ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Food Policy and Economics
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1620134
This article is part of the Research TopicSpaces for Sustainable Food Systems and Healthy DietsView all articles
Refrigerator Ownership and the Nutrition-Health Trade-off: Evidence from Chinese Households
Provisionally accepted
- 1Nanjing University of finance and economics, Nanjing, China
- 2Institute of Food and Strategic Reserves, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, Nanjing, China
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Objective: This study investigates the dynamic effects of household refrigerator ownership on dietary patterns and the risk of overweight and obesity. The objective is to offer policy guidance for developing countries that are facing health challenges during their nutritional transition. Methods: This study utilizes six waves of tracking data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS, 1997(CHNS, -2011, n=16,665), n=16,665). To address the estimation bias caused by endogeneity, the Control Function approach is employed. Furthermore, to elucidate the pathways through which refrigerator ownership influences overweight and obesity, a three-stage mediation model is used to assess the mediating effects of food purchases and processed food consumption on these outcomes. Results: Refrigerator ownership significantly increases daily calorie intake by 39.1%. The ratios of energy derives from fat and protein rose by 0.104 and 0.018 percentage points, respectively, while the carbohydrate energy ratio decreases by 0.12 percentage points, indicating a shift towards a higher energy-dense diet. The mediating mechanism tests identify two pathways: an increased intake of high-fat and high-protein foods due to larger purchases and a rise in the consumption of processed foods. Health effects exhibit considerable heterogeneity; the risk of overweight increases with income, and the impact on older individuals is significantly greater than that on younger groups. Additionally, males face more than double the risk of obesity compared to females.Refrigerator ownership significantly alters the dietary energy structure and raises the risk of overweight and obesity. These insights hold substantial theoretical and practical value in balancing technological advancements with public health objectives.
Keywords: refrigerator, Dietary structure, Overweight, obese, The Control Function approach
Received: 29 Apr 2025; Accepted: 25 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zheng, Cai, Zhang and Xu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Rong Cai, Institute of Food and Strategic Reserves, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, Nanjing, China
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