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How is China able to provide enough food to feed over 1B people?

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Re: How is China able to provide enough food to feed over 1B people?

#241

Post by slaymaker1907 »

bad_user wrote: post #232
atlasunshrugged wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does that necessarily mean that the food is low quality or just that there are more options and many are considerably unhealthier than the more traditional options (eg. more processed foods easily available now than in the past)

Ultra-processed food is "low quality food". That's because: (1) it's rich in toxins due to the industrial processing and (2) it has a poor proteins/nutrients to energy ratio. Nutrient hunger is a thing. Proteins are regulated by the brain. Micro nutrients might be regulated by the brain as well. When you eat ultra-processed food, you end up eating more food just to get the nutrients you need to live. Ultra-processed…

What toxins are these and why are they bad? The liver is quite capable at removing actual toxins and using that terminology makes you sound like a quack.

(2) is a valid point, but (1) should be entirely prevented by the FDA.

Re: How is China able to provide enough food to feed over 1B people?

#242

Post by legostormtroopr »

piiswrong wrote: post #239
mstaoru wrote: post #227

Another perspective on how China is able to provide enough food: - In Shanghai 96% white-collar workers have at least one disease of the "food triad" (diabetes, fatty liver, hypertension), up from ~80% in 00's. - In Beijing 26% of the whole population is overweight or obese, up from 11% in 00's. - China has the largest percentage of obese children in the World, only competing with Mexico. So there is enough food, but…

more than 1/3 of Americans are obese. the US is one of the fattest countries in the world. Does that mean Americans are poor people who can only afford empty calories? wake up. people just like to eat unhealthy stuff when given the chance?.

> Does that mean Americans are poor people who can only afford empty calories?

Yes, of course. Is this rhetorical? Obesity and wealth are highly correlated.

Re: How is China able to provide enough food to feed over 1B people?

#243

Post by winfred »

piiswrong wrote: post #239
mstaoru wrote: post #227

Another perspective on how China is able to provide enough food: - In Shanghai 96% white-collar workers have at least one disease of the "food triad" (diabetes, fatty liver, hypertension), up from ~80% in 00's. - In Beijing 26% of the whole population is overweight or obese, up from 11% in 00's. - China has the largest percentage of obese children in the World, only competing with Mexico. So there is enough food, but…

more than 1/3 of Americans are obese. the US is one of the fattest countries in the world. Does that mean Americans are poor people who can only afford empty calories? wake up. people just like to eat unhealthy stuff when given the chance?.

>Does that mean Americans are poor people who can only afford empty calories?

I don't know if it's because they can't afford better or don't want to eat better, but in the US there is a considerable relationship between income/education and obesity. The poorer you are, the more likely you are to be obese. 50% of the US makes less than $30k a year, and that group probably amounts to somewhere around 75% of the obese people.

https://www.stateofobesity.org/socioeconomics-obesity/

Re: How is China able to provide enough food to feed over 1B people?

#244

Post by bluemaster »

alexron782 wrote: post #161
rajeshp1986 wrote: post #97

I was really impressed by the top answer until I read this statement. "I mean, the Chinese government has also forced Tibetans to build a massive amount of greenhouses on the Tibetan plateau. Those Tibetans have no time to go to temples for worshipping any more, instead, they have to work in the greenhouses taking care of tomatoes. This is why Dalai Lama is not so happy to hear this." What??

You should post the following paragraph as well: "As a result, the average vegetable price in Tibet has reduced by 90% over the past decade and they don’t have to import vegetables from nearby provinces anymore. Most of the Tibetans can finally afford to eat watermelons. Who doesn’t like eating watermelons? You know that most Tibetans historically only eat yak meat, milk, cheese, and bread? They couldn’t grow anythin…

Well fruits are not necessarily good for Tibetans. They have evolved their life style around their produce over thousands of years. It's like Europeans try to force Indians into a certain lifestyle.

Re: How is China able to provide enough food to feed over 1B people?

#245

Post by mstaoru »

piiswrong wrote: post #239
mstaoru wrote: post #227

Another perspective on how China is able to provide enough food: - In Shanghai 96% white-collar workers have at least one disease of the "food triad" (diabetes, fatty liver, hypertension), up from ~80% in 00's. - In Beijing 26% of the whole population is overweight or obese, up from 11% in 00's. - China has the largest percentage of obese children in the World, only competing with Mexico. So there is enough food, but…

more than 1/3 of Americans are obese. the US is one of the fattest countries in the world. Does that mean Americans are poor people who can only afford empty calories? wake up. people just like to eat unhealthy stuff when given the chance?.

In pure dollars, Americans might be richer than Chinese, in food (dollar per calorie) purchasing power... perhaps not.

Re: How is China able to provide enough food to feed over 1B people?

#246

Post by mstaoru »

fireattack wrote: post #235
mstaoru wrote: post #227

Another perspective on how China is able to provide enough food: - In Shanghai 96% white-collar workers have at least one disease of the "food triad" (diabetes, fatty liver, hypertension), up from ~80% in 00's. - In Beijing 26% of the whole population is overweight or obese, up from 11% in 00's. - China has the largest percentage of obese children in the World, only competing with Mexico. So there is enough food, but…

You can't be serious, right? I don't question any of your data or even your conclusion, but do you really think WHITE-COLLAR workers having diabetes is a proof of " food is low quality empty calories"? To me, it's more about the fact that lots of young people (or people in general) in urban area have poor lifestyle. Barely has anything to do with the lack of food quality or nutrition. And I highly doubt this phenomen…

Right. As a certified nutritionist and soon to be registered dietitian, I can be serious. :-) Diabetes or hypertension are not that much related to the lifestyle. Not as much as fitness industry wants you to think. Besides being highly genetic, diabetes is also dependent on availability of simple carbs, in case of China, is white rice of which average Chinese person eats 320g per day.

Re: How is China able to provide enough food to feed over 1B people?

#248

Post by JDiculous »

TimTheTinker wrote: post #128
feral wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Opinion: The tough truth is that improving the world at that scale is mostly about politics. Politics is how the nations allocate resources to problems. You maybe want them to talk about the technical fundamentals of the problem but the important bit is usually the politics. [A sibling comment says to look at TED talks. This is an excellent idea. Then, after a couple of years, ask why none of the solutions have been…

> Politics is how the nations allocate resources to problems. That's a hard pill to swallow, but I fear you're right. Shouldn't government's priorities be establishing rule of law, courts & justice, national defense, and regulating commerce? How did massive taxes, a huge budget, and political fights over resource allocation ever get thrown into the mix? A historian once said that democracy fails when people begin vot…

Why should maximizing the well-being of the people not be a government priority?

Any system, including someone's anarcho-capitalist fantasy, determines allocation of resources. Some are just more humanitarian than others.

Re: How is China able to provide enough food to feed over 1B people?

#249

Post by winfred »

baybal2 wrote: post #49

Chinese farm productivity is shite, and the government knows it. It is true that the state throws absolutely colossal amount of resources on geoengineering and agriculture, yet to little effect. China is nowhere near Holland or other advanced agriculture player in calories production per unit of labour. Out of close to a 100 officials I went by through my career, I only managed to befriend two. From those two, I bare…

I don't think that calories production per unit of labour is a big concern when you don't export produce and you've got access to so much labor and a socialist economy where food prices are fixed and jobs are all but guaranteed.

The Dutch have a stronger focus on produce export and a higher income per capita, so they have to be a lot more efficient in order to be competitive in the global economy.

Re: How is China able to provide enough food to feed over 1B people?

#250

Post by rueynshard »

pradn wrote: post #104

" most of the population in India claim to be vegetarians" At most a third of India is vegetarian. http://theconversation.com/the-myth-of-a-vegetarian-india-10...

Sure, but even among the remaining 2/3rds, meat consumption is much lower, compared to other regions where they typically eat meat every meal.
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