Multi-dimensional evidence from the UK Biobank shows the impact of diet and macronutrient intake on aging.

Background: The role of diet in aging is crucial, yet research findings on how specific diets influence human aging remain inconsistent. Understanding the relationship between dietary factors and aging could inform interventions to promote healthier aging outcomes.

Methods: We analyzed data from the UK Biobank baseline survey and a 24-hour dietary assessment survey to investigate the association between diet and aging.

Alcohol consumption and allergic diseases: Mendelian randomization evidence from China.

Background: The prevalence of allergic diseases in China has risen significantly over the past decades, affecting the quality of life for approximately 40% of the population.

Objectives: This study aimed to integrate survey and genomic data to explore the potential causal relationship between alcohol consumption and allergic diseases.

Method: In collaboration with a leading genetic testing company in China, we collected data on 3,041 participants via an online survey between December 2018 and October 2019.

Whether Pension Program Stimulates the Consumption of Addictive Products: Evidence from China's New Rural Pension Scheme.

Much attention has been paid to evaluating the policy effects of pension programs, but few studies have focused on possible inefficiencies stemming from their implementation. Drawing on a quasi-natural experiment associated with the adoption of China's New Rural Pension Scheme (NRPS), this study explores the impact of the NRPS on food consumption among rural residents. A difference-in-differences (DID) analysis is performed using panel data from the 2009 and 2013 National Rural Fixed Observation survey.

Inequality in agricultural greenhouse gas emissions intensity has risen in rural China from 1993 to 2020.

Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in crop production while ensuring emission equity is crucial for sustainable agriculture in China, yet long-term large-scale data on GHG emissions intensity (GEI) are limited. Using an extensive dataset based on surveyed farm households (n > 430,000 households) from 1993 to 2020, we reveal that 2015 was a turning point for GEI levels, which dropped 16% in 2020, while inequality-measured as average GHG emissions per unit planted area-increased 13%. The key driving forces behind such trends included farmland input, all other inputs, agricultural labour input and total factor productivity but not capital input.

What exacerbates and what eases Chinese rural residents' depression during the COVID-19?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a growing prevalence of mental disorders, particularly in China, where anti-epidemic measures have been more stringent compared to other countries. This has resulted in a heightened psychological burden on individuals. However, the actual psychological impacts of COVID-19 on Chinese residents have not been clearly established.

The impact of the peer effect on adolescent drinking behavior: instrumental-variable evidence from China.

Background: Governments around the world have taken measures to limit adolescent drinking, however, rates are still alarmingly high. However, most of these measures ignore the peer effect of drinking among adolescents. Previous studies have not sufficiently considered the reciprocal relationship between adolescent alcohol consumption and peer alcohol consumption, which may lead to an overestimation of the peer effect and mask underlying issues.

Genetic basis of STEM occupational choice and regional economic performance: a UK biobank genome-wide association study.

Background: Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals are regarded as the highly skilled labor force that fosters economic productivity, enterprise innovation, and international competitiveness of a country. This study aims to understand the genetic predisposition to STEM occupations and investigate its associations with regional economic performance. We conducted a genome-wide association study on the occupational choice of STEM jobs based on a sample of 178,976 participants from the UK Biobank database.

The impact of political status and social capital on herders' overgrazing behaviors in the pastoral areas of China.

Overgrazing has become one of the main factors affecting grassland degradation over the past two decades in China. To solve this problem, the government has implemented a grassland ecological compensation policy and grazing monitoring system that is highly dependent on rural cadres. However, few studies have analyzed the impact of political status (rural cadres' identity) on overgrazing.

Alcohol Consumption and Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Mendelian Randomization Study from Rural China.

Alcohol consumption has been associated with the risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in observational studies. The result is inconsistent and whether the association is causal remains unknown. To examine the causal effect of alcohol consumption on MCI in rural China, this study used a cross-sectional dataset that included 1966 observations collected in rural China, of which 235 observations' genotyping were collected.

Dark Side or Bright Side: The Impact of Alcohol Drinking on the Trust of Chinese Rural Residents.

Existing studies have explored the causal effect of social capital on harmful drinking, while the effect of drinking habits on trust is scant. In China, drinking rituals and drinking culture are considered important ways of promoting social interaction and trust, especially in rural areas where traditional culture is stronger. Based on a field survey in rural China in 2019, this paper explores the relationship between drinking habits and trust.

Does Subjective Dietary Knowledge Affect Sugar-Sweetened Carbonated Beverages Consumption and Child Obesity? Empirical Evidence from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in China.

Worldwide, overweight and obesity have become an important public health problem affecting the health of children and adolescents. In China, the prevalence of overweight and obesity has reached 19 percent among the 6-17-year-old age group. Although studies have shown that regular consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), especially sugar-sweetened carbonated beverages (SSCBs), is positively correlated with overweight and obesity among children, the research on ways to reduce SSBs consumption is scarce.

Alcohol Use and Depression: A Mendelian Randomization Study From China.

Alcohol use has been linked to a number of physical conditions, but the relationship between alcohol drinking and depression, one of the most common mental disorders that is a significant contributor to the global burden of disease, is still under debate. We aim to help fill the literature gap on the causal effect of alcohol use on depression by using genetic instruments of rs671 and rs1229984 in the Mendelian randomization (MR) framework. We collected a sample of 476 middle-aged and older adults from mainland China.

Does Dietary Diversity Reduce the Risk of Obesity? Empirical Evidence from Rural School Children in China.

Childhood and adolescence overweight and obesity have implications for both health consequences and economic burden. Although it has been an emerging public health problem for primary school children in rural China and the importance of the diet-health link has been stressed for many years, rigorous analysis of the dietary diversity and obesity among children is rare. To clarify this issue, this study provides a better understanding of the functional linkage between dietary diversity and obesity by analyzing data from nearly 8500 rural primary students (aged from 10 to 13 years old) covering three provinces in China.

Impacts of boarding on primary school students' mental health outcomes - Instrumental-Variable evidence from rural northwestern China.

This paper estimates the impacts of boarding on primary school students' health outcomes, using data on 7606 students from rural areas of two northwestern provinces (Qinghai and Ningxia) of China. Exogenous variations in students' home-to-school distance are exploited to address potential endogeneity in their boarding status. Instrumental variable estimates suggest that while boarding has little impact on students' physical health (measured by height-for-age and BMI-for-age z-scores and hemoglobin concentration levels), it has a significantly detrimental effect on their mental health status, amounting to 0.

Can School Feeding Programs Reduce Malnutrition in Rural China?

Background: Childhood malnutrition is commonplace among poor rural communities in China. In 2012, China launched its first nationwide school-feeding program (SFP) to address this problem. This study examines the prevalence of malnutrition before and after the SFP and identifies possible reasons for the trends observed.

Impacts of Nutrition Subsidies on Diet Diversity and Nutritional Outcomes of Primary School Students in Rural Northwestern China-Do Policy Targets and Incentives Matter?

Many developing countries have implemented nutrition intervention programs to reduce child malnutrition. However, the effectiveness of these programs differs greatly, and it remains unclear what is causing the differences in effectiveness across different programs. To shed some light on this issue, this article examines the role the specificity of policy targets, along with the incentives attached, plays in affecting the effectiveness of nutrition intervention programs.

Hybrid marriages and phenotypic heterosis in offspring: Evidence from China.

In genetics, heterosis refers to the phenomenon that cross-breeding within species leads to offspring that are genetically fitter than their parents and exhibit improved phenotypic characteristics. Based on the theory of heterosis and existing genetic evidence, offspring of "hybrid" marriages (spouses originating from different states/provinces/countries/areas), though relatively rare due to physical boundaries, may exhibit greater genetic fitness in terms of intelligence, height, or physical attractiveness (the "distance-performance" hypothesis). This study explores whether heterosis is a contributing factor to offspring's educational attainment in China by applying a high-dimensional fixed effects (HDFE) modelling framework to the unique 0.

Effectiveness of provider incentives for anaemia reduction in rural China: a cluster randomised trial.

Objectives: To test the impact of provider performance pay for anaemia reduction in rural China.

Design: A cluster randomised trial of information, subsidies, and incentives for school principals to reduce anaemia among their students. Enumerators and study participants were not informed of study arm assignment.

Anaemia among students of rural China's elementary schools: prevalence and correlates in Ningxia and Qinghai's poor counties.

Although the past few decades have seen rising incomes and increased government attention to rural development, many children in rural China still lack regular access to micronutrient-rich diets. Insufficient diets and poor knowledge of nutrition among the poor result in nutritional problems, including iron-deficiency anaemia, which adversely affect attention and learning of students in school. Little research has been conducted in China documenting the prevalence of nutritional problems among vulnerable populations, such as school-age children, in rural areas.