The effect of Internet use on males’ body mass index and overweight: evidence from China
The effects of increasing Internet use in developing economies have attracted various attention from politicians and academic researchers, while the literature investigating the effects of Internet use on nutrition and health is insufficient. In particular, research on China, with its large overw...
Main Authors: | , , , |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
MRE Press
2023-12-01
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Series: | Journal of Men's Health |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://oss.jomh.org/files/article/20231229-159/pdf/JOMH16247.pdf |
Summary: | The effects of increasing Internet use in developing economies have attracted
various attention from politicians and academic researchers, while the literature
investigating the effects of Internet use on nutrition and health is
insufficient. In particular, research on China, with its large overweight
population, is still not clear and complete. This study aims to evaluate the
effect of Internet use on body mass index (BMI) and overweight for males in China
and shed light on the underlying mechanisms of the effect. To address the
non-random distribution problem of Internet use and control for unobservable
factors that might bias the estimates we are interested in, an endogenous
switching regression model is applied, an econometric method in which
counterfactual analysis is used to obtain the average treatment effect of
Internet use on BMI and overweight. The study sample is chosen from longitudinal
research data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, with 12,846
observations covering 5 waves. Estimation results indicate that Internet use
could reduce BMI and the probability of being overweight by 3.626% and 33.963%,
respectively. Heterogeneity analysis shows that Internet use has a greater effect
on males living in urban areas and those with higher education. We also reveal
that reducing total energy intake and macronutrient intake and increasing dietary
knowledge levels and the time spent on exercising serve as important mechanisms
through which Internet use can have an effect on BMI and overweight.
This study shows that Internet use has a beneficial effect on
BMI and overweight of males in China. Therefore, internet platforms may be an
effective way to regulate males’ macronutrient intake and BMI and overweight.
More importantly, using Internet platforms to circulate information about healthy
diets may contribute to improving dietary knowledge and the prevalence of
overweight. |
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ISSN: | 1875-6867 1875-6859 |