Childhood Obesity in China Exploding; Western Diet Blamed

Currently, there have been reports of Western diet being blamed for the explosive rate of obesity among children in China. Such claims may have truth in them according to recently published 29-year research featured in European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

According to the study which was publicly released on Tuesday this week, noted that China's massive and unprecedented GDP growth also coincides with an unexpected surge in childhood obesity in recent years.

Citing an example in Shandong province, the report indicated that back in 1985, only 1% of boys and 1.5% of girls were labeled as obese. Almost 30 years later, the numbers have significantly risen with 17% of boys and 9% of girls are considered as such.

"This is extremely worrying. It is the worst explosion of childhood and adolescent obesity that I have ever seen...China is set for an escalation of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and the popularity of the western lifestyle will cost lives," remarked Joep Perk, cardiovascular prevention spokesman for the European Society of Cardiology as quoted by CNBC News.

The study involved data analysis from the Chinese government's six national surveys on Shandong schoolchildren from 1985 to 2014. Nearly 30, 000 rural students aged 7-18 had their weight and height measured.

The technical definition of overweight and obesity in China is based on the recommended cut-off points suggested by Working Group on Obesity in China, the International Obesity Task Force and the World Health Organization (WHO). The figures for the Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated by dividing the weight in kilograms by square of height in meters.

What are the implications of the report as far as China is concerned?

"China is a large agricultural country and our findings have huge implications for the entire nation. The rises in overweight and obesity coincide with increasing incomes in rural households and we expect this trend to continue in the coming decades in Shandong province and other regions of China," said Dr Zhang Yingxiu, the investigation chief at the Shandong Center for Disease Control and Prevention as quoted by South China Morning Post.

Quite interestingly, the study also shed light on understanding why the boys in the rural Shandong province seemed to have been hit the hardest.

"Boys showed a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity than girls, which was consistent with the results of other Chinese studies. It may be related to the cultural background, dietary and physical activity behavior. For example, the traditional, societal preference for sons, particularly in rural areas, may mean that boys are likely to enjoy more of the family's resources; boys prefer to have a larger body size than girls," the study explains, Shanghaiist reported.

Of course, the problem of obesity is not an entirely Chinese problem. The United States, too, has its own large share of obese population. For years, US has held the world record for having the highest number of obese people until the country was finally surpassed by with China with an estimated 89.9 million people being categorized as such.