30 percent of Chinese adults overweight

BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Thirty percent of Chinese adults are overweight, and 11.9 percent obese, according to China's health watchdog Thursday.

"Among Chinese children aged six to 17, 9.6 percent were overweight and 6.4 percent obese," said Liang Xiaofeng, deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

"The unhealthy lifestyle of eating too much salt, oil, and sugar and doing too little exercise was more and more common in China as eating habits change and life goes faster," he said.

According to the CDC, the average intake of salt for Chinese adults in 2016 was 10.5 grams while the suggested amount according to Chinese Dietary Guidelines was less than 6 grams. The average intake of cooking oil for Chinese adults was 42.1 grams while the suggested amount was 25 to 30 grams.

"The number of Chinese patients suffering chronic disease, especially high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity, has grown quickly," Liang said.