Childhood obesity in the U.S.--and China too?(Brief Article)

As I sat in a conference room in Beijing recently, I wondered: How can it be that China and the U.S. are adopting the worst examples of each other's diets?

Instead of adopting the vegetable/soy-rich core of the Chinese diet, the U.S. has (for years now) adopted the deep-frying of fat-rich meats and starchy foods served in a quasi-Chinese style. China's youth, unfortunately, appears to be going for fast-food chains as the nation tries to move into a modern trade economy.

In the U.S., here are some sobering stats about children and adolescents:

~ Physical inactivity has contributed to the 100 percent increase in childhood obesity in the U.S. since 1980.

~ Of children aged 5 to 16 who are overweight, 61 percent have one or more cardiovascular disease risk factors, and almost 30 percent have two or more!

~ The health consequences of childhood obesity have given rise to (in the past 20 years) type 2 diabetes in adolescents.

~ Nearly 50 percent of American youths aged 12-21 years are not physically active on a regular basis; about 14 percent of young people report no recent physical activity.