Sociodemographic, lifestyle and insurance factors associated with household expenditure on sugary foods: A pooled cross-sectional analysis

Objective

To examine sociodemographic, lifestyle and health insurance factors associated with consumption expenditure on sugary foods among households of different income groups in Malaysia.

Design

A pooled cross-sectional analysis of data from the Malaysian Household Expenditure Survey was carried out. A seemingly unrelated regression was used to examine factors affecting household expenditure on three types of sugary foods, i.e., sugar, confectionery and sugar preserved foods. The regression was stratified by income groups.

Setting

Malaysia.

Participants

A nationally representative sample of 29,389 households.

Results

Age, education level, ethnicity, gender, marital status and employment status of household heads, household location, as well as alcohol spending were associated with expenditure on sugary foods among low-income households. In the middle-income group, there were relationships between household expenditure on sugary foods and tobacco use, and health insurance ownership. The factors that predicted expenditure on sugary foods among high-income households included education, ethnicity, marital status, employment status, household location, and health insurance. There were temporal variations in household expenditure on sugary foods in all income groups.

Conclusions

Sociodemographic, lifestyle and health insurance factors play an important role in expenditure on sugary foods among households of different income groups.