Does the Digital Economy Promote Dietary Diversity Among Chinese Residents?

Understanding how digital transformation shapes dietary behavior is essential for evaluating nutritional transitions in developing economies. However, the mechanisms through which the digital economy impacts dietary diversity remain insufficiently explored. This study provides new empirical evidence on how digitalization influences the dietary diversity of Chinese residents. Utilizing unbalanced panel data sourced from the China Nutrition and Health Survey (CHNS), we calculate provincial digital economy indices and estimate its effects through Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and mediating effect model. Baseline results state that the digital economy significantly improves dietary diversity. Mediating effects analyses reveal that the digital economy augments dietary diversity by boosting household income, deepening dietary awareness, and facilitating industry transformation and consumption upgrading. Moreover, heterogeneity analyses indicate that the synergistic effect between the digital economy and diet patterns varies significantly across urban–rural areas, education levels, and household living conditions. These findings offer valuable insights for other emerging economies undergoing similar digital and nutritional transitions.