The Atlantic

Despite the somewhat misleading title, a recent article in The Atlantic describes a recent study comparing childhood obesity in America and China:

For the study, published in the current issue of The American Journal of Health Behavior, Spruijt-Metz and her fellow researchers analyzed cross-sectional survey data on food-intake frequency from 9,023 middle and high school students and one parent from seven large cities in China. They found that sedentary activities, such as watching TV or using the computer, were related to greater odds of being overweight, just as in the U.S. More interestingly, they also uncovered several unexpected behaviors that were correlated with higher incidences of being overweight, including more vigorous exercise, less candy and fast food intake, less frequent snacking, more fruit consumption, and higher arental educational attainment.

People who visit the United States (and certain other Western countries) from China often remark on how many overweight people they notice upon arriving, and it doesn't take a genius to recognize how prevailing lifestyle habits (junk food, lack of exercise, driving everywhere) contribute to higher obesity rates in certain countries. But, as the article points out, what's interesting in comparing China and America's childhood obesity rates is the different co-relations between social class and diet in both countries:

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