Impacts of the Westernization of Food Preferences on Medical Costs in China

The dietary changes in China to include more meat, dairy, and processed foods, are commonly attributed in literature to income increases, urbanization, and the availability of western food products. As seen in other Asian countries, these new food habits may increase obesity, diabetes, and other degenerative diseases among the Chinese people. These new health concerns will likely have economic consequences in terms of productivity losses and increased health care costs. This paper uses a Tobit model to analyze the influence of household demographics and food consumption on household medical costs in China. Results show that dietary choice has a definite impact on medical costs for the 800 households sampled. A nationwide dietary educational campaign in China may be useful in dampening the societal costs of dietary choice.

[1]  B. Popkin,et al.  Trends in diet, nutritional status, and diet-related noncommunicable diseases in China and India: the economic costs of the nutrition transition. , 2009, Nutrition reviews.

[2]  A. Regmi.  A Richer World Wants a Richer Diet , 2003 .

[3]  Jesse M. Shapiro,et al.  Why Have Americans Become More Obese? , 2003 .

[4]  Brian W. Gould,et al.  Household composition and food expenditures in China , 2002 .

[5]  B. Popkin,et al.  What is China doing in policy-making to push back the negative aspects of the nutrition transition? , 2002, Public Health Nutrition.

[6]  B. Popkin,et al.  A new stage of the nutrition transition in China , 2002, Public Health Nutrition.

[7]  R. Jussaume.  Factors Associated with Modern Urban Chinese Food Consumption Patterns , 2001 .

[8]  B. Popkin,et al.  Structural Change in the Impact of Income on Food Consumption in China, 1989–1993 , 2000, Economic Development and Cultural Change.

[9]  F. J. Smith,et al.  Education and Food Consumption Patterns in China: Household Analysis and Policy Implications , 2000 .

[10]  George G. Judge,et al.  Econometric foundations , 2000 .

[11]  G. Veeck,et al.  Consumer Segmentation and Changing Food Purchase Patterns in Nanjing, PRC , 2000 .

[12]  E. Vartiainen,et al.  Changes in blood pressure, body mass index, and salt consumption in a Chinese population. , 1999, Preventive medicine.

[13]  W. Chern,et al.  Alternative Measures of Health Information and Demand for Fats and Oils in Japan , 1999 .

[14]  T. Wahl,et al.  China's Rural Household Demand for Fruit and Vegetables , 1998, Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics.

[15]  Scott Rozelle,et al.  Market development and food demand in rural China , 1998 .

[16]  J. Blundell,et al.  Relationship between diet and obesity in Chinese groups , 1998 .

[17]  F. Ahmadi-Esfahani,et al.  Demand for vegetables in a Chinese wholesale market , 1997 .

[18]  A. Drewnowski,et al.  Why do we like fat? , 1997, Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

[19]  S. Fan,et al.  Why projections on China’s future food supply and demand differ , 1997 .

[20]  L. Swanson.  1.19850+ billion mouths to feed: food linguistics and cross‐cultural, cross‐“national” food consumption habits in China , 1996 .

[21]  W. Chern,et al.  Information, Health Risk Beliefs, and the Demand for Fats and Oils , 1995 .

[22]  B. Popkin,et al.  Body weight patterns among the Chinese: results from the 1989 and 1991 China Health and Nutrition Surveys. , 1995, American journal of public health.

[23]  K. Carlson,et al.  The Role of Health Knowledge in Determining Dietary Fat Intake , 1994 .

[24]  S. Itô,et al.  Rice in Asia: Is It Becoming an Inferior Good? , 1989 .

[25]  Huasheng Hong,et al.  Recreation demand and economic value: An application of travel cost method for Xiamen Island , 2004 .

[26]  F. Kuchler,et al.  Societal Costs of Obesity: How Can We Assess When Federal Interventions Will Pay? , 2002 .

[27]  K. Stiegert,et al.  DETERMINANTS OF FAST FOOD CONSUMPTION , 2002 .

[28]  H. Lindstedt.  Food Consumption Habits in China. , 1939 .