Chinese people are slightly fitter than they were five years ago, but the nation’s youth are are also noticeably fatter and their eyesight is deteriorating, Chinese officials said on Monday.
Better nutrition and increased physical activity had raised China’s “fitness level” 0.75 percent since 2000, health and sports officials told a news conference, citing a national survey of nearly 500,000 people across China.
But lifestyle changes and fast food had also seen students grow wider as well as taller, said Yang Guiren, a survey official.
“Overall, the 2005 results show that our students’ physical condition is good. But there are still some issues that are difficult to ignore,” Yang said.
“The modern diet has brought about many positive changes... but also brought about problems prevalent in Western countries such as obesity... This is particularly severe in children and youth living in cities.”
Obesity rates in city-dwelling male Chinese students between seven and 22 had increased to 11.39 percent, up 2.7 percent since 2000, while the 5.01 percent of obese female students was up 1.4 percent, Yang said.
“A large part of this is a lack of knowledge about nutrition... The most important thing is education,” Yang said.
The survey had also highlighted alarming increases in the rate of students with weak eyesight -- a trend blamed in part to larger study burdens and consumption of television, the Internet and computer games.
Some 31 percent of primary school students had weak eyesight — up 8.5 percent — along with 76.02 percent of high school students, up 3.5 percent.
Although, the last five years had seen some positive developments, including a lower incidence of malnutrition, tooth decay and digestive infections in young people, Yang said students needed to get out more.
“We need to encourage students to proactively participate in physical activity... This needs to be driven by both families and and schools,” Yang said.
