Fatter Chinese facing more health problems
By Sun Xiaohua (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-08-06 07:16

China is getting fatter. A survey jointly conducted by the Ministry of Health and State Statistics Bureau shows that 30 per cent of the total population in China's big cities is overweight, compared with 21 per cent in 1992. And, of this group, 12.3 per cent are excessively fat, up half over the 6.2 per cent of 1992.

According to the China Preventive Medicine Association, the number of overweight people in cities has reached nearly 100 million, with experts saying this number will soar in the next 10 years. More alarming perhaps is the fact that the number of urban kids who are overweight increases by 10 per cent a year, according to the Information Times.

Conventional wisdom tells us that it's harder for Asians to become obese than Westerners, but this view needs to change, some experts say.

"Asian people look smaller than Westerners because their skeleton structures are smaller. However, looking smaller visually does not mean Asian people are not as fat as the standard," said Gong Chunxiu, vice-director of the department of internal medicine of the Children's Hospital in Beijing, whose area of expertise is the relationship between the human endocrine system and weight.

"If the Chinese have a similar diet to Westerners, for example, with a high fat intake, they will also become corpulent," Gong said.

As China's economy grows, so do waistlines.

As the report pointed out, the Chinese diet has turned down an unhealthy road. Urban citizens' consumption of poultry, meat and oil/fat is too high, while the amount of cereals in the diet is relatively low.

In 2002, the daily consumption of oils/fats among urban residents increased to 44 grams, from the 37 grams in 1992. Energy contribution from fat reached 35 per cent, exceeding the recommended upper limit of 30 per cent of the World Health Organization. Energy contribution from cereals among urbanites was just 47 per cent in 2002, significantly lower than the recommended range of 55-65 per cent. Adding to the problem is China's low consumption of dairy and soy products.

"The only reason for alimentary obesity is eating a lot, especially food with a high calorie content, and doing little exercise," said Gong.

China's new heavyweights can be seen on the street, getting on buses, in McDonald's, shopping malls, schools, and even in kindergartens. And this ever-growing group has more day-to-day dilemmas than people of normal weight.

Liu Po, a 20-year-old girl from Zhengzhou, capital of Henan Province of Central China, weighs over 130 kilograms and is only 173 centimetres tall

This summer, she made the decision to attend a weight-loss camp. "There are two reasons why I'm going to the camp," she said. "One is that my weight brings me a lot of troubles in life and study. The other is that my father wants me to get down to a normal weight. He is fat and is worried that my future will be affected by my weight."

She recalled an unhappy experience from her first days at university last year when she and other new students were taking part in military training.

She will never forget the shocked expressions on her peers' faces and their comments like, "look, what a fat girl." She burst into tears with the humiliation, not knowing if that was the students' intention.

She called her father, saying she wanted to put off college for a year so she could slim down. Her father persuaded her to stay in school and go to weight-loss camp this summer.

Another at the camp, Li Lei, from Shenyang, capital of Northeast China's Liaoning Province, weighs around 130 kilograms and is 180 centimetres tall. He said due to his obesity, he almost failed the physical examination required for access to institutes of higher learning. "I nearly lost the chance to go to college because of my obesity."

"I like playing basketball," he said, "but my weight prevents me from getting on with my classmates."

Wang Yousong, chief coach of the Bodyworks Healthy Centre, which runs the camp, said that every summer, hundreds of such overweight youths come from all over the country to make their weight-loss dreams come true.

But not everyone can afford the camp, with a six-week course costing 10,000 yuan (US$1,234).

The summer camp was launched by "Good Morning, China," a programme on China Central Television, which has been looking into scaling back Chinese waistlines for years.

In the four years the camp has been running, about 5,000 people have attended, from children to adults. "In total, 50 tons has been lost at the camp," said Liu Mingmei, executive producer of the TV show.

"We produce the programme to raise people's awareness of the increasingly serious issue of obesity in China."

Obesity goes hand in hand with a series of chronic non-communicable diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes, high blood lipid level and fatty liver.

Liu Po and Li Lei suffer from serious cases of the latter. They were diagnosed with the problem when undergoing physicals at the camp.

And according to the report by the Ministry of Health, the prevalence of hypertension has increased by 31 per cent over 1991, with more than 70 million new hypertension cases diagnosed. Figures show 20.4 per cent of urban populations suffer from the problem.

Exacerbating the situation is that only 30.2 per cent of China's population is aware of hypertension. The treatment rate stands at 24.7 per cent, while cases under control is just 6.1 per cent, according to the report. This stands in stark contrast with 1991's figures, when 26.6 per cent of the population was aware of the problem, the treatment rate was 12.2 per cent and just 2.9 per cent of cases were under control. Although there has been improvement in awareness, the situation is still far from ideal.

It is estimated that there are more than 20 million diabetes sufferers in China, and a further 20 million with poor blood sugar levels. Compared with a diabetes survey in 1996, the prevalence of diabetes in adults living in big cities has increased from 4.6 per cent to 6.4 per cent, while the rate in small- and medium-sized cities has risen from 3.4 per cent to 3.9 per cent.

The recent survey showed 18.6 per cent of China's adults had abnormal blood lipid levels, and it is estimated that 160 million people are suffering from the problem.

The survey concluded that high dietary energy, high dietary fat and less physical activity were closely related to obesity, diabetes and abnormal blood lipid levels.

Extra rolls are the price Chinese are paying for their new prosperity and lifestyle. Reducing fat intake has become a pressing need.

As the temperature climbs, so does people's desire to lose weight. But is summer the best time to shed a few pounds?

"It is true that in summer, due to the high temperature, human's central nervous systems are not so excited, so people eat less than usual. But on the other hand, metabolism is also slow and in need of less energy. So summer is not the best season to lose weight," said Song Guohuan, an expert in physiology and retired professor from Beijing Normal University.

(China Daily 08/06/2005 page3)

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