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Socioeconomic changes have rapidly increased obesity in young rural Chinese.Researchers found 17% of boys and 9% of girls under the age of 19 were obese in 2014, up from 1% for each in 1985.
Nearly 28,000 students in Shandong province are obesity victims.The study used a stricter cut-off of the Body Mass Index (BMI) than the World Health Organization standard.
The study said China’s rapid socioeconomic and nutritional transition had led to an increase in energy intake and a decrease in physical activity.
The traditional Chinese diet had shifted towards a diet “with high fat, high energy density and low dietary fibre”.