became more inferior over this 4-year span. Such an increase in income elasticities for total energy and for energy from fat suggest a worsening of the composition of the diet in ways that are linked to obesity and obesity-related diseases as incomes continue to rise. In view of this several implications for the formulation of future nutrition policies in China are cited.

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Structural change in the impact of income on food consumption in China, 1989-1993

We compared two dietary survey methods using the 1991 nationwide China Health and Nutrition Survey. Data were collected over three consecutive days by 24-hour dietary recall and a household invento...

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/156482659601700209

Linmao Ma

Papers

Evaluation of the 24-hour individual recall method in China