Family
Obesity Being a Problem in Families ...
DIEGO LANDEROS
Pitted against the U.S., China’s still looking skinny, the report said, noting that the U.S. accounts for 13% of the world’s obesity, while China and India together represent 15%. There are three times as many obese or overweight men in the U.S. than in China and twice as many obese or overweight women in the U.S., it said. More than half of the world’s 671 million obese people live in 10 countries, the study said.
Though obesity is more of an adult phenomenon in China, children and adolescents aren’t immune. The study’s authors say that China’s child obesity is alarming: According to their findings, 23% of Chinese boys under age 20 are overweight or obese, while comparable figure for girls is 14%. Such figures largely surpass those of other high-income countries, including Japan and South Korea.
Childhood obesity has severe health effects, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and various types of cancers, said Marie Ng, the study’s lead author and a professor of global health at the University of Washington. The high percentages in China are “especially troubling.” Ms. Ng said. “We need to be thinking now about how to turn this trend around.”
Pitted against the U.S., China’s still looking skinny, the report said, noting that the U.S. accounts for 13% of the world’s obesity, while China and India together represent 15%. There are three times as many obese or overweight men in the U.S. than in China and twice as many obese or overweight women in the U.S., it said. More than half of the world’s 671 million obese people live in 10 countries, the study said.
Though obesity is more of an adult phenomenon in China, children and adolescents aren’t immune. The study’s authors say that China’s child obesity is alarming: According to their findings, 23% of Chinese boys under age 20 are overweight or obese, while comparable figure for girls is 14%. Such figures largely surpass those of other high-income countries, including Japan and South Korea.
Childhood obesity has severe health effects, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and various types of cancers, said Marie Ng, the study’s lead author and a professor of global health at the University of Washington. The high percentages in China are “especially troubling.” Ms. Ng said. “We need to be thinking now about how to turn this trend around.”