Fast food health risks rapidly rising in Asia, PH

Asia-Pacific is at a risk of poor nutrition as modern trade policy opens the region to a flood of ultra-processed food and drinks, according to a study published in Globalization and Health, a conclusion supported by a study by University of the Philippines researchers, who found young people here are at greater risk of noncommunicable diseases from consuming fast food.

In a study by Australian researchers that looked at sales and company data from transnational food and beverage companies, it was found that in China, expenditure on food services from companies such as KFC and McDonald’s increased eighteen-fold from $1.90 per person in 1999 to $34.80 per person in 2013. The research also revealed that the Coca-Cola Company alone had sales in 2013 of more than $16 billion in the Asian region, or 18 percent of their world sales.