These items on the table may be the accomplices that make us fat and accelerate the incidence of cardiovascular diseases!

Did you know that the disease that causes the most deaths among Chinese people is not infectious diseases (such as COVID-19), cancer, or diabetes, which affects one in ten people, but cardiovascular disease...

The data in the "China Cardiovascular Health and Disease Report 2020" released by the National Center for Cardiovascular Disease is shocking:

The number of people suffering from cardiovascular diseases in China is as high as 330 million! The mortality rate caused by cardiovascular diseases accounts for 46.66% and 43.81% of the total mortality rate in rural and urban areas respectively, which means that at least 2 out of every 5 deaths are caused by cardiovascular diseases;

Rural cardiovascular disease mortality rates have exceeded and continued to be higher than urban levels since 2009;

The risk factors for cardiovascular disease mainly come from unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity, smoking and other unhealthy lifestyles.

What exactly is the reason that has accelerated the rapid growth of cardiovascular disease patients?

Yes! It is the change in diet! Especially now that many people's diet structure is showing a trend of higher fat content and less health, leading to an increase in heart disease and childhood obesity.

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China's diet is changing

The journal Nature used a set of data to remind the Chinese people:

1

Economic growth has led to changes in diet

Since the beginning of economic reforms in the late 1970s, after-tax consumption and savings (disposable income) of rural and urban households have increased more than 130 times. The average annual disposable income of an average urban household has increased from 343 yuan in 1978 (US$202 at the time) to more than 47,000 yuan in 2021 (US$7,288 at 2021 exchange rates).

The growth of economic income has made the middle class in rural and urban areas richer, and the dietary structure has also changed. In plain words, with more money in hand, people eat more delicious food.

In the past four or five decades, the consumption of meat, fats and sugar on the tables has been increasing, whether in urban or rural areas.

2

Meal Composition

Cereals: The consumption of grains in both urban and rural areas has declined. Data show that the urban area has dropped by 4.5%, and the rural area has even dropped by 35% (lower right of the figure below).

Meat and eggs: Chinese people eat much more meat than they did 30 years ago. The meat intake of rural people is increasing faster than that of urban people, and in 2021, it has increased by more than three times from 12 kg per person per year in 1990 (upper right of the picture below); the intake of eggs also shows a similar trend (lower left of the picture below);

Vegetables: From the upper left of the picture below, we can see an interesting trend. Although the vegetable intake of Chinese people has increased in both urban and rural areas, the increase in cities is not as large as that in rural areas.

Data from the National Nutrition Survey show that the proportion of carbohydrates in dietary energy decreased from 62.6% in 1991 to 50.6% in 2015. During the same period, the proportion of energy from fat increased from 24.0% to 35.8% - a figure similar to that of Western countries such as the United States.

3

Sodium intake

Eating too much salty food has always been a serious threat to the blood pressure and survival rate of Chinese people!

Chinese people's salt intake ranks first in the world! The average adult consumes nearly 11 grams of salt per day, which is more than twice the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended intake (5 grams/day)! In addition to habitual cooking, there are also takeout and restaurants.

The data tells us that the above changes in dietary composition are directly related to the aggravation of the following problems.

Childhood obesity

China is one of the countries with the highest rates of overweight and obesity among children under 5 years old in the world. In the figure below, the red line represents Chinese children, and the orange and yellow line represents American children. Currently, the overweight and obesity rates of children under 5 years old in China and the United States differ by only 0.5% (as of 2020, China is 8.3% and the United States is 8.8%), while the global average is 5.7%.

The pain of growing up and the cost of the future, I wonder if parents and children have the courage and ability to bear it? !

If you have overweight/obesity problems, or cardiovascular disease, or if you are not currently overweight/obese/cardiovascular disease but are on the verge of it, or if you have a family history of the disease, it is recommended that you make moderate adjustments to your diet in the following aspects:

1. Eat less and move more;

2. The Chinese Dietary Pagoda (2022 edition) recommends that adults consume 300 to 500 grams of vegetables per day;

3. Include whole grains (i.e. coarse grains) in your daily food intake. If your digestive function allows, it is best to account for about 1/3 to 1/2 of your daily food intake;

4. Eat 200-350 grams of fruit every day, but do not use fruit to replace staple food or meals;

5. Increase the intake of plant-based protein, such as tofu, soy milk, bean curd sticks, bean curd skin, dried bean curd, etc., as well as a small amount of nuts;

6. Control the intake of animal-derived protein, especially red meat and processed meat products (processed meat products refer to meat, poultry and seafood that are smoked, pickled, salted or added with other chemical preservatives, such as bacon, sausage, hot dogs, deli meat, Italian sausage and salami, etc.). Remove the fat when eating, and do not exceed 1 tael per day; of course, don't be too reckless with white meat;

7. Eat fish and shrimp 2-3 times a week, steaming or braising is the best;

8. Limit intake of added sugars, especially sugary drinks;

9. Reduce salt! Reduce salt! Reduce salt!

10. It is recommended that you use vegetable oil and less animal oil;

11. Don’t drink if you can. Drink less if you can.

Don’t forget to tell your loved ones after reading this, so that more people can stay away from the risk of “heartbreak”.

May there be no disease in the world!

References

[1] By the numbers: China's changing diet. SPOTLIGHT, 22 June 2023, doi: http://doi-org-443.bjmu.ilibs.cn/10.1038/d41586-023-02060-3

[2] Editorial team of the China Cardiovascular Health and Disease Report 2020. Interpretation of the key points of the China Cardiovascular Health and Disease Report 2020[J]. Chinese Journal of Cardiology, 2021, 26(3): 209-218. DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1007-5410.2021.03.001.

[3] Alice H. Lichtenstein, Lawrence J. Appel, et al., 2021 Dietary Guidance to Improve Cardiovascular Health: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2021;144:e472–e487

[4] https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001031

[5] https://www.cn-healthcare.com/articlewm/20210713/content-1242442.html

Planning and production

Source: Suiqian's Nutrition Hut

Author: Liu Suiqian, certified by the Australian Nutritionists Association, clinical practicing nutritionist

Review | Ruan Guangfeng, Deputy Director of Kexin Food and Health Information Exchange Center

Editor: Yinuo

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