Podcast

Kids becoming fatter thanks to fast food

Updated: 2010-06-24 11:27

 

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Almost one-fifth of the second "single-child generation" often eats foreign fast food, a survey has found.

With many of the post-80s generation now married and with families of their own, the second "single-child generation" has arrived and is being seen as the first generation of Chinese people to grow up with too much food.

According to a dietary survey by China Youth and Children Research Center (CYCRC), 13.6 percent of the second "single-child generation" is obese.

More than 3,000 families from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenyang took part in the survey, including 820 local families.

The survey found 17.2 percent of children often eat fast food. Among the fast-food loving youths, the number of obese is much higher than average.

Fang Ming, 29, who takes his 5-year-old son to KFC every week, said he likes foreign fast food and enjoys taking his son with him.

"Foreign fast food is clean and delicious," he said. "The environment here is fine and they even provide my son with a small playground. My son likes it very much, both the food and the playground."

The results of the survey also reveal that children fed by grandparents are more likely to be overweight, because grandparents like to give children more food than they need. More than 30 percent of young children are cared for by grandparents.

Hao Zhixin, 61, a retail worker, said he takes his grandson to foreign fast food restaurants as a form of encouragement.

"Rather than seeing my grandson being picky about food, I would rather take him for fast food," he said. "Any time he makes progress in school, I will take him to eat fast food. My little grandson likes it and he eats more than he does at home and I am happy to see that."

However, most parents and grandparents do not have enough knowledge about nutrition, and only 6.6 percent of parents know the scientific composition of a healthy diet, the survey said.

Wang Yunfeng, a pediatrician at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, said foreign fast food is meat-based and high in fat, which provides more calories than the body needs. In the summer, eating greasy food may also cause intestinal diseases, Wang cautioned.

"For children, regular consumption of Western fast food makes it more likely they will be obese, have diabetes, cardiovascular and other diseases when they grow up," Wang said. "It is not conducive to their healthy growth."

Parents of the second "one-child generation" grew up in a period that saw the rapid development of Western fast food in China. They have accepted the lifestyle changes brought by foreign fast food, but haven't realized the negative influence of this lifestyle on their children, the survey found.

Sun Yunxiao, deputy director of the research center, said young parents should not only change their bad eating habits but help their kids to develop healthy ones.

Questions:

1. What percentage of children in China is obese?

2. What is thought to be the culprit?

3. Why are children fed by grandparents more likely to be overweight?

Answers:

1. According to a dietary survey by China Youth and Children Research Center (CYCRC), 13.6 percent of the second "single-child generation" is obese.

2. Western fast food. The survey found 17.2 percent of children often eat fast food. Among the fast-food loving youths, the number of obese is much higher than average

3. Because grandparents like to give children more food than they need.

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（中國日報(bào)網(wǎng)英語點(diǎn)津 Helen 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

Nelly Min is an editor at China Daily with more than 10 years of experience as a newspaper editor and photographer. She has worked at major newspapers in the U.S., including the Los Angeles Times and the Detroit Free Press. She is fluent in Korean and has a 2-year-old son.