中国农村地区竟成为肥胖“重灾区”

中国农村地区竟成为肥胖“重灾区” ZCG: According to a new report, obesity is on the rise among rural Chinese children, as a Western-style diet high in sugar and carbohydrates, gains in popularity. Researchers found that 17 percent of boys and 9 percent of girls were classed as obese in 2014, up from under one percent for both genders in 1985. A study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology in March 2015 says three out of four people in China suffered from poor cardiovascular health. In addition, the prevalence of diabetes has more than doubled in 10 years. A major survey in April, published in The Lancet medical journal, has predicted that one in five adults in the world could be obese by 2025. MB: Now, why is this happening particularly in China’s rural regions? Is there an easy way to explain this? Bob Gilbert: The very first question one asks is to what extent can this be due to the genetic, as distinct from environmental effects. A couple of years ago, when the diabetes study emerged, it was not obvious [whether] the big increase in diabetes [was] due to diet or lack of exercise, or less of diet, combined with genetic effects. However, in the cases that have been discussed just now, [it] is very clearly an environmental effect, and because one can easily distinguish the environmental effect from genetics, because if one looks at young Chinese who have a western diet in countries like Australia, for example, where we have quite a significant population of young Chinese now eating western diet, obesity is not nearly as bad. It’s about the same as the general Australian population. There’s a clear environmental cause. As to whether it is the introduction of more western-style foods, that is harder to pin down. MB: What measures would you suggest to tackle this problem, then? Bob Gilbert: China is in the rather fortunate situation, compared to countries like Australia and the US, of having a more centralized government which can take initiatives that can be beneficial. If one then looks at what preventative measures might be taken, one can’t just say, “Oh, we’re going to make high sugar soft drinks much more expensive.” That may or may not be the case, but before public health measures are taken by governments, it’s very important to establish the right statistics. For example, to what extent are high sugar soft drinks, or tea, or whatever, much more widely consumed in a rural area now than they were, say, a decade ago? To what extent is western junk food more widely consumed? So one does need to establish the statistics of things that may be causative in this, and there certainly is no one single cause. I’ve mentioned the two very obvious ones. There may be others, but that opens it up, indeed, if it is found, for example, [that] high sugar soft drinks are quite significant, as is certainly the case in the UK, then a great increase on tax on those, as has been done in the UK, can certainly have a beneficial effect.