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China to combat growing obesity problem with new nutritional standards
China is to combat a growing obesity problem by standardising nutritional regulations aimed at raising awareness about the medical dangers of becoming fat. A doctor treats an obese patient at a hospital in Shanghai. China is to combat a growing obesity problem by standardising nutritional regulations aimed at raising awareness about the medical dangers of becoming fat. [AFP] Severe obesity in the country's large and wealthier cities such as Shanghai and Beijing now affects some 16 to 20 percent of its youth, the China Daily said. At the current rate at least 200 million people in China will suffer from obesity within 10 years if current trends spurred by unhealthy lifestyles continue, medical experts believe. Out of a current population of 1.3 billion people China now has 90 million obese citizens whose weight is more than 20 percent in excess of the accepted level. High fat fast-food diets and round-the-clock snacking were to blame, it said, adding Chinese had happily adopted more sedentary lifestyles centred around the television, computer and automobile. "Two groups of people should be addressed with greater attention -- poor people and juveniles," said Jiang Jianping, a deputy director with the China Children Centre. Under the direction of one planned nutritional health body, the new department would, for example, aim to standardise nutritional levels in school cafeterias, the newspaper said. "I do not care whether it will be a ministry or department, but there should be one body in charge of the function," said Yu Xiaodong, director of the Centre for Public Nutrition.
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