Calories, obesity and health in OECD countries

Abstract

Theoretical models suggest that decisions about diet, weight and health status are endogenous within a utility maximization framework. In this article, we model these behavioural relationships in a fixed-effect panel setting using a simultaneous equation system, with a view to determining whether economic variables can explain the trends in calorie consumption, obesity and health in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries and the large differences among the countries. The empirical model shows that progress in medical treatment and health expenditure mitigates mortality from diet-related diseases, despite rising obesity rates. While the model accounts for endogeneity and serial correlation, results are affected by data limitations.

Acknowledgements

The contents of this article draw on the work of the authors commissioned by the Global Perspective Studies Unit of FAO. The authors would particularly like to thank Jelle Bruinsma and Josef Schmidhuber for their input and encouragement with the work. The views expressed are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect those of FAO.

Notes

¹ Proportion overweight in another version.

² Food supply in the FAO food balance sheets is defined as the availability at the retail level. It has been corrected for post-harvest and processing losses, but still includes all forms of ‘post-retail’ losses, notably household waste, retailing losses and pet food.

³ This is the procedure adopted by the software Eviews 4®.