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DOES CHILDHOOD NUTRITION PREDICT HEALTH OUTCOMES DURING ADULTHOOD? EVIDENCE FROM A POPULATION-BASED STUDY IN CHINA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 January 2015

YAQIANG QI  and
JIANLIN NIU
YAQIANG QI*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Renmin University of China, Bejing, China
JIANLIN NIU
Affiliation:
Institute of Population and Labor Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China
*
1Corresponding author. Email address: qiyaqiang@ruc.edu.cn
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Summary

Using data collected from the 2008 survey of Internal Migration and Health in China, this study examines the impact of late childhood nutrition intakes on a wide range of indicators of adult health. The results show that respondents who consume rich nutrients (meat, fish, milk, etc.) less frequently during late childhood have worse health outcomes when they grow up. They are more likely to rate their health as ‘fair/poor’, report a greater number of chronic diseases, have a higher incidence of acute illness, perceive greater numbers of physical pains/discomforts and to suffer more from insomnia and depression. With respect to objective biometrics, respondents who have less access to rich nutrients at age 14 tend to attain a shorter stature, gain more weight as an adult, and are more likely to become obese or have low lung capacity. Taken together, the evidence in support of a harmful impact of late childhood undernutrition on adult health is stronger and more consistent for subjective health indicators than for the objective biometrics examined in this study. Moreover, the results also indicate that the long-term health impact of late childhood nutrition deprivation is especially detrimental for females in China.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 47 , Issue 5 , September 2015 , pp. 650 - 666
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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