Does Dietary Culture Affect Chronic Disease Risk in Older Adults?

Chong Zhuo, None

The compatibility and complementarity of dietary guidelines with local dietary cultures are crucial in reducing dietary health risks. This paper compiled a unique dataset of 455 dishes from 33 types of local cuisines across eight major Chinese cuisines, combined with CHARLS data from 2011-2020. A two-way fixed-effects model was employed to assess the impact of local dietary culture on chronic disease risk in older adults. The key findings are as follows: (1) Four dietary cultures—Yue, Su, Min, and Lu cuisines—reduced the risk of chronic diseases in older adults by 8.71%, 6.21%, 4.73%, and 7.70%, respectively. (2) Protein-energy ratio, fat-energy ratio, and sodium content were identified as the main pathways through which local dietary cultures influenced chronic disease risk. (3) Local dietary culture primarily impacted the risk of chronic diseases in rural elderly populations, with a less pronounced effect in urban areas. (4) The influence of dietary culture was mainly observed in older adults aged 60 to 79. In the context of global dietary shifts, integrating local dietary cultures, such as the eight major Chinese cuisines, with dietary guidelines—especially by promoting low-sodium and low-fat versions of traditional dishes—can be more effective in reducing chronic disease risk.

Keywords: Health and Morbidity, Population and Development, Longitudinal studies , Geo-referenced/geo-coded data

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