The Chinese are faced with more food choices as they become more affluent.

More Western style eating habits including a taste for more sugar, salt and fizzy drinks are taking a toll on the health of the Chinese people.

Public-health experts in China say obesity has become a serious problem: Twenty-five percent of adults are overweight or obese, according to a 2008 study published in Health Affairs. But Cai Meqin, a nutritionist at Shanghai Jiaotong University, says all the overeating is partly a reaction to the food shortages under Chairman Mao a generation ago.

“At that time, Chinese people [did] not have much food to eat, so they [were] very slim, but right now we have much, much more food, so they eat more [and are] overweight,” says Cai.