Trade Liberalization: The Nutrition Transition of Vietnamese People?
- Mỹ Huyền Trần
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
Nutrition transition always accompanies major socio-economic transformations. As incomes rise, food markets expand, and lifestyles change, what people eat every day is no longer the same as before.
In this context, trade liberalization, particularly the expansion of exports, is becoming one of the key factors shaping the Vietnamese diet. Previous studies have shown that trade liberalization can impact nutrition through three main mechanisms.
First, increased imports and exports help diversify the food supply, with many new products appearing on the market.
Second is through income and prices. When trade expands, more people have jobs or their incomes change, while food prices in the market also fluctuate according to production and transportation costs. Consumers often choose items that are cheaper and easier to buy—and these choices gradually alter daily meals and nutritional intake.
Third, trade helps users access more information, thereby promoting changes in lifestyles and eating habits.
Eating out increases, rations change
In this context, research conducted by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vo Tat Thang, Director of the Institute for Health and Agricultural Policy Research (HAPRI), is one of the first works in Vietnam to analyze the link between exports and nutrition transition [1].
According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vo Tat Thang, when the economy has achieved certain achievements, "the next step in development is to pay attention to health. One of the important aspects of health is nutrition."
The results show that during the survey period, exports were associated with positive changes in the nutritional structure of Vietnamese people. The P:L:C ratio (Protein - Lipid/Fat - Carbohydrate) moved closer to the recommendations of the National Institute of Nutrition, indicating that the nutritional structure of meals is becoming more balanced and beneficial for health.
Notably, this improvement occurs alongside a distinct trend: a shift from home-cooked meals to eating out. This is clearly demonstrated by the increase in energy consumption and nutrient groups from meals away from home.
Specifically, the population group affected by exports—including households indirectly affected by export tax reductions and those working in export sectors—increased their energy intake from eating out. On average, each person increased their intake by nearly 18,000 calories per year from eating out—equivalent to about 50 calories per day, which is roughly equal to a small soft drink or a snack portion. This figure is not large if viewed individually, but it is enough to change the meal structure when accumulated over a long period.
It is from these seemingly small changes in eating habits that the nutritional structure of Vietnamese people began to shift.
The added energy consists not only of starch but also of protein and fat—components that often appear more frequently in outside meals compared to family rice meals. According to research data, this increase was 944 cal/person/year for protein, 585 cal for fat, and 2,235 cal for carbohydrates; the group directly exposed to exports had a higher increase, nearly 19,000 cal per year.
Nutrition is considered balanced when the P:F:C ratio is 16.5%: 22.5%: 60%. Partly due to the effects of exports, this ratio shifted from 14%: 7%: 78.7% in 2002 to 17.6%: 12.9%: 69.6% in 2020.
It is this silent but prolonged change that has contributed to shifting the nutritional structure of Vietnamese people over the past two decades.
Two-way impact on nutrition
However, the impact of trade liberalization on nutrition is not always unidirectional. The positive results recorded at this time, according to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vo Tat Thang, could completely change over time. "There are more goods, but not only healthy foods; it also brings alcohol, sugary drinks, sweeteners... If not controlled well, these products will negatively affect health," he warned
Because of these potential risks, according to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vo Tat Thang, the issue of nutrition in Vietnam needs to be viewed more seriously in development policies. He believes that nutrition is currently not receiving due attention, even regarding domestically produced foods. "Even with domestically produced food items, we have not controlled them well; there are still floating goods of unknown origin. Meanwhile, nutrition directly affects the physical condition, labor productivity, longevity, and disease burden of Vietnamese people in the long run."
According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vo Tat Thang, if nutrition is considered an important goal in the national strategy, then this aspect needs to be "immediately integrated into trade strategies.".
When negotiating trade, especially regarding processed foods, the impact on public health must be considered. Items beneficial for nutrition should be encouraged, while less healthy products like alcohol and beer need to be more strictly controlled.
"For example, lowering tariff barriers for healthy, nutritious items, and strictly controlling items not beneficial for nutrition, such as alcohol and beer," Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vo Tat Thang further explained.
More specific solutions have been proposed by the authors in the research paper. Accordingly, the group suggests that there should be policies to adjust food prices and supply to promote a more balanced and healthy diet. In addition, there is a need for nutrition education programs, specifically targeting children and adolescents—a group increasingly influenced by fast food and new culinary trends.
Sharing about the research process, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vo Tat Thang said the biggest difficulty was converting household food consumption data into nutritional indices. "From the amount of food consumed, we have to convert it to nutrient groups according to the nutritional scale; this is a very time-consuming task," he said. "For example, knowing a household consumes 1kg of meat in a week requires referencing the scale of the National Institute of Nutrition to convert it into different types of nutrients."
Furthermore, the study has only focused on trade liberalization related to exports and has not yet considered factors of trade liberalization related to imports. This could be a direction for future studies to clarify the impact of trade liberalization on the nutrition of Vietnamese people.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vo Tat Thang stated that he himself would continue with more studies on the nutrition of Vietnamese people, because nutrition is the foundation for improving Vietnamese health from a very early stage and has long-term significance for the development of the nation.
"Previously, South Korea developed after Vietnam, but now the physical condition of Koreans is much better. Korean players can play on major football fields in Europe, while Vietnamese people can hardly compete abroad yet. That is exactly the nutrition issue," he said.
_________________
Reference:
