Chinese Diets and Obesity: Is The Western Diet a Threat?

The article, “Major Dietary Patterns in Relation to General and Central Obesity among Chinese Adults,” written by Yu, C., Shi, Z., Lv J., Du, H., Qi L., Guo Y., Bian, Z., Chang, L., Tang, X., Jiang, Q., Mu, H., Pan, D., Chen, J., Chen, Z., and Li, L., focuses on a popular health issue: obesity. Because of the health risks that come with obesity, Yu and the other researchers/authors performed an experiment to see how certain dietary patterns are related to obesity in China. Although general information about dietary patterns and obesity have been proven (such as diets with more fruits and vegetables are inversely associated with obesity), the researchers/authors wanted to produce data for people in China since there is a different food culture.

For their experiment, the researchers gathered general health data from 510,000 people (aged 30-79 years). The population was split into a northern and a southern group. The researchers then produced a baseline survey that had twelve major food groups: rice, wheat, other staples, meat, fish, poultry, eggs, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, preserved vegetables, soybean, and dairy products. The survey was handed to participants and the participants filled out how often (in days per week) they ate from that food group. The researchers then produced three different dietary patterns, a Southern Dietary Pattern, a Northern Dietary Pattern, and a Western Dietary Pattern. These patterns were based off geological areas and the “western” trend of having high intakes of meat, poultry, fish, eggs, soybean, fresh fruit, and dairy products. After a year, a repeat questionnaire and recollection of data was taken for comparison. The results of this experiment showed that those who followed a Western Dietary Pattern had higher body mass index measurements and larger waist circumferences than those who followed a Northern Dietary Pattern and Southern Dietary Pattern. The researchers concluded that there is a significant, but moderate increase in obesity when a Western Dietary Pattern is followed. Acknowledging the fact that a moderate increase of obesity might not mean much by itself, the researchers also stated that even a slight difference in a country that has a huge population, such as China, may have a huge impact.

There is a major flaw about the performed experiment that the article didn’t discuss about. Weight gain has a direct correlation to the amount of calories one intakes. [1] Although the experiment does ask for how often one eats from a certain food group, the value is measured in days per week. This is ambiguous as if a person only eats 50 calories of meat every day, it still counts as eating meat seven days a week.  By not counting the calories of how much one eats, any relations between obesity and diets aren’t strongly supported.

Despite the flaw, the article was very detailed about the procedure and outcomes of the experiment. The data also supports existing claims that high meat consumption is directly related to weight gain. [2] On top of that, the researchers also made a fine point of how a moderate difference can lead to a huge impact as the average obesity level in a country can rise slightly if enough people shift to the Western Dietary Pattern. People, especially Asians, who are interested in finding a diet that has a low risk of obesity can benefit from this article.

This study produced a direct relationship between the Western Dietary Pattern and obesity which supports present information about the relationship between increase meat intake and obesity. Although the goals of the researchers were met, this experiment should be done again by counting calories to further solidify the relationship between the Western Dietary Pattern and obesity.

Main Citation

Yu, C., Shi, Z., Lv J., Du, H., Qi L., Guo Y., Bian, Z., Chang, L., Tang, X., Jiang, Q., Mu, H., Pan, D., Chen, J., Chen, Z., & Li, L. (2015, July 15). Major Dietary Patterns in Relation to General and Central Obesity among Chinese Adults. Nutrients. 2015, 7(7), 5834-5849; doi:10.3390/nu7075253. Retrieved from http://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/7/7/5253/htm

References

[1] Defining Adult Overweight and Obesity. (2012, April 27). Retrieved October 5, 2015, from http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-causes/diet-and-weight/
[2] Vergnaud, A., Norat, T., Romaguera, D., Mouw, T., May, A., Travier, N., Luan, J., Wareham, N., Slimani, N., Rinaldi, S., Couto, E., Clavel-Chapelon, F., Boutron-Ruault, M., Cottet, V., Palli, D., Agnoli, C., Panico, S., Tumino, R., Vineis, P., Agudo, A., Rodriguiez, L., Sanches, M., Amiano, P., Barricarte, A., Huerta, J., Key, T., Spenser, E., Bueno-de-Mesquita, B., Buchner, F., Orfanos, P., Naska, A., Trichopoulou, A., Rohrmann, S., Hermann, S., Hoeing, H., Buijsse, B., Johansson, I., Hellstrom, V., Manjer, J., Wirfalt, E., Jakobson, M., Overvad, K., Tjonneland, A., Halkjaer, J., Lund, E., Braaten, T., Engeset, D., Odysseos, A., Riboli, E., Peeters, P. (2010, June 30). Meat consumption and prospective weight change in participants of the EPIC-PANACEA study. American Society for Nutrition. doi:10.3945/ajcn.2009.28713. Retrieved from http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/92/2/398.full

Written by: Tony Chu