Originally published October 12 2005
Survey reveals that a portion of China's children suffer from malnutrition
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety in Beijing has released a survey that estimates one-third of children in China's poorest regions are malnourished.
Nearly one-third of the children in China's poverty-stricken areas are malnourished, far more than in urban areas, in an example of the country's growing income disparity.
The survey conducted by the Beijing-based Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety found that more than 29 percent of children under five years old in China's poorest regions were growing at a slower than normal rate, China Daily said.
In contrast, only about one percent of their counterparts in urban areas are plagued by malnutrition, according to the survey conducted among more than 200,000 residents, including about 23,400 children aged five and below, across the country.
"The problem often surfaces when mothers stop breastfeeding their babies," Han Junhua, a researcher with the institute, was quoted by the China Daily as saying.
It is unclear why the mothers stop breastfeeding their babies, but many women in rural areas have to perform hard labor or travel away from home to make a decent living.
In rural areas, parents often depend on cheap syrup, malt, orange juice and even carbonated soft drinks to feed their children, the researcher said.
"As a result, toddlers in underdeveloped regions are also generally shorter than kids in cities," Han said.
Too rich a diet, on the other hand, has increased the level of obesity in China's larger, wealthier cities where milk, formula milk powder, yogurt and many other types of food are available.
Young people between three and 18 years old are on average three centimeters (1.2 inches) taller than a decade ago, it said.
However, the survey also found that 25 percent of children up to two years old in cities and 33 percent in rural areas suffer from anaemia, while 15 percent suffer Vitamin A deficiency.
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