Foreign fast food -- a catalyst for great changes to the Chinese diet structure.	Liang Yong, who weighs a portly 210 kilograms, takes a stroll with his wife and daughter.	The overweight and obesity rates of young people under the age of 18 in China are 17.6 percent and 5.6 percent respectively.

The ratio between overweight and obese people in China is 3:1, as compared to 1:1 in developed countries. As moving from an overweight to an obese condition is probable in most cases, common obesity is now a real threat in China,” says Chen Junshi, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and president of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC).

The results of the 2002 China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) showed a prevalence of overweight adults in China of 22.8 percent, and of obese adults of 7.1 percent, which respectively translates to 200 million and 60 million. One-fifth of the world's 1 billion overweight adults and 300 million obesity sufferers are in China, according to a report released by the World Health Organization (WHO). A CHNS survey in 1982 indicated that 6 percent of adults were overweight, and that 0.6 percent were obese. Over the intervening 20 years, therefore, the Chinese, generally considered to be relatively thin people, have gained weight at an alarming rate.

Many scholars attribute this trend to rapid changes in the Chinese diet structure and lifestyle as a result of China's rapid economic growth. One scholar of nutrition and food safety points out that the lifestyle recommended by the WHO is one of a balanced diet and proper physical exercise, but the problem is that many Chinese citizens take no heed of this recommendation.

Departure from the Traditional Diet

Results of surveys show that, on average, Chinese people go to foreign fast food restaurants two to three times a month. Chinese obesity, therefore, cannot be entirely blamed on the invasion of foreign fast food. Yet the rapid expansion of McDonald's and KFC in China is nevertheless an indication of a change in the Chinese diet structure, as the departure from traditional eating habits alone constitutes a change drastic enough to result in a substantial increase in obese Chinese people.

The traditional Chinese diet consists mainly of cereals and vegetables, with meat as a supplement. This low-fat diet, considered healthy and suited to the Chinese physique, has been gradually replaced by a high-fat diet.

In 2002, the calorific ratio obtained from cereal food for urban inhabitants was only 47 percent, much lower than the national range of 55-65 percent. In the past 50 years, the consumption of meat products has increased by 300 percent. Results of the 2002 CHNS show that the calorific ratio derived from food fats increased to 27 percent, and that in 60 percent of urban inhabitants it exceeded 30 percent. In the Republic of Korea, the average calorific ratio gained from food fats was only 19 percent, compared to the 25 percent in China's rural areas. The ratio recommended by WHO is no higher than 30 percent, of which animal-derived fat should not be higher than 10 percent. It has been found that in China, animal-derived fat nutrition in 70 percent of urban inhabitants and 40 percent of rural inhabitants exceeds this level.

“Nowadays the food that Chinese people eat is over-refined and Westernized. Our diet choices have greatly improved, but our eating habits have worsened. In the past we suffered from absolute malnutrition; now we suffer from relative malnutrition owing to imbalanced nutrition and inadequate intake of trace elements,” says Professor Huang Mingda, executive director of the science and technology cooperation center under the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine and secretary-general of the International Obesity Union. The proportion of meat in food has increased, but as the Chinese metabolism works more slowly than that of Westerners, there is a much higher incidence of heart disease among Chinese immigrants to Western countries than local residents, according to Professor Huang. Many obesity sufferers complain that they gain weight even after drinking plain water, which, Huang Mingda says, is an unmistakable indication of metabolism problems.

Lazy Lifestyle

A diet intervention test among youngsters in the United States showed that the main reason why younger generation American people are fatter than their elders is not because of diet but as a result of inactivity due to obsession-inducing computer games. This conclusion agrees with the latest results of epidemiological research. Changes in lifestyle and the human living environment are a significant factor in the prevalence of obesity.

TV also influences the amount of physical exercise people take. In 1994, 80 percent of urban dwellers possessed television sets, and in 2004 this figure jumped to 126 percent. More and more Chinese people are addicted to television. The results of the 2002 CHNS also show that more than half of working Chinese people mainly sit or stand during work hours, and that they spend negligible time walking. Furthermore, urban residents spend more of their leisure time sitting watching television, than on sports or other forms of exercise. Only 24.6 percent of urban and 10.0 percent of rural inhabitants regularly takes exercise. China differs from Western countries in that the percentage of elderly people that regularly take part in physical exercises is the highest, whereas that of young and middle-aged people is the lowest.

Over-eating and inertia is particularly common among young adults. A nationwide survey among 100,000 students in 2005 showed that the time spent on physical exercise by two-thirds of students surveyed to be less than one hour per day, and that nearly one-fourth took no form of physical exercise at all. As regards sports, in the past 20 years the endurance of Chinese youngsters has decreased, along with their strength, speed and dynamism, while overweight and obesity have increased. The results of the 2002 CHNS show that 17.6 percent of young Chinese adults under the age of 18 are overweight and that 5.6 percent are obese.

That there are more obesity sufferers in big cities is an indication of the impact of an altered lifestyle. The results of the 2002 CHNS showed that adult overweight and obesity in big cities was 30.0 percent and 12.3 percent respectively. Beijing is one of the most developed cities in China, and also that with the largest number of obesity sufferers. In Beijing, the percentage of overweight and obese people stands at 45 percent -- the highest nationwide. There were fewer obese Beijing residents in the 1980s because at that time the city was, as described by foreign journalists, a “kingdom of bicycles.” At that time, it was common for Beijing inhabitants to spend an hour or longer bicycling to their work place. But now Beijing has 3 million automobiles, which means the bicycle lanes have become narrower in deference to auto-needs. It is now commonplace for car drivers to spend an hour sitting in traffic jams on their way to work rather than cycling.

Inertia and an imbalanced diet have, therefore, upset the Chinese metabolism, making obesity a grave public issue.

Health Revolution

Traditionally it was believed that plumpness was an indication of wealth, and even today most obese people are from well-off families. As is well known today, obesity is synonymous with ill health. The characteristics of Chinese obesity are a slim build with a distended abdomen, which is a very unhealthy sign, according to experts.

China is a country famous for its cuisine, and the Chinese people take great pleasure in dining, as it is also has an important social function. Unfortunately, Chinese diners pay greater attention to the color, aroma and taste of food than its nutritional qualities. The latest statistics show that the incidence of illness owing to an imbalanced diet is 620 million persons/time, a trend that is spreading from the high-income to low-income bracket. In the late 1980s, many college graduates and masters of public nutrition transferred to other occupations because there was a dearth of jobs in this field. At present, China has fewer than 4,000 professional nutritionists, while at least 4 million are necessary for its huge population.

Wang Longde, vice-minister of Public Health, said in 2005, “China needs to undergo a dramatic revolution in eating habits in order to restore the original healthy diet structure and increase the average scope of nutrition. A balance must be maintained between daily intake and consumption.” Promoting improvement of public nutrition is part of the plan for China's national economy and social development, which marks the first time that such stress has been laid on public nutrition in China.

Professor Huang Mingda believes that physical inactivity is connected with inadequate public sports facilities. Whereas overseas, everyone, young and old, goes for a morning jog, in China, pressure of work and long hours makes people too tired to take exercise before or after work.

“Inviting people to sweat is better than inviting them to dinner” is becoming a pet phrase. More and more Chinese people are paying attention to their lifestyle in the hopes of becoming healthier, rather than fatter.