I’ve talked about , , and in China over at my blog t a lot. But obesity is something I’ve touched only briefly on, not only because I have done most of my work recently in rural areas (not seeing a lot of obesity there yet), but also because it is such a new phenomenon in China that epidemiologists have only recently begun to catch up.
But of course, we all know obesity in China is not just an up-and-coming problem; it is here and now (see my post on ). I just googled “” and came up with, oh, about 29,800,000 hits. That’s almost thirty million for those of you who don’t think in zero’s. That’s kind of incredible, seeing as how less than thirty years ago obesity was almost unheard of.
Weight Gain Among Children
The other day, I met with the nutrition specialist at UNICEF China to discuss nutrition projects going on in-country. Our conversation settled in on obesity pretty comfortably; UNICEF has also taken notice of the sharp rise in weight among Chinese school children and is starting weight management programs in urban areas.
Wait, what? UNICEF is working on obesity projects in CHINA?
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So what is causing China’s weight gain, especially among their children?
It’s quite simple. Urbanization + increased paychecks + a one child policy + very little nutrition education + the largest single economic and social expansion since the beginning of time: well, you’ve got yourself a recipe for obesity.
But is this really true? We tend to think this is more than obvious, but have there been any large-scale studies on overweight Chinese children actually proving this?
Below I’ve listed six reasons, backed by scientific research (and a few large-scale studies), on the weight-gain phenomenon in China.
1.Little Emperor (???)
This is probably the reason for the rise in overweight children. I’m not sure I entirely buy what has to say about the “little emperor syndrome” (many “only” children in China grow up well-adjusted and socialized), but it is important to note as a factor in the bulging waistlines of China’s children. Because of the notorious “one-child policy”, each child in China now has four grandparents, two parents, a zillion aunts and uncles to dote on them. And JUST them. You want some noodles? How ’bout some more? and more and more and more?
2.
I once asked about the rise in obesity rates with one of my Chinese colleagues at Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine. She replied very matter of factly that it is NOT that Chinese children are eating the wrong things, but simply between the city and the country. “In the countryside, you work very hard all the time. But in the city, we just sit behind a desk, then get into a taxi and go home. But we eat the same amount!”. And indeed, shows that urban residents expend much less energy than their rural counterparts. They also eat much more processed foods high in fat and simple carbohydrates. Which brings us to number 3…
3. Branding food
Yes, anyone who has lived in China for five minutes has seen the overflowing KFC’s and McDonalds, the instant noodles and bottles of coke lined up at every corner. I have watched plenty of TV here in China, and I have yet to see a cute commercial promoting eggplant. I just love about a Beijinger’s recent experience in South Korea, discussing her experience with obsession with body image coinciding with tempting bakeries on every corner. With ads for convenience food popping up everywhere and KFC in every high end mall, how are we supposed to teach kids that fresh vegetables are sexy too?
4. Economic expansion
China’s overweight children are mainly from . A generation of economic expansion has led to families having greater access to many new things, food being main among them. And out of the University of Southern California shows that it’s not junk food these kids are eating; it’s, well, kind of “healthy” foods. Yes they are eating fast food, and yes they are eating convenience foods. But they are also eating lots and lots of what has been traditionally considered healthy foods as well. They’re just eating much, much more. So while in other places we nutritionists are trying to change the makeup of the diet (think food guide pyramid, , etc), in China health professionals are trying to get urban kids to just decrease overall consumption.
Mis-matched to this new accessibility of food is old ideas of what “healthy” actually means. I remember that to learn the word for “full and happy life” in my Chinese class at CET Harbin, we learned in in the sentence “When someone has a full and happy life, they start to get fatter” (true story). I thought I had fallen and gone to heaven at that moment (you want me live in a country where fat = fabulous? SIGN ME UP!), until I realized fat does not always equal fabulous, especially when it gives you diabetes and costs your country billions. But, if you grew up in a place where the one wealthy family in town had an overweight toddler, and people in the prosperous cities are getting fatter while your rural kids are going hungry, you might think that being overweight is a sign of a full and happy life too.
5. Malnourished mothers = obese children?
This is a hot topic among physicians and the international public health community currently, and I have on it myself. In a nutshell, if a child is born to a malnourished mother, there is a good chance they are born underweight, which predisposes them to obesity and a slew of other problems. One of the theories is that while in-utero, the unborn infant’s genes have been programmed to believe they are about to enter a world of deprivation, and plan accordingly. So instead of needing to live on 2,000 calories a day (for example), they only need 1,200. But they are born into a world where everyone is eating 2,000+ calories a day. And we all know what happens when you only need 1,200 calories but eat 2,000. Those 800 calories end up on your hips.
6. Nutrition Education
I was riding in a cab with a student of Xi’an Northwestern University last week, and we were discussing the lack nutrition programs in colleges in China. We were interrupted by an overweight and incredibly offended cab driver. “You are wrong about there being no nutrition education in China!” the cab driver said while almost driving off the road in anger. “What do YOU know about China? We are ALL nutrition experts here!” Not being one to criticize my cab driver in urban China traffic, I petered out a “Please tell me more China expert”, while the cab came dangerously close to a toddler on the back of a bike. “We have five thousand years of Chinese history! Our Chinese medicine has grown out of this history, and we know more about nutrition than anyone else in the world!” he all but yelled at me.
The student and I just sat there, sadly unable to explain to him the dangerous rise in micronutrient deficiencies, malnutrition, obesity, and multitude of other concerns China is facing precisely due to lack of nutrition experts and programs able to keep up with demand. The China of today is not the China of 5,000 years ago anymore; it now has one-child policies, urbanization, economic and social expansion, and Dairy Queen to deal with.
About the Author
Obesity is spreading
like a disease. Whether it is teenagers, adults, old people or children,
obesity is catching hold in every age group. People ought to think and adopt
a healthy life style before it’s too late.
I work in China in the healthcare industry and I find the role of Chinese medicine very interesting. For certain things, like colds, skin conditions and laduzi, I use it. There actually is thousands of years of observed effects on that. For diabetes, that logic doesn’t hold. The world doesn’t have thousands of years with type 2 diabetes, it has 60 (that’s a guess). China has even less. Therefore the longevity argument doesn’t apply.