Liang Wanqi, Sivashankar Pathmanathan, Hua Yunei, Li Wenying
College of Economics and Management, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China.
Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA.
Nat Food. 2024 Jul;5(7):592-602. doi: 10.1038/s43016-024-01012-y. Epub 2024 Jul 19.
Globalization, income growth and changing cultural trends are believed to prompt consumers in low-income countries to adopt the more affluent diet of high-income countries. This study investigates the convergence of food expenditure patterns worldwide, focusing on total food expenditure, raw food categories and ultra-processed foods and beverages across more than 90 countries over the past decades. Contrary to prior belief, we find that food expenditure patterns of lower-income countries do not universally align with those of higher-income nations. This trend is evident across most raw food categories and ultra-processed foods and beverages, as the income level of a country continues to play a crucial role in determining its food expenditure patterns. Importantly, expenditure patterns offer estimates rather than a precise idea of dietary intake, reflecting consumer choices shaped by economic constraints rather than exact dietary consumption.
全球化、收入增长和不断变化的文化趋势被认为促使低收入国家的消费者采用高收入国家更为富足的饮食方式。本研究调查了全球食品支出模式的趋同性，重点关注过去几十年里90多个国家的食品总支出、生鲜食品类别以及超加工食品和饮料。与之前的看法相反，我们发现低收入国家的食品支出模式并非普遍与高收入国家一致。在大多数生鲜食品类别以及超加工食品和饮料中，这种趋势都很明显，因为一个国家的收入水平在决定其食品支出模式方面仍然起着关键作用。重要的是，支出模式提供的是估计值，而非对饮食摄入量的确切概念，反映的是受经济限制影响的消费者选择，而非确切的饮食消费情况。
