Over the last 30 years, Viet Nam has made great progress in reducing poverty, ensuring food security, and promoting economic growth and socioeconomic development. The country has committed to transforming its food systems in a transparent, responsible, and sustainable manner, but, like many countries, it faces challenges along this path.
Healthy diets remain unaffordable for more than one-quarter of Viet Nam’s population. Poor-quality diets are a major driver of malnutrition in all its forms. Adolescents are of particular concern — globally, there has been little improvement in their health and nutritional status over the last 50 years. Not enough is known about adolescent nutrition in low- and middle-income countries.
In November 2022, SHiFT researchers visited Viet Nam to explore and better understand food environments in local communities and around schools.
The CGIAR Initiative on Sustainable Healthy Diets through Food Systems Transformation (SHiFT) works to support the country’s efforts to transform its food systems. The Initiative builds on the legacy of research partnerships and policy engagement achieved in Viet Nam by the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH). SHiFT continues these close collaborations with Vietnamese partners to develop innovative, research-based solutions that address the complex challenges facing the country’s food systems to ensure sustainable healthy diets for all.
The food environment is the interface where people interact with the larger food system to obtain and consume food. Food environments determine what foods are available and accessible to the consumer at different times of year, and at what cost. These environments are also where different foods—including meals and snacks—are promoted and marketed to encourage their consumption.
On their trip, the research team paid close attention to what adolescents like to purchase and eat. Adolescence is characterized by risk-taking behaviors and is a key developmental phase when habits are formed. During this time, adolescents become more exposed to the food environment as they interact with food vendors to spend pocket money on snacks. This exposure and their behaviors not only affect their diets and nutritional status but can also influence their dietary habits and choices, both in adolescence and throughout life.
The team visited three areas in Viet Nam—Moc Chau, a rural district in the country’s northwestern Son La province, and Dong Da and Dong Anh, urban and peri-urban districts in the northern province of Hanoi.
A wide variety of foods is available in these areas, including foods that present risks to health when eaten in excess (“unhealthy” foods) and those that protect health by helping reduce risks of noncommunicable diseases (“healthy” foods). In Viet Nam, consumers tend to visit local food markets multiple times a day to purchase food. Typical food outlets include convenience stores, informal street markets, and formal open markets.
Moc Chau
Dong Da, Dong Anh
On this trip, the researchers also carried out observations to better understand the different outlets that sell food, their infrastructure, and the diversity of foods sold in the three different contexts. The data were used for a survey completed in June 2023, which aimed to describe the food environments and diets of adolescents ages 12 to 18 in urban, peri-urban, and rural areas of Viet Nam.
As next steps, the researchers will analyze the survey data to characterize adolescents’ diets and the food environments in these sites and to understand the main drivers of food choice among adolescents in Viet Nam. To learn more about how SHiFT is working with partners to support sustainable food systems transformation in Viet Nam, visit the Initiative’s microsite.
The International Food Policy Research Institute and the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT lead SHiFT in close collaboration with Wageningen University & Research and with contributions from the International Potato Center. SHiFT combines high-quality nutritional and social science research capacity with development partnerships to generate innovative, robust solutions that contribute to healthier, more sustainable dietary choices and consumption of sustainable healthy diets. It builds on CGIAR’s unparalleled track record of agricultural research for development, including 10 years of work on food systems and nutrition under the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH).
Photos taken by IFPRI researchers Jef L. Leroy and Gabriela Fretes.
About IFPRI The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), a research center of CGIAR, provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in low- and middle-income countries. IFPRI was established in 1975 to identify and analyze alternative national and international strategies and policies for meeting the food needs of the developing world, with particular emphasis on low-income countries and on the poorer groups in those countries. Partnerships, communications, capacity strengthening, and data and knowledge management are essential components for translating IFPRI’s research to action and impact. The Institute’s regional and country programs play a critical role in responding to demand for food policy research and in delivering holistic support to country-led development. IFPRI collaborates with partners around the world.
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Food stall inside wet market offering fresh vegetables, honey, and other products.
Unhealthy snacks are marketed to children using cartoon characters.
Five high-school girls consuming ultra-processed snacks and drinks they purchased with pocket money from the nearby snack bar during a brief school break. The girls' faces have been blurred to protect their identities.
Two high-school boys eating ultra-processed, high-sugar, and high-salt snacks from the nearby snack bar during a brief school break. The boys' faces have been blurred to protect their identities.
A mobile, ultra-processed snack vendor parks outside a school entrance in Tan Lap, Moc Chau.
A mobile bubble tea cart parks outside a school entrance in Dong Anh, Hanoi.
A woman sells ultra-processed snack foods from a cart outside a school in Dong Anh, Hanoi.
A bubble tea shop in front of a school in Dong Da, Hanoi
Understanding what adolescents eat:
In Viet Nam, the research team observed a wide variety of “unhealthy” foods — those that pose risks to health when eaten in excess — and “healthy” foods — those that protect health. Some examples include:
Fruits — mango, pomelo, dragon fruit
Vegetables — water spinach, cabbage,
mung bean sprouts
Unhealthy foods
Salty snacks — potato chips, dried/cured meat, hot dogs
Sugary beverages — sodas, juices, bubble tea
Sweets — candy, ice cream, chocolate
Healthy foods
Researchers Phuong Hong Nguyen, Gabriela Fretes, and Jef L. Leroy.
Gabriela Fretes, Phuong Hong Nguyen, and Jef L. Leroy
In all three districts, adolescents visited nearby food vendors to buy food during breaks from their classes. Many of the foods available near schools were unhealthy, such as salty snacks, sugary beverages, and sweets of all kinds. Some healthier options were also available — nearby fruit stalls offered healthy choices, and a convenience store near one school sold a mix of unhealthy and healthy foods (most of the healthy options were fruit).
However, the research team did not observe adolescents purchasing healthy foods. The team’s observations show that adolescents actively engage with their food environment, but this environment provides far more unhealthy food options than healthy ones.
researchers examine food environments in Viet Nam
Markets provide a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, and animal source foods.
Many customers purchase fresh foods several times each day.
A wide variety of fruits available for sale.
A table covered in ultra-processed snacks and drinks.
Ultra-processed, high-sugar, and high-salt snacks from the nearby snack bar.