Legislation under way on Public Nutrition

2005/12/15

China is planning to draft legislation concerning public nutrition to improve the health of the nation's residents, according to an official of the Ministry of Health.

"The ministry has designated some experts with the China Nutrition Academy to make a study of legislation, especially that concerning the nutritional needs of children, the elderly, the ill,?said Chen Hui, head of the policy and law department of the health ministry.

According to statistics provided by World Bank, China's immediate losses caused by malnutrition were estimated at 400 billion yuan-680 billion yuan (US$49.3 billion-84.9 billion) in 2004.

Some chronic diseases induced by irrational diets are also on the increase. There are now 20 million sufferers of diabetes and 7.1 percent of adults suffer from obesity.



	Article featured in Business Beijing, December 2005 Publication sponsored by Information Office of the Beijing Municipal Government, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce, Development & Reform Commission of Beijing Municipality, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (Beijing Sub-Council)