China health under pressure from rapid change in diets
Increasing wealth and urbanisation on the mainland have led to a dramatic change in eating habits – and a matching shift in the causes of premature death, writes Jeanette Wang
China’s rapid economic growth and emergence as a global power has been accompanied by other speedy developments, two of which made headlines on the same day a fortnight ago: McDonald’s expansion plans, and a new study on the mainland’s shifting disease patterns from infectious to chronic illnesses.
It’s a timely coincidence. Diet is the leading risk factor for premature death on the mainland, accounting for one in three deaths in 2010, according to the study published in The Lancet.
Comparing data from the World Health Organisation’s Global Burden of Disease (GBD) studies of 1990 and 2010, researchers found a rapid change in the nation’s health profile. Infectious, maternal, neonatal and nutritional disorders declined sharply in prevalence as non-communicable diseases rose.
About 85 per cent of China’s 8.3 million deaths in 2010 were due to non-communicable diseases, with stroke, ischaemic heart disease, cancers and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease the top causes of premature death.
“The burden of diseases attributable to individual behaviours and practices is steadily rising,” writes Dr Yang Gonghuan, professor at Peking Union Medical College and co-lead author of the paper. These include diet, smoking, drinking alcohol and physical inactivity.
The research team – from the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Peking Union Medical College and the Seattle-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation – say the key dietary problems are the high consumption of sodium and inadequate intake of fruit, whole grains, nuts and seeds.