The statistics for obese Chinese children and teenagers have grown alarmingly in the last few years according to Ministry of Health statistics. Coupled with this the problem of diabetes is also rising fast among all age groups. For example in the city of Wuhan in the central Hubei province 600 children and teenagers were recorded as having diabetes. Just four years ago that figure was only 4.

It is estimated that in China there are now 40 million men and women suffering from diabetes and the majority of these cases occur in cities and rural areas which are more affluent. China is going through massive change at the moment with economic liberalisation which is having a significant affect on the diet of ordinary Chinese people. Their previous diet of boiled rice and vegetables is now rapidly changing to a diet full of fast and processed food. In some rural areas where the effects of the economic change have not been felt the rates of obesity and diabetes are much lower.

The Ministry of Health in Beijing recently announced a campaign to educate citizens about the dangers of diabetes and to encourage people to live and eat healthily. Free advice centres have been set up to give information to the public about how to live a healthy lifestyle. Large amounts of advertisements using television, internet and radio as well as in newspapers have also been initiated on the insistence of the Health Minister Chen Zhu.

The worrying thing about the rates of obesity rising in China is that there are so many Chinese people that the nation’s productivity could seriously be affected by a severe obesity crisis. It is important that the Chinese obesity crisis is nipped in the bud and so that obesity rates do not get to the point where they are as severe as countries like America.