Henk Bekedam, WHO's Beijing representative, claimed on last Wednesday that 23% of Chinese citizens are overweight, and the government has had to implement effective measures aiming to keep people slim.

On the speech made during a seminar on obesity in Beijing, Dr. Bekedam also revealed that more than 33% of Chinese adults suffer from hypertensions, more than 42 million people will suffer from diabetes in 2030, and there are still 320 million smokers in China.
He said that several factors make Chinese people overweight, like unhealthy diet habit, high cholesterol taking and excessive drinking and smoking. A survey shows that the mortality of cardiovascular diseases aged between 35 to 64 is 22% in China, compared to  12% in the USA.

Bekeham said that Chinese people knew well about how to keep fit in the past, but the globalization and urbanization are gradually changing people's lifestyles. He further appealed to the Chinese government to do more against obesity, lest the occurrence of related diseases increase.

(Chinanews.cn November 28, 2006)