Food policies and obesity in low- and middle-income countries

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cg.contributor.affiliationInternational Food Policy Research Instituteen
cg.contributor.affiliationUniversity of Minnesotaen
cg.contributor.donorFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nationsen
cg.contributor.donorCGIAR Trust Funden
cg.contributor.initiativeNational Policies and Strategies
cg.creator.identifierKibrom Abay: 0000-0003-1451-2421
cg.creator.identifierClemens Breisinger: 0000-0001-6955-0682
cg.howPublishedFormally Publisheden
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105775en
cg.identifier.projectIFPRI - Developing Local Extension Capacity (DLEC)
cg.identifier.publicationRankA
cg.isijournalISI Journalen
cg.issn0305-750Xen
cg.issueMarch 2022en
cg.journalWorld Developmenten
cg.reviewStatusPeer Reviewen
cg.subject.actionAreaSystems Transformation
cg.subject.impactAreaNutrition, health and food security
cg.volume151en
dc.contributor.authorAbay, Kibrom A.en
dc.contributor.authorIbrahim, Hosamen
dc.contributor.authorBreisinger, Clemensen
dc.date.accessioned2023-02-08T15:01:24Zen
dc.date.available2023-02-08T15:01:24Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/128539
dc.titleFood policies and obesity in low- and middle-income countriesen
dcterms.abstractUnderstanding the public health implications of food policies is crucial to combat recently increasing overweight and obesity rates in many low-and-middle income countries (LMICs). This study examines the implication of food policies, mainly tariff rates on “unhealthy” foods (sugar and confectionery products as well as fats and oils) and governments’ subsidies, on individuals’ body weight outcomes. We compile several macro- and micro-level datasets that provide macro-level information on food policies and micro-level anthropometric data for several LMICs. We exploit temporal dynamics in tariff rates on “unhealthy” foods and governments’ spending on subsidies to estimate fixed effects models characterizing the evolution of body weight outcomes. We find that temporal dynamics in tariff rates on unhealthy and energy-dense foods are significantly and negatively associated with body weight. Conditional on several observable and time-invariant unobservable factors, a decrease in tariff rates on sugar and confectionary foods or fats and oils is associated with an increase in overweight and obesity rates. On the other hand, an increase in subsidy rate, as a share of government expenditure, is significantly associated with higher overweight and obesity rates. Interestingly, we find that the implications of these food policies are more pronounced among poorer individuals. This may be explained by the fact that poorer households usually spend a larger share of their income on food consumption or unhealthy foods; and that poorer individuals are often beneficiaries of government subsidies in many LMICs. These findings have important implications for informing public health policies in LMICs, which are experiencing an unprecedented rise in overweight and obesity rates.en
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dcterms.bibliographicCitationAbay, Kibrom A.; Ibrahim, Hosam; and Breisinger, Clemens. 2022. Food policies and obesity in low- and middle-income countries. World Development 151(March 2022): 105775. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105775en
dcterms.issued2022-03
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.licenseCC-BY-4.0
dcterms.publisherElsevieren
dcterms.replaceshttps://ebrary.ifpri.org/digital/collection/p15738coll5/id/8081en
dcterms.subjectpoliciesen
dcterms.subjectfood policiesen
dcterms.subjectobesityen
dcterms.subjectoverweighten
dcterms.subjectbody mass indexen
dcterms.subjectsubsidiesen
dcterms.subjectnutritionen
dcterms.subjecthealthen
dcterms.subjectnutrition policiesen
dcterms.subjectcapacity developmenten
dcterms.subjectdeveloping countriesen
dcterms.typeJournal Article

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