The waistlines of Beijing's children and teens are expanding at alarming high rates, a new survey indicated.
Obesity among students at the capital's primary and middle schools hit 15.6 percent in 2014, up 2.6 percent from 2013, according to data released by Beijing's public health watchdog on Thursday.
Among those chubby kids, over 60 percent suffered from increased blood glucose, one third had raised blood pressure, and 16 percent were diagnosed with fatty liver, the survey showed.
Bad eating habits and inadequate physical activities were blamed for the super-sizing of children and adolescents in Beijing, the public health watchdog said.
According to another survey tracking the health of 36,962 college and high school students in Beijing, about 40 percent of them did not get enough exercise, 42.1 percent spent more than two hours in front of the computer, and 37.4 percent regularly skipped breakfast.
Public health authorities believed that the results may shed some light on prime culprits in the obesity epidemic.
Authorities also said they are rolling out programs to promote healthier eating and allocate more time for physical activities in schools to prevent kids from becoming overweight.
