”In 30 years, the Chinese people have gone from having barely enough to eat to worrying about chronic diseases like diabetes, leaving the healthcare system struggling with a condition that is rapidly outpacing its ability to keep up. Spending on diabetes reached $25 billion in China in 2010, only 6 percent of the $390 billion spent worldwide. But the rate of diabetes in China is already at the same levels as in the West, leaving doctors, drug companies and policymakers to hunt for low-cost alternatives before the disease swamps the rudimentary healthcare system.

Caption from a picture in this amazing photoset, which I linked to earlier today.

When I was a kid, my dad was one of those fathers who really did tell me to finish my dinner, because “there are people starving in China, you know.” (And yes, I’m aware how much that ages me.) As The Atlantic points out, it’s difficult to imagine fathers using that same line today and getting away with it. (“There are people starving in Bangladesh, you know” just doesn’t have the same ring to it…)

So far, my China experience has rarely extended beyond the borders of Shanghai proper, but if this city is any indication of the country’s eating habits — and it sounds like it is — the figures above don’t surprise me at all. Fast food chains abound, convenience stores are ubiquitous (as are the snacks therein, which many people seem to consider meals), and, while I haven’t seen any morbidly obese locals, I’ve been shocked by the prevalence of chubby toddlers and roundish adults. Flat-out fatness can’t be that far down the line.