Changes of Adult Population Health Status in China from 2003 to 2008

Sun, Hongpeng; Zhang, Qiuju; Luo, Xiao; Quan, Hude; Zhang, Feng; Liu, Chang; Liu, Meina

Second, many of the known risk factors for chronic diseases have dramatically increased as societal change progresses. These behavioral elements include changing diets, levels of physical activity, and alcohol and tobacco consumption and have accelerated shift at a historically unprecedented pace and scale in China. Dietary grains intake decreased substantially, whereas that of meat, fat, and edible oil increased [30, 31, 32] . Consequently, obesity in Chinese people has increased as well as hypercholesterolemia [33, 34] . Obesity is a major public health problem since it contributes to development and exacerbation of major chronic diseases [35, 36, 37] including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers. In addition, the increase in overweight people and obesity can be attributed to physical inactivity [38] . Physical activity helps a person maintain better posture and balance, stronger muscles and bones, more vitality, reduced stress, and continued independent living in later life [39] .