Online food shopping and nutrition inequality among rural children

Abstract Previous research has identified nutritional inequality among rural children as a pressing issue, yet effective strategies to mitigate this disparity remain underexplored. This study examines the impact of online food shopping—a practical means of accessing online markets—on nutritional inequality among rural children. We measure nutritional inequality using the Gini coefficients of four anthropometric indicators, including stunting, underweight, overweight, and obesity. We employ the Recentered Influence Function regression to estimate survey data from rural China. The results indicate that online food shopping significantly reduces nutritional inequality related to stunting and obesity. However, the effects exhibit notable gender and age disparities: while online food shopping substantially decreases stunting- and obesity-related inequality among young children (ages 0–6) and girls, its impact on older children (ages 6 and above) and boys is statistically insignificant. These findings suggest that diversifying online food shopping channels and implementing age- and gender-sensitive interventions could be crucial in addressing nutritional inequality in rural areas.