Obesity awareness soars in China amid healthy living trend

BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- When Ma Hongtao, 24, revisited the weight management clinic at the First Hospital of Lanzhou University in northwest China's Gansu Province, he excitedly reported to the doctor that he had lost 4 kg in a month.

"The transformation in my body has brought me joy and confidence. Clothes that were once impossible to fit into can now be worn effortlessly," he said, noting how obesity had not only strained his bodily organs but also undermined his self-confidence in recent years. This year, under the guidance of a doctor, Ma successfully shed weight through proper diet and exercise.

A number of hospitals in China have opened weight management clinics, aiming to provide patients with more systematic and scientific weight management services.

In early March this year, citing a study published in the Lancet, the World Health Organization said that in 2022, the number of obese people globally exceeded 1 billion, including 159 million children and adolescents, along with 879 million adults.

Decades ago, possessing a fuller figure symbolized wealth and success in China. However, today, more people recognize that obesity not only impacts appearance but also leads to health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and other diseases.

In recent years, China has issued numerous documents ranging from nutrition programs to initiatives targeting obesity among children and adolescents. The country has also adopted measures to raise awareness about scientific weight loss methods, enhance understanding of obesity prevention and control, and promote research on obesity and related diseases.

The campus of the ninth primary school in Hunnan district, located in Shenyang, capital of northwest China's Liaoning Province, resembles a vast sports arena. It features skiing machines, rowing tracks, a judo hall, a rock climbing wall, unicycles, ring ropes and a giant slide, among other facilities.

According to the headmaster Hou Mingfei, more than 90 percent of the school's 2,500 students can ride unicycles, which can promote coordination between body and cognition.

He said that the excellence rate of vital capacity assessment among the school's students reached 71.55 percent, with an obesity rate of less than 3 percent.

"The ages of seven and eight are crucial for children to develop healthy exercise habits for adulthood. Students here engage in outdoor activities for over three hours daily, which lays a solid foundation for them to strengthen their bodies and prevent obesity," Hou added.

Liu Rong, head of the weight management clinic of First Hospital of Lanzhou University, said that in the past, many young people pursued weight loss for aesthetic reasons or to address "appearance anxiety." However, nowadays, an increasing number are opting for weight loss with their health in mind.

According to Wan Shuang, a fitness coach at a gym in Beijing, he has conducted over 5,000 fitness sessions for nearly 200 clients in the last seven years. He said that over 80 percent of his clients seek fat loss, but interestingly, "the majority of them are not obese medically."

Wan also observed that unlike the muscle-focused approach commonly seen in traditional gyms, his clients prioritize attaining a firmer physique and improving overall physical abilities. So, Wan and his colleagues have added more targeted training methods to the workout courses.

"The public enthusiasm for fitness has increased significantly, and the sales of bicycles, skipping rope, yoga mats and kettlebells in our online store have increased significantly," said Li Dong'an, a researcher with the Chinese fitness brand Keep.

People have also embraced diverse exercise modes. While some attend various training sessions in classrooms that have mushroomed in shopping malls and office buildings across Chinese cities, hundreds of thousands of others follow online fitness influencers to exercise at home.

An increasing number of catering brands in shopping malls are featuring "less oil and salt" options, while beverage chains popular among young people have launched sugar and fat-free products. There's also an eagerness among people to pursue weight loss through traditional Chinese medicine, such as acupuncture.

China is developing a more professional organizational framework to address obesity. On March 1, experts and scholars from fields such as weight loss and metabolic surgery, endocrinology and metabolism, and clinical nutrition jointly established the China Obesity Federation in Beijing.

"Obesity has become a major public health issue affecting China and the world, and it urgently needs multidisciplinary integration and the participation of the whole society in its prevention and control," said Zhang Zhongtao, vice president of Beijing Friendship Hospital.