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Preface
The developing world is facing dramatic changes in food availability, dietary intake patterns, and lifestyle. These changes constitute the “nutrition transition” and are having important effects on the prevalence of chronic, non-communicable diseases, particularly obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.
China is unique among countries in nutrition transition because of the extraordinary pace at which these changes are occurring and also because of its size, representing one fifth of the world population. The classic Chinese diet based on rice and vegetables is being replaced by increasing amounts of animal products and a Western-type diet profile. At the same time, economic and technological development has dramatically lowered the energy demands of work and daily living, thus increasing the risk of a positive energy balance and excess weight gain. It is therefore not surprising that today China is facing a serious obesity epidemic. In the 15-year span from 1982 to 1997, the prevalence of overweight adults increased from 4% to 15%. There are currently 84 million overweight and 31 million obese people in China.