While 24 million people in China live in abject poverty and
suffer malnutrition, 60 million Chinese are obese, a nutritional
health expert has said.
Pan Beilei, deputy director with the government-affiliated State
Food and Nutrition Consultant Committee, said at an ongoing
conference on food consumption and health in Beijing that
unbalanced diets have led to various health problems.
"An increasing number of Chinese are eating more fat and junk
food but less grains and vegetables, leading to a high number of
cases of high blood pressure and diabetes," Pan said.
Statistics show that about 160 million Chinese have high blood
pressure and 20 million have diabetes.
Pan called on the government and academic organizations to give
some dietary guidance to citizens.
The widening wealth gap is also to blame for regional diet
difference. Narrowing the regional income gap will help improve the
diet of citizens in poverty-stricken areas and make them more
healthy, Pan said.
(Xinhua News Agency November 6, 2006)