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You are what you eat, and it is a nutritionist's job to ensure what his or her client puts into the body is healthy.
Italian nutritionist Alberto Fiorilo, a practitioner of natural biomedicine, recently said at an Italian embassy seminar in Beijing that too many people in the modern world are not eating healthily.
Natural biomedicine is based on the idea that nature has the resources to heal sick people.
Statistics from the World Health Organization and disease control and prevention centers in the United States and Europe have shown that the prevalence of diabetes, obesity and cancer among children and adolescents has climbed high in the past three decades. This, Fiorilo believes, can be largely contributed to changes in lifestyles and dietary habits.
"Unhealthy food is the primary enemy to stay healthy," Fiorilo says, adding that people are eating too much red meat and processed food.
An adult should eat less than 300 grams of red meat a week. Even Mediterranean diets are not as healthy as people think, because modern bread is mostly made from fine flour and does not provide comprehensive nutrients, such as vitamins, he adds.
Fan Zhihong, another nutritionist at the seminar, said Chinese people's eating patterns have changed greatly in the past 30 years, which has contributed to a rise in incidences of chronic diseases.
Fan is a member of the board of directors of the Chinese Nutrition Society and is an associate professor of nutrition and food safety at the Beijing-based China Agricultural University.
Generally, Chinese consume too little whole grain, potatoes and yams, but too much animal-based food, resulting in an imbalanced diet, Fan says, adding that many Chinese people's consumption of pork is very high, compared with low-fat meats such as poultry and fish.
Today, Chinese people consume more fats and animal protein versus vegetable protein than they have in the past.
Chinese also consume inadequate amounts of milk, legumes, fruit and whole grain, but excessive salt and oil, Fan says.
Fan says consumption of calcium has dropped significantly, and water-soluble vitamin intake has gone down although Vitamin A intake has increased.
"As Chinese people's income rises, our health has gotten worse," Fan says.
The rate of abdominal obesity among Chinese, also known as beer belly, now has reached 45.2 percent, as the average waistline for Chinese male adults has increased to 86.9 centimeters, and for females to 80.7 centimeters.
This has resulted in a significant increase in various chronic diseases, such as high blood pressure, hyperlipidaemia and diabetes, although the good news is that few urban residents suffer from anemia.
In Beijing, among the population above the age of 18, about one in 10 has diabetes, and one in three has high blood pressure, Fan says.
Fan strongly supports the diet and nutrition recommendations issued by the Chinese Nutrition Society, which says people's daily diet should include 300g to 500g of vegetables, 200g to 400g of fruit, 30g to 50g of legumes and nut seeds, 50g to 75g of lean meat, 50g to 100g of water products, and 250g to 400g of staples, including one-third whole grain and also potatoes and yams.
Fan says adults should consume less than 25g to 30g of oil and 5g of salts.
She also suggests people exercise for at least half an hour every day.
Fiorilo, the Italian nutritionist, agrees, saying: "It is not easy to truly realize the health damage unhealthy food is able to cause, but it is never too late to take action."
liuzhihua@chinadaily.com.cn
