Amused
Elite Member
Battling the Bulge in China
CBS News
These days, it's hard to know what's growing faster, China's economy or its waistlines. Getting richer, it seems, is taking a toll, CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen reports.
The result: More than one in five adults in China is now overweight, and almost one in five has high blood pressure, putting them at risk for heart disease and diabetes.
The most disturbing news is that children, especially boys, are ballooning at record rates, which is why parents are sending their children to weight-loss camps.
"My mom says I'm too fat," one girl said. "Now I'm sweating a lot."
The number of overweight kids is up 28 times over the study's five-year period.
Add to that children considered obese, which has increased four times over that same period. It's not hard to place blame ? a culture where millions once wondered where they would get their next meal is now a nation growing addicted to fast food.
And when people aren't sitting in restaurants, they are sitting in front of a computer, or sitting in their cars. Long gone are the days when almost everyone rode a bike.
The odd thing is that this was once a culture of exercise, and still is for the older generation, who gather early in the morning in parks across the country.
"I do it to keep healthy," one man said. "To live longer and longer."
Music for dance or exercise can come from something as simple as a tape recorder.
"Young people would rather sleep," an elderly woman told Petersen with a laugh.
This kind of workout seems old-fashioned to younger Chinese, who are ignoring the wisdom of good diet and exercise at their own risk: the risk of being fat, which is increasing their risk of dying young.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/20/eveningnews/main1914027.shtml
CBS News
These days, it's hard to know what's growing faster, China's economy or its waistlines. Getting richer, it seems, is taking a toll, CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen reports.
The result: More than one in five adults in China is now overweight, and almost one in five has high blood pressure, putting them at risk for heart disease and diabetes.
The most disturbing news is that children, especially boys, are ballooning at record rates, which is why parents are sending their children to weight-loss camps.
"My mom says I'm too fat," one girl said. "Now I'm sweating a lot."
The number of overweight kids is up 28 times over the study's five-year period.
Add to that children considered obese, which has increased four times over that same period. It's not hard to place blame ? a culture where millions once wondered where they would get their next meal is now a nation growing addicted to fast food.
And when people aren't sitting in restaurants, they are sitting in front of a computer, or sitting in their cars. Long gone are the days when almost everyone rode a bike.
The odd thing is that this was once a culture of exercise, and still is for the older generation, who gather early in the morning in parks across the country.
"I do it to keep healthy," one man said. "To live longer and longer."
Music for dance or exercise can come from something as simple as a tape recorder.
"Young people would rather sleep," an elderly woman told Petersen with a laugh.
This kind of workout seems old-fashioned to younger Chinese, who are ignoring the wisdom of good diet and exercise at their own risk: the risk of being fat, which is increasing their risk of dying young.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/20/eveningnews/main1914027.shtml
