The high rate of diabetes in China is relatively a recent thing and coincides with the advance of western fast food and cake shops opening up everywhere. Since being in China I have noticed that while most food is healthy and nutritious, the Chinese, who are always saying they hate sweet food, are eating lots of snacks, most of which are high in salt and sugar. Sadly a far worse problem is the contamination of food with toxic substances, especially vegetables grown near polluted water!