Abstract
Lack of adequate dietary knowledge may result in poor health conditions. This study aims to measure income-related inequality in dietary knowledge, and to explain the sources of the inequality. Data were from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) conducted in 2015. A summary of the dietary knowledge score and dietary guideline awareness was used to measure the dietary knowledge of respondents. The concentration index was employed as a measure of socioeconomic inequality and was decomposed into its determining factors. The study found that the proportion of respondents who correctly answered questions on dietary knowledge was significantly low for some questions. Compared to rural residents, urban residents had a higher proportion of correctly answered dietary knowledge questions. In addition, there are pro-rich inequalities in dietary knowledge. This observed inequality is determined not only by individual factors but also high-level area factors. Our study recommends that future dietary education programs could take different strategies for individuals with different educational levels and focus more on disadvantaged people. It would be beneficial to consider local dietary habits in developing education materials.
Highlights
Overweight and obesity are a worldwide public concern
Previous systematic reviews which focused on the relationship between the nutrition knowledge and dietary intake showed that, as an integral component of health literacy, low nutrition knowledge has a significant association with the poor eating habits and bad health conditions [2]
This study explored the determinants of dietary knowledge, which was rarely investigated in the previous studies [13,14,15]
Summary
Overweight and obesity are a worldwide public concern. The World Health Organization (WHO)estimated that 39% of women and 39% of men aged 18 and over were overweight in 2016 [1]. Overweight and obesity are a worldwide public concern. Estimated that 39% of women and 39% of men aged 18 and over were overweight in 2016 [1]. Previous evidence has shown that an unhealthy diet was admittedly one of the critical contributors to obesity. Previous systematic reviews which focused on the relationship between the nutrition knowledge and dietary intake showed that, as an integral component of health literacy, low nutrition knowledge has a significant association with the poor eating habits and bad health conditions [2]. Health literacy includes the level of knowledge, personal skills and confidence to take action to improve personal and community health by changing personal lifestyles and living conditions [3]. The dietary problems remarkably transited from malnutrition due to food scarcity in whole country to the excessive and unbalanced nutrition due to dietary structure and
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