Distinguish the Effects of Food Availability and Food Prices on Fat Intakes of the Chinese Adults

Abstract

Remarkable economic growth in China has resulted in a change in the diet behavior of adults. This paper examines how changing socio-demographic characteristics, local food availability, and food prices may affect the fat intake among Chinese adults as a result of the economic growth. This paper goes beyond existing studies on the similar topic by two fronts. Instead of using a simple cross-sectional survey, a longitudinal sample of 2242 adults aged 20 and above in 1997 and 2006 was constructed. In addition, we estimated a fat intake equation using the quantile regression model to investigate the heterogeneous effects of the exogenous factors on the fat intake distribution. Results indicate that the fat intake of Chinese adults has increased over time. In particular, the increase in food availability significantly affects the fat intake of the Chinese adults.