Dying to lose weight
Behind a healthy goal of bringing trim and fit may lurk something more sinister－an obsession that ends up with some fighting to stay alive, or worse, Zhang Lei reports.
In 2019 the emergency department of West China Hospital of Sichuan University admitted a woman patient whose body was swollen due to overeating.
Emergency ward doctors took out more than 10 kilograms of food residue from her stomach. However, she eventually died due to multiple organ failure.
The hospital says the woman, 22, suffered from anorexia nervosa, bringing long-term weight loss, and her digestive function was so weak that her stomach was unable to withstand the stress that binge eating put on it.
Nowadays in China tens of millions of young people pay attention to fitness and weight loss, which is a staple of conversation but can also become an obsession.
A side effect of this, and one that has gained little attention, is eating disorders, which many dieters will develop.
"Many who lose weight have been brainwashed by the prevalent 'calorie balance' theory," says Chen Hanbin, a physician at the department of clinical psychology, Hangzhou First People's Hospital, in Zhejiang province.
