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Monetary Diet Cost is Positively Associated with Diet Quality: Analysis of School‐Aged Children in South China
Author(s) -
Zhang Jieyi,
Xue Hongmei,
Li Danting,
Yin Jun,
Chen Yuanyuan,
Cheng Guo
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.31.1_supplement.649.1
Subject(s) - food prices , china , renminbi , food group , healthy diet , nutrient , environmental health , index (typography) , medicine , demography , agricultural economics , food science , economics , biology , geography , food security , agriculture , ecology , archaeology , sociology , world wide web , computer science
The association of diet quality with diet cost has been investigated in many developed countries. However, pertinent studies remain scarce in China. As food prices and dietary habits vary with different countries, we aimed to examine the relation of diet quality to monetary diet cost among Chinese Children. Methods Data on 1,605 Chinese Children (48.4% girls) aged 7–15 years were analyzed. Dietary data from 3‐d 24h dietary recalls were used to calculate the published Chinese Children Dietary Index (CCDI), which developed based on Chinese Dietary Intake recommendations. CCDI incorporated 16 components (11 foods/food groups, 3 nutrients and 2 health‐promoting behaviors), with a higher score indicating a better diet quality. Monetary costs of diet were calculated by multiplying the average amount of consumed food (g/day) by price of each food and summing the products. The average annual price of each food item was obtained from the government website, supermarkets and farmers' markets, or fast food chains. All food prices, adjusted for preparation and waste using China Food Composition database, were expressed in RMB (¥) per 100g edible portion. As the monetary cost of diet was observed strongly associated with energy intake (r=0.69), monetary diet cost per 1,000 kcal of energy intake per day was calculated. Multivariate linear generalized regression models were used to explore the relevance of diet quality to monetary diet cost. Results Subjects spent more money per 1,000 kcal had a higher diet quality indicated by higher CCDI score after adjustment for age, gender, family location, parental educational level, family income level and interaction of age and CCDI score (¥12.35 per 1,000 kcal for the highest‐CCDI‐score quintile vs ¥11.16 per 1,000 kcal for the lowest‐CCDI‐score quintile, p=0.0006). With the improvement of 1 point in CCDI score, the monetary diet costs increased ¥0.14 per 1,000 kcal. Conclusion Diet quality is positively associated with energy‐adjusted diet cost among Chinese school‐aged Children, warranting that the public policy for healthful food promotion should totally take economic issues into account. Support or Funding Information All phases of this study were supported by research grant from the National Nature Science Foundation of China (No. 81472976)