Many diseases have become unfamiliar to today's Chinese and infectious disease has dropped from the top spot to 10th place in the list of causes of death. The average life expectancy of the Chinese people has risen from 35 years before 1949 to the present 71 years, ranking in the forefront among developing countries. Diseases such as cholera, smallpox and schistosomiasis are normally considered directly or indirectly related to poverty and malnutrition. These chronic illnesses actually are lifestyle-based diseases. A survey shows that lifestyle-related diseases account for up to 47 percent of deaths in China, and 89.1 percent of those deaths are linked bad consumption habits.
Experts explicitly point out that affluenza is closely related to unhealthy lifestyles.
Nowadays, people eat more and exercise less. Excessive calorie intake and less exercise result in weight gain, which serves as a catalyst for the occurrence of diabetes, high blood pressure and coronary heart disease. Records indicate that the obese are four times more likely to contract diabetes and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases than those with normal weight. Some 40 percent of obese patients have high blood pressure and coronary heart disease because they suffer from an abnormal fat metabolism, with increased synthesis and slower breakdown of fat, resulting in vascular sclerosis. In 1999, malignant tumors and cerebrovascular and heart diseases were the top three causes of death for urban Chinese.