走向富裕的亚洲人健康问题日益严重

Over a short period, however, diets have remarkably shifted to white bread, white rice, white sugar, sugary beverages, and highly processed foods, including canned luncheon meats. That, said Dr. Chan, has resulted in an increase in cases of diabetes and a 75% incidence of obesity -- the highest in the world -- in some Pacific island countries.
然而没过多久，餐桌上瞬间变成了白面包，白米饭，白糖，含糖饮料和午餐肉之类的精加工食品。陈冯富珍说，这一变化导致了糖尿病发病几率增加，并致使一些太平洋岛国的肥胖症发病率达到了75%，为全世界最高。

The main factors that place people at risk of developing these life-style diseases include tobacco use, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity and the harmful use of alcohol -- all of which are avoidable. For now, however, doctors say the prevalence of these risk factors is high -- and rising in many places.
促使人们患上这类生活方式相关疾病的主要原因包括吸烟、饮食不健康、缺乏锻炼以及过度饮酒，而这些均可以避免。但医生称，现在这些不良习惯仍然盛行，在很多地方甚至愈演愈烈。

The Asia-Pacific is home to about one-third of the world's smokers -- many of them concentrated in China and Indonesia, two of the world's biggest cigarette markets. Nearly 70% of men over the age of 15 smoke in Indonesia, according to the WHO, which says health care costs associated with tobacco-related illnesses ring in at around $1.7 billion each year.
亚太地区的吸烟人群占全世界的三分之一，多数集中在中国和印度尼西亚，两国也是世界两个最大的香烟市场。据世界卫生组织称，印度尼西亚超过70%的15岁以上男性人口是烟民，这使得该国因吸烟相关疾病而产生的医疗费用高达每年17亿美元。

Meanwhile, in China, Dr. Chan said, researchers estimate that 114 million adults have diabetes -- while an additional 493 million people at risk of developing the disease.
陈冯富珍说，在中国，研究人员估计约1.14亿中国人患有糖尿病，4.93亿人面临患病风险。

'Think about what this means in the world's second largest economy,' she said.
她说，可以想一想这对于世界第二大经济体来说意味着什么。

The could eventually bankrupt the health care system in China. For other countries whose economies are just beginning to take off, the burden of having to deal with an increasingly unhealthy population could derail development goals and scale back the benefits of economic gain. In the region as a whole, it means added pressure on health care systems that, in many places, are already over-stretched.
这可能会最终使得中国的医疗保险体系面临崩溃。对于其它经济刚开始起步的国家，与日俱增的不健康人口所造成的负担，可能会使其经济目标发生偏离，经济成果的收益大打折扣。而对于整个地区来说，这意味着许多地方本已不堪重负的医保系统将承受更大的压力。

The growing rate of diabetes, for example, has caused a rise in visual impairment, which can severely compromise educational opportunities, gainful employment and productivity, say health experts. By 2020 the global economic loss from visual impairment is expected to reach US$110 billion annually, up from US$42 billion in 2000.
卫生专家举例说，不断上升的糖尿病患病率已导致了视力缺陷症状不断增加，这会对教育、就业以及社会生产力造成严重影响。预计到2020年，全球每年因视力缺陷而导致的经济损失将从2000年的420亿美元上升到1,100亿美元。