BEIJING, Oct 12, 2004 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- China's Vice Minister of Health Wang Longde said Tuesday that while diet and nutrition have improved markedly since 1992, there are also more health problems.

The ministry, under the auspices of the State Council, China's cabinet, gave a news conference on the findings of the country's first national comprehensive survey of problems emerging from the nation's growing prosperity.

The survey by the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Science and Technology and National Bureau of Statistics found an increase in hypertension, diabetes, overweight and obesity.

Adult hypertension stood at 18.8 percent, with the ministry estimating 160 million Chinese suffer from high blood pressure, 70 million people more than in 1991. This problem was growing most rapidly in rural China.

A total of 2.6 percent of adult Chinese have diabetes, an estimate of more than 20 million people nationwide.

The ministry found that 22.8 percent of Chinese adults, 200 million people, were overweight. It found 8.1 percent of children in cities were overweight. Moreover, another 60 million people, or 7.1 percent, were classified as obese.

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