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Food and health

Secular trends in meat and seafood consumption patterns among Chinese adults, 1991–2011

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 69, pages 227–233 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

Several studies have suggested differential health effects in relation to different meat composition in Western population. The purpose of the study was to examine secular trends in meat and seafood consumption patterns among Chinese adults between 1991 and 2011.

Subjects/Methods:

Our longitudinal data are from 21 144 adults aged 18–75 in the China Health and Nutrition Survey, prospective cohort study. We assessed the intakes of meat and subtypes with three 24-h dietary recalls. We conducted multilevel mixed-effect logistic and linear regression models to examine meat consumption dynamics.

Results:

The proportions of Chinese adults who consumed red meat, poultry and seafood increased from 65.7% in 1991 to 86.1% in 2011, from 7.5 to 20.9% and from 27.4 to 37.8%, respectively. With rapid decrease in meat intakes since 2009, the intakes of total meat, red meat, poultry and seafood among their consumers were 86.7 g/day, 86.4 g/day, 71.0 g/day and 70.3 g/day in 2011, respectively, which were just slightly higher compared with those in 1991. Fatty fresh pork has been predominantly component of total meat overtime, which consituted 54.0% of total meat intake, 80.0% of fresh red meat intake and 98.7% of fatty fresh red meat intake in 2011.

Conclusion:

Over the past two decades, meat consumption patterns of Chinese adults have been characterized by having a predominant intake of fatty fresh pork, suboptimal intakes of seafood and increased proportion of adults having excessive intakes of red meat and poultry overtime.

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Acknowledgements

This research uses data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS). We thank the National Institute for Nutrition and Food Safety, China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Carolina Population Center (5 R24 HD050924), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the NIH (R01-HD30880, DK056350, R24 HD050924, and R01-HD38700) and the Fogarty International Center, NIH, for providing financial support for the CHNS data collection and analysis of files from 1989 to 2011 and future surveys.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Nutrition and Food Safety, Beijing, China

    Z H Wang, F Y Zhai, H J Wang, J G Zhang, W W Du, C Su, J Zhang, H R Jiang & B Zhang

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  1. Z H Wang
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Correspondence to B Zhang.

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Wang, Z., Zhai, F., Wang, H. et al. Secular trends in meat and seafood consumption patterns among Chinese adults, 1991–2011. Eur J Clin Nutr 69, 227–233 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2014.225

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