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A McDonald's Chinese New Year meal. American fast-food outlets have been blamed for the increase in obesity in China.^[1]

Obesity in China is a health concern with according to WHO, an overall rates of obesity at below 5% as a whole but greater than 20% in some cities.^[2] It is a dramatic change from when China was experiencing famines as a result from the Great Leap Forward.^[3] The rate of obesity in China has doubled in 10 years, according to a government report. The problem is mostly confined to the cities where fast food culture and globalisation has increased the problem in comparison to poorer rural areas. However, the very large populations within cities in China means that today one fifth of the approximate total of one billion obese people on the planet are Chinese.^[4]

Issues

Statistics from the Chinese Health Ministry have revealed that urban Chinese boys age 6 are 2.5 inches taller and 6.6 pounds heavier on average than Chinese city boys 30 years ago. A leading child-health researcher, Ji Chengye, has stated that, "China has entered the era of obesity. The speed of growth is shocking."^[1]

Economic expansion and the increase in living standards as a result has seen food intake increase on average in the cities and the growth of automation and transport has seen less physical labor. Rapid motorization has drastically reduced levels of cycling and walking in China. A 2002 report has revealed a direct correspondence between ownership of motorized transport by households in China and increasing obesity related problems in children and adults.^[5]

The introduction of processed foods through globalisation in China and the problem of obesity is a recent phenomenon, as only 45 years ago the country faced starvation during the leadership of Mao Zedong.^[1] However while malnutrition has been mostly ended in cities today, millions of rural poor, especially in rural western China are still a far cry from the problem facing the cities.^[1]

The problem is affecting the young generations although some sources indicate the problem is worse with those between 35 and 59 where more than half are now overweight in cities, a figure similar to that in industrialised countries.^[6] However, they state that the younger generations are increasingly at risk. Today, 8% of 10- to 12-year-olds in China's cities are considered obese and an additional 15% are overweight, according to Chinese Ministry of Education.^[1]

Response and prospects

A KFC outlet in Hohhot, China

According to Wang Longde, the Chinese vice health minister, the problem is that the population does not have enough awareness and lacks knowledge of nutrition and what constitutes a reasonable diet.^[7] The government is attempting to reduce the problem with building more playgrounds and passing a law with requires students to exercise or play sports for an hour a day at school.^[1] Chen Chunming, an expert at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention has warned against the rapid growth of American fast-food outlets in China saying, "Don't take children to eat fast food like McDonald's and KFC."^[1]

Fat farms, where children try to sweat off their excess weight have grown since the 1990s. In 2000, 100 million people were reported to suffer from high blood pressure and 26 million with diabetes. These figures were expected to double within a decade, with doctors warning that obesity could become China's biggest health threat for future generations.^[6][8]

See also

• Epidemiology of obesity

References

Further reading

• Gao, Y., Griffiths, S., Chan, E. Y. Y. (2008). Community-based interventions to reduce overweight and obesity in China: a systematic review of the Chinese and English literature. J Public Health (Oxf) 30: 436-448
• Murugan, A., Sharma, G (2008). Obesity and respiratory diseases. Chronic Respiratory Disease 5: 233-242
• Linos, E., Spanos, D., Rosner, B. A., Linos, K., Hesketh, T., Qu, J. D., Gao, Y.-T., Zheng, W., Colditz, G. A. (2008). Effects of Reproductive and Demographic Changes on Breast Cancer Incidence in China: A Modeling Analysis. JNCI J Natl Cancer Inst 100: 1352-1360
• Lee, A., St Leger, L., Cheng, F. F. K., Hong Kong Healthy Schools Team, (2007). The status of health-promoting schools in Hong Kong and implications for further development. Health Promot Int 22: 316-326
• Tian, L., Shen, H., Lu, Q., Norman, R. J., Wang, J. (2007). Insulin Resistance Increases the Risk of Spontaneous Abortion after Assisted Reproduction Technology Treatment. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 92: 1430-1433
• James A. Levine (2008) Obesity in China: Causes and solutions Chinese Medical Journal, 2008, Vol. 121 No. 11 : 1043-1050

External links

• China International Slimness and Fitness Association
• China International Academic Congress on Obesity (CIACO)
• Chinese Weight Loss network

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