Diabetes, obesity on rise for children in China

Diabetes, obesity on rise for children in China
BEIJNG (Reuters) - More Chinese children are becomingoverweight and prone to diet-related diseases like diabetes dueto unhealthy lifestyles and high stress linked to theirstudies, state media reported on Thursday, citing a top healthofficial.
More than one in five children were classified as obese andover 2 percent suffered type 2 diabetes, the China Daily said,citing a survey of 17,311 children aged eight to 18 by theBeijing Children's hospital.
Type 1 diabetes, a genetic condition, is the most commonform of diabetes in children, whereas Type 2 diabetes is linkedwith poor diet and a lack of exercise and is far more prevalentin adults.
"The number of children with type 2 diabetes has risensharply in recent years," Kong said.
"The figures reflect the trend that the number of childrensuffering from type 2 diabetes might soon exceed the number ofthose with type 1 diabetes," the paper quoted Kong Lingzhi,deputy director of the Disease Prevention and Control Bureauunder the Ministry of Health, as saying.
There are about 20 million people suffering from diabetesin China, according to the Ministry of Health Web site(www.moh.gov.cn).
"The number of children with diabetes has accounted for 5percent of all patients, and it is increasing by 10 percentevery year," Xinhua news agency quoted Li Qiang, an endocrinesecretion professor, as saying.
The rise in diabetes and obesity rates in China comes handin hand with an economic boom that has brought more wealth forfamilies to spend on food and less need to toil in fields for aliving.
The World Health Organization and Chinese Health Ministrywarned last year that a surge in chronic diseases could kill upto 80 million people in China alone in the next decade.