Beverage Intake, Smoking Behavior, and Alcohol Consumption in Contemporary China—A Cross-Sectional Analysis from the 2011 China Health and Nutrition Survey

Yen-Han Lee, Zhi Wang, Timothy C. Chiang and Ching-Ti Liu
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Yen-Han Lee: School of Public Health, Department of Applied Health Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
Zhi Wang: School of Public Health, Department of Applied Health Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
Timothy C. Chiang: College of Medicine, Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, PA 17033, USA
Ching-Ti Liu: School of Public Health, Department of Biostatistics, Boston University, Boston, MA 02118, USA

IJERPH, 2017, vol. 14, issue 5, 1-11

Abstract: Chinese residents enjoy various types of beverages in their daily life. With the rapid Westernization of contemporary China, several adverse health concerns—such as diabetes linked to sweetened beverages—have emerged. Until now, no research that examines associations between beverage consumption and smoking/drinking behaviors has been made available, despite the large Chinese populations partaking in such activities. We conducted a cross-sectional study to explore the association between beverage intake frequencies and smoking/drinking behaviors in 12,658 adult respondents who participated in the latest wave (2011) of the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS). Further, we applied Tukey’s Honest Significance test for pairwise comparisons. We defined the consumption categories as daily (at least one serving per day), weekly (less than one serving per day, at least one serving per week), monthly (less than one serving per week, at least one serving per month), and less than monthly or none—for sweetened beverage, water, tea, and coffee consumptions. The data showed that both tea and sweetened beverages are associated with smoking/drinking behaviors. Compared to respondents who consume tea and sweetened beverages daily, the odds of smoking behaviors are lower for those who consume such beverages less frequently. Further policy implications are discussed, including higher taxes on sweetened beverages and lessons from other countries.

Keywords: China; beverage intake; smoking; alcohol consumption; Westernization; health behavior (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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