World's heaviest toddler? Lu Zhihao weighs 136
Four-year-old Lu Zhihao, who weighs 136 pounds, near his home in Foshan city in China's Guangdong province on Tuesday, April 12, 2011.
/ AP(CBS) Childhood obesity is now a growing problem not only in America but also in China - as heavyweight toddler Lu Zhihao makes abundantly clear. The 3'7" four-year-old tips the scales at an astonishing 136 pounds, the Australian Daily Telegraph reported.
The boy, nicknamed Xiao Hao, or "Little Hao," was born at normal weight but started to grow quickly when he was three months old, his parents told the Associated Press. Local doctors have found no medical reason to explain the boy's unusual size - and therefore blame bad eating habits.
A Hong Kong clinic has offered free weight-loss help for the boy, whom Chinese media have cruelly dubbed "the No. 1 fat kid," and his parents are awaiting a permit to travel there, the Telegraph reported. In the meantime, the boy's parents - who report no family history of obesity - have cut down his regular three bowls of rice per meal to one bowl, the Telegraph reported.
As China grows richer, its population is growing more overweight. Nearly a decade ago, a Chinese government study found more than 60 million obese adults, a number that had doubled in one decade. Some estimates peg China's overweight population at numbers greater than the total U.S. population.
Only one in 70 people in China are considered obese, as compared to one in three people in America. But China's population is more than 1.3 billion. All this means that Lu Zhihao is almost certainly not the only Chinese toddler facing a life-or-death weight issue. Last year, media reports surfaced of a 95-pound then-two-year-old girl in China named Pang Ya.
CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton reported recently on new research showing that people with addictive eating behaviors show brain activity similar to that of people addicted to drugs or alcohol - all the more important in light of statistics showing two-thirds of Americans are obese or overweight.
China's 136-pound 4-year-old
Popular in Health
- Surgeons remove 4-pound hairball from tiger 10 Photos
- Teens guiltiest of underestimating calories in fast food
- FDA: 7 infections linked to Tenn. compounding pharmacy
- Scientists scratch the surface of itching's origins
- Once obese dachshund gets surgery to remove excess skin
- Drinking sugary drinks daily linked to kidney stones
- Surgeons remove 4-pound hairball from 400-pound tiger
- Texas baby born after her mother was technically dead
Note: OSA causes obesity because of cortisol surges and other hormonal changes (such as elevated ghrelin and lowered lepin levels) during airway obstructions. Treat OSA and the ravenous appetite subsides.
I have visited china and can tell you it is obvious most people there are still thin. The exact opposite holds true in America though I suppose china could become as fat as we are some day.
But my main point is it is wrong to sensationalize a specific individuals disease to malign an entire people who aren't nearly as fat as we are.
As to the Chinese government's worries about an overweight population.... well, you wanted our economy our jobs and our prosperity, now take our vices and health problems too...... and may you choke on 'em.
Having traveled all my life to many countries around the world, obesity is endemic to Americans. It's the rule, not the exception. This child is the exception in China, as with most of the world. Europe is beginning to see a younger generation tipping the scale slightly higher than in the past but primarily because of the introduction of eateries such as Mac Donald's, Burger King and the like.
European food is much healthier, fresher and cleaner, in that, they don't allow as many hormones, pesticides and herbicides to be used in production. Farms are smaller and better attended, in that, food is picked when ready and moved to market quickly rather than (our method) picked early and expected to ripen during transportation and/or warehousing. Most of the world works on aforementioned method of growing locally, harvesting when ready and moving to market quickly.
This child probably has a glandular problem. That's my guess.
I imagine one of those pictures is banned in Germany. Guess which one