SETH MYDANS

A wave of obesity is sweeping through Asia as its population shifts into vast new cities where the food is faster and fattier and the lifestyle more sedentary....

In cities, it is processed foods and fast foods rich with sugar and saturated fats that are the most available and often the cheapest. At the same time, there is much less demand or opportunity for physical exercise. Over and over, studies show much more obesity in cities than in the countryside. In China, 5 percent of the population as a whole is classified as obese; in its fast-developing cities, the number can be as high as 20 percent.