A group posing as a health organization but funded by Coca Cola and other fast food and drinks companies sought to undermine the Chinese government’s anti-obesity efforts, a new paper claims.

As China’s middle class swells and its citizens get a taste of the good life, their waistbands have also expanded. 42 percent of the Chinese population are overweight and 11 percent obese.

Meanwhile, western fast food chains have set up franchises at breakneck pace. McDonalds plans to have 4,500 restaurants in China by 2022, adding around 1,000 outlets per year. KFC – China’s most popular fast food restaurant – already has 5,000 outlets and plans to keep expanding.

The Chinese government has noticed the bulge, and announced a public health blueprint, ‘Healthy China 2030’, two years ago. Among the blueprint’s recommendations are a nationwide information campaign to educate the population on the importance of a balanced, healthy diet.

Behind the scenes, western fast food giants were already hard at work deflecting blame from themselves. The International LIfe Sciences Institute (ILSI), set up in 1978 by a former Coke executive, organized obesity conferences around China, where speakers overemphasized the importance of physical activity in fighting fatness, and downplayed the role of diet, according to a paper published Wednesday by the British Medical Journal.

https://www.rt.com/news/448519-china-fast-food-america/

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