by
Houqing Liu, Manager, Grain Analysis Office, Satake Manufacturing (Suzhou) Co,
Ltd, People’s Republic of China
Since 1949, the food industry in China has experienced four stages of transition. During the first stage, the market suffered a shortage of products and the country experienced constant hunger. During the 1980’s, the country began to produce sufficient products, as a result of agricultural policy reform and technology development, and the people were satisfied with the supply of food.
The period from the new millennium, until around 2015, is considered as a stage of food selection - consumers being able to select food that matched their desired taste from an abundant variety of products. 2015 onwards saw the start of a stage of functional foods.
Current statistics
For adults born in the first stage, especially the generation born in 1960’s and 70’s, satiety represents happiness since they remember the shortage of food. This is causing an over consumption of energy/fat resulting in a dramatic increase in the incidence of lifestyle disease in that age group. According to the 2015 data from China Food Daily and Guang Hua Best, there are 270 million hypertension sufferers, 92 million diabetics, over 100 million hyperlipemia sufferers, and 70 million obese patients in China.
Improvement in lifestyle and oversupply of food cause a continuous increase in chronic disease by over nutrition. Additionally, stress from pollution, work and social life is also considered as one of the major causes of the increase in lifestyle disease. Including potential patients, over 70 percent of the population requires some form of health improvement.
The lifestyle disease relates to both national development and economic growth. A study estimates the economic loss, due to production decrease caused by disease, is accumulated to be US $550 billion from 2005 to 2015. Dramatic changes in people’s lifestyle and environment, caused by industrialisation, urbanisation and population aging of the nation, has resulted in a continuous increase in the number of lifestyle disease patients and deaths. It is said that less than three percent of white workers in Chinese major cities are truly healthy.
On Baidu, there are 123,449 searches for “diet”, and 25,628 searches for “sleeping improvement”, on a given single day. On the other hand, there are only 640 searches for “health food”, and 151 for “health functional products”. The 2015 statistics published by the Chinese National Health Commission illustrates that only 6.8 percent of the population are knowledgeable in health-related information or are health conscious.
This indicates that the Chinese population has started to be more health-conscious but are still looking for a solution to maintain their health. The Chinese National Health Commission predicts that this number will grow to 20 percent by the year 2020.
Also, The General Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China issued the “Medium-to-Long Term Plan of China for the Prevention and Treatment of Chronic Diseases (2017-2025)” on January 22, 2017. According to the plan, the government will target a 10 percent decrease in the number of chronic diseases, currently 260 million between ages of 30-to-70, by 2020, applying effective preventative measures, and an additional 20 percent by 2025, through controlling the disease developing mechanism. The government is well aware of the issue and has started to take major counter measures to prevent it.
Read more HERE.
Since 1949, the food industry in China has experienced four stages of transition. During the first stage, the market suffered a shortage of products and the country experienced constant hunger. During the 1980’s, the country began to produce sufficient products, as a result of agricultural policy reform and technology development, and the people were satisfied with the supply of food.
The period from the new millennium, until around 2015, is considered as a stage of food selection - consumers being able to select food that matched their desired taste from an abundant variety of products. 2015 onwards saw the start of a stage of functional foods.
Current statistics
For adults born in the first stage, especially the generation born in 1960’s and 70’s, satiety represents happiness since they remember the shortage of food. This is causing an over consumption of energy/fat resulting in a dramatic increase in the incidence of lifestyle disease in that age group. According to the 2015 data from China Food Daily and Guang Hua Best, there are 270 million hypertension sufferers, 92 million diabetics, over 100 million hyperlipemia sufferers, and 70 million obese patients in China.
Improvement in lifestyle and oversupply of food cause a continuous increase in chronic disease by over nutrition. Additionally, stress from pollution, work and social life is also considered as one of the major causes of the increase in lifestyle disease. Including potential patients, over 70 percent of the population requires some form of health improvement.
The lifestyle disease relates to both national development and economic growth. A study estimates the economic loss, due to production decrease caused by disease, is accumulated to be US $550 billion from 2005 to 2015. Dramatic changes in people’s lifestyle and environment, caused by industrialisation, urbanisation and population aging of the nation, has resulted in a continuous increase in the number of lifestyle disease patients and deaths. It is said that less than three percent of white workers in Chinese major cities are truly healthy.
On Baidu, there are 123,449 searches for “diet”, and 25,628 searches for “sleeping improvement”, on a given single day. On the other hand, there are only 640 searches for “health food”, and 151 for “health functional products”. The 2015 statistics published by the Chinese National Health Commission illustrates that only 6.8 percent of the population are knowledgeable in health-related information or are health conscious.
This indicates that the Chinese population has started to be more health-conscious but are still looking for a solution to maintain their health. The Chinese National Health Commission predicts that this number will grow to 20 percent by the year 2020.
Also, The General Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China issued the “Medium-to-Long Term Plan of China for the Prevention and Treatment of Chronic Diseases (2017-2025)” on January 22, 2017. According to the plan, the government will target a 10 percent decrease in the number of chronic diseases, currently 260 million between ages of 30-to-70, by 2020, applying effective preventative measures, and an additional 20 percent by 2025, through controlling the disease developing mechanism. The government is well aware of the issue and has started to take major counter measures to prevent it.
Read more HERE.
The Global Miller
This blog is maintained by The Global Miller staff and is supported by the magazine Milling and Grain
which is published by Perendale Publishers Limited.
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