Dietary and other lifestyle factors and their influence on non-communicable diseases in the Western Pacific region

Xiaomin Sun; Dong Keon Yon; Tuan Thanh Nguyen; Kumpei Tanisawa; Kumhee Son; Ling Zhang; Jing Shu; Wen Peng; Yuexin Yang; Francesco Branca; Mark L Wahlqvist; Hyunjung Lim; Youfa Wang

doi:10.1016/j.lanwpc.2023.100842

Dietary and other lifestyle factors and their influence on non-communicable diseases in the Western Pacific region

Lancet Reg Health West Pac. 2023 Dec 1:43:100842. doi: 10.1016/j.lanwpc.2023.100842. eCollection 2024 Feb.

Authors

Xiaomin Sun^{1

2}, Dong Keon Yon³, Tuan Thanh Nguyen⁴, Kumpei Tanisawa⁵, Kumhee Son^{6

7}, Ling Zhang⁸, Jing Shu^{1

2}, Wen Peng^{9

10}, Yuexin Yang¹¹, Francesco Branca¹², Mark L Wahlqvist¹³, Hyunjung Lim^{6

7}, Youfa Wang^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University Public Health Institute, Global Health Institute, School of Public Health, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, People's Republic of China.
² International Obesity and Metabolic Disease Research Center, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, China.
³ Center for Digital Health, Medical Science Research Institute, Kyung Hee University Medical Center, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul 02447, Republic of Korea.
⁴ Alive & Thrive, FHI 360, Hanoi 11022, Viet Nam.
⁵ Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, Saitama 359-1192, Japan.
⁶ Department of Medical Nutrition, Graduate School of East-West Medical Science, Kyung Hee University, Yongin 17104, Republic of Korea.
⁷ Research Institute of Medical Nutrition, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 02447, Republic of Korea.
⁸ School of Public Health, Capital Medical University, Beijing Municipal Key Laboratory of Clinical Epidemiology, Beijing 100069, China.
⁹ Nutrition and Health Promotion Center, Department of Public Health, Medical College, Qinghai University, Xining 810008, China.
¹⁰ Qinghai Provincial Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Glucolipid Metabolic Diseases with Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xining 810008, China.
¹¹ National Institute for Nutrition and Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 100050, China.
¹² Department of Nutrition and Food Safety, World Health Organization, Geneva 1211, Switzerland.
¹³ Monash Asia Institute, Monash University, Melbourne 3145, Australia.

Abstract

The Western Pacific region is a diverse region experiencing fast economic growth and nutrition transition. We systematically examined 94 cohort studies on the associations of dietary and other lifestyle factors on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the region. These studies were mainly from China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Singapore. Patterns and changes in lifestyle risk factors for NCDs based on national surveys were examined. They showed some dietary intake improvements over the past three decades, featured as increased consumption of unsaturated oils, fruits, and vegetables, and decreased consumption of sodium and unhealthy fat. Despite a decrease in smoking rate and salt intake, the values remained higher than the global levels in 2019. The ultra-processed food intake in the region increased at a higher rate than the global estimate. National guidelines relevant to NCDs in five selected countries were highlighted. Strong future actions and policies are needed to tackle NCDs.

Keywords: Dietary intake; Lifestyle factors; Non-communicable diseases; Policy implications; Western Pacific region.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

001/WHO_/World Health Organization/International