Obesity in China
A worldwide problem — and growing fast:
About one fifth of the one billion overweight or obese people in the world are Chinese. China was once considered to have one of the leanest populations, but it is fast catching up with the West in terms of the prevalence of overweight and obesity; disturbingly, this transition has occurred in a remarkably short time.
Data from the 2002 national nutrition and health survey showed that 14.7% of Chinese were overweight (body mass index (BMI; kg/m2) > 25) and another 2.6% were obese (BMI > 30), such that there are currently (2002) 184 million overweight people, and a further 31 million obese people, in China, out of a total population of 1.3 billion. Although the prevalence of obesity in China is relatively low compared with Western countries such as the United States, where over half of adults are either overweight or obese, it is the rapid increase of the condition, especially among children, that is particularly alarming. Data from the China national surveys on the constitution and health in school children showed that the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children aged 7-18 years increased 28 times and obesity increased four times between 1985 and 2000, a trend that was particularly marked in boys.
The common culprits are cited: changes to the traditional diet, reduced levels of physical activity, and increased sedentary lifestyles.
April 7th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
I am looking for the actual data of China adolescent and children’s physical activity pattern and groth pattern, could you give me some references?
Thank you very much!!!