Action plan needed to address obesity

Obesity is increasingly, and rapidly, becoming a serious public health problem in China, particularly among children and adolescents. According to Chinese Ministry of Health data, boys aged 6 years are taller and heavier on average now than 30 years ago. Because obesity can have serious consequences on children's health and quality of life, as well as on the country's economy, this is a problem that demands urgent attention. Some doctors have warned that obesity could become China's biggest public health problem in the future.

China and many other developing countries have to bear a "double burden" - widespread under-nutrition, particularly among children in rural areas, and a rapid increase in overweight, obesity and related diseases such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke, type II diabetes, and certain forms of cancer. Obesity and its related complications cost the government several billion yuan a year.

There are several reasons for the increase in obesity among the younger population. As a result of improving living standards, particularly in the main cities, there has also been an increase in the intake of fast food from food chains such as McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut and Starbucks, which offer foods high in salt, sugar and calories from fat. At the same time, there has been a decrease in the consumption of cereals, fruits and vegetables.