China is gradually taking its place as one of the world's economic giants and 
concurrently learning to understand how to bear the burdens of diseases that are 
more common in the fully developed world, such as pediatric obesity, metabolic 
syndrome, and type 2 diabetes mellitus. The purpose of this review is to 
consolidate the available information regarding these and draw the focus toward 
their sequential progression and increasing prevalence in Chinese children. 
Studies were collected in both English and Chinese, and the data were reviewed 
on the basis of disease prevalence and risk factors that are known from 
scientific literature that has been published to date. The majority of studies 
with appropriate content for inclusion here have been conducted within the last 
15 years and up to date information from recent local and international research 
has also been included. Several factors have been implicated for the rise in 
obesity, most notably, the progressing economic expansion and exposure of local 
Chinese populations to Western influences. With this, metabolic syndrome has 
become a growing concern, as it is a precursor to cardiovascular disease and 
type 2 diabetes, leading to the alarmingly rapid development of deleterious 
consequences in children. The International Diabetes Federation proposed a 
definition for metabolic syndrome in 2007 (MS-IDF2007) worldwide, but whether it 
is also suitable for the Chinese population remains uncertain, so we have 
created the Chinese definition of metabolic syndrome upon the IDF framework. 
This MS-CHN2012 definition is based on multicenter studies to simplify and 
standardize primary care screening methods and is the first of its kind in 
China. Juvenile type 2 diabetes is the most worrisome result of obesity and 
metabolic syndrome, and studies have shown that the prevalence has doubled 
within 5 years-surpassing the prevalence of juvenile type 1 diabetes. Because of 
the extremely low number of studies currently published on these topics in 
China, emphasis needs to be placed on the assessment of the health status of the 
population. Screening methods are imperative because lifestyle interventions can 
reduce and even reverse the pathologic consequences of this disease, if detected 
early.