Obese children attend summer exercise camp to lose weight. (Photo : Getty Images)
According to Joep Perk from the European Society of Cardiology, "It is the worst explosion of childhood and adolescent obesity that I have ever seen."
The rise in overweight adolescents is attributed to the increase of urban centers in the country, which made easier access to fast food and highly salted food. The report also revealed that there is a change "towards a diet with high fat, high energy density, and low dietary fiber."
Benjamin Shobert, Managing Director of Rubicon Strategy Group, a healthcare consultancy company, wrote an article expressing the worsening problem of obesity.
He wrote, "The intersection of China's burgeoning middle class, Western fast food franchises hunting for growth markets, and an entirely new type of high sugar, cholesterol and trans-fat food for the Chinese consumer has added a very real strain on the country's healthcare economy."
The healthcare expert added that the problem with an increase in overweight people reveal that China's program on health is not efficient, or may be getting worse.
"The problem of obesity in China is no laughing matter. There are already gaps in the country's primary and community care, and healthcare in China continues to be the crisis- or event-driven," he stated.
Shobert added that because the system is only on a per-need basis, parents of obese children only bring them to the doctor when the health problem is worse. People are poorly educated when it comes to living healthy.
The consultant noted that China needs to focus on informing the public on obesity.
He said, "A key component is offering food nutrition information to the Chinese consumer in a similar, easy to read and regulated manner as the USDA Food Pyramid and consumer packaging food label requirements."
