Geographic and urban–rural disparities in dietary energy and macronutrient composition among women of childbearing age: findings from the China health and nutrition survey,1991–2015

Background Understanding nutritional status among women of childbearing age (WCA) is of increasing concern, as nutrient intakes may affect the health of WCA and well-being of their offspring. This study aimed to investigate secular trends of dietary energy and macronutrients intakes and access longitudinally the urban-rural and geographic disparities among Chinese WCA. Methods A total of 10,219 participants were involved in three rounds of the Chinese Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS:1991, 2004, and 2015). Average macronutrients intakes were compared against the Chinese Dietary Reference Intakes Standard (DRIs) to better assess adequacy. Mixed effect models were used to estimate the secular trends of dietary intake. Results A total of 10,219 participants were involved. Dietary fat, the percentage of energy (%E) from fat, and the proportion with more than 30% of energy from fat and less than 50% from carbohydrates increased notably over time (p < 0.001). In 2015, urban western WCA had the most dietary fat (89.5 g/d), %E from fat (41.4%), with the highest proportion of energy from fat (81.7%) and carbohydrate (72.1%) out the range of DRIs. From 1991 to 2015, the average urban-rural differences in dietary fat decreased from 15.7 g/d to 3.2 g/d among eastern WCA. However, it increased to 16.4 g/d and 6.3 g/d among central and western WCA, respectively. Conclusion WCA was experiencing a rapid transformation to a high-fat diet. Temporal variation with obvious urban-rural and geographic disparities in dietary. energy and macronutrient composition persistently existed among Chinese WCA.These findings have implications of future public strategies to strengthen the nutrition propaganda and education of balanced diet for WCA to help them to improve their nutritional status, especially for those living in western China.