People having exercise treatment at the Aimin (Love the People) Fat Reduction Hospital in the northern port city of Tianjin. - AFP
BEIJING: Aerospace engineer Wang Hao, 45, has struggled with his weight for more than 20 years.
The Beijing-based father of one – who is 1.84m tall and weighs 124kg – began piling on the pounds in 2003, after graduating from university and starting a busy work life.
“My weight gain is mainly caused by the large amount of oil and calories in my diet, combined with little to no exercise,” said Mr Wang, whose ideal weight should be under 80kg.
China’s obesity rates have soared in recent decades, with more than half the country’s 1.4 billion population being overweight. By 2030, almost 70 per cent of Chinese could weigh more than they should, studies have projected.
There are 2.5 billion adults in the world – 43 per cent of the population – who are overweight, including 890 million adults living with obesity, said the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The UN health body classifies as overweight those with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 to 29.9, and obese as over 30. China considers those with a BMI of 24 to 27.9 as overweight, and over 28 as obese.
Medical bills attributable to obesity are expected to balloon, with one Chinese study predicting that they will reach 418 billion yuan (US$57.7 billion) by 2030, accounting for 22 per cent of the country’s total healthcare expenses.
A joint notice by the National Health Commission and 15 ministries and bureaus was sent to all government entities on June 26, ordering them to implement a new three-year action plan.
Describing the situation as “not optimistic”, the document stated that there was an “urgent need” to intervene and curb rising obesity in the country.
Local authorities are to raise awareness of the importance of maintaining a healthy weight, and create a supportive environment for it. In schools and offices, teachers and employers are also urged to promote fitness and healthier meals.
The health regulator also encouraged the use of traditional Chinese medicine, big data and artificial intelligence in the battle of the bulge.
A day before the action plan was launched, the Chinese drug administration approved the sale of the popular Wegovy weight loss drug by Danish company Novo Nordisk.
China’s overweight population has more than doubled in nearly 30 years, from 20 per cent in 1992 to more than 50 per cent.
The child obesity trend is even more alarming, with the prevalence of overweight and obese children and adolescents increasing 400 per cent in two decades to nearly 40 per cent in 2020, surpassing some Western and rich countries.
Professor Wang Youfa, founding dean of Xi’an Jiaotong University’s Global Health Institute, attributes China’s obesity crisis to changing lifestyles brought on by rapid urbanisation and economic growth, which have altered the Chinese diet significantly to one packed with sugar, fat and calories.
At the same time, physical activity among the populace has fallen, compounded by habits such as smoking and drinking, and an increase in psychosocial stress.
Environmental pollution and poor health literacy also play a part, Wang told The Straits Times.
China’s large population base and uneven social and economic development and dietary patterns have also created clear differences in obesity trends across the regions, such as a higher prevalence of overweight people in the north and in urban areas.
“The white rice and flour that the Chinese are accustomed to eating have lost most of their nutrients and dietary fibre,” said Zhang Haifeng, general manager of BGI Precision Nutrition Technology, a personalised health-management solution provider based in Shenzhen.
Such refined carbohydrates are digested quickly, leading to a spike in blood sugar and, ultimately, weight gain.
Zhang also blames the high salt and insufficient dietary fibre intake among the Chinese for contributing to the epidemic.
On average, the Chinese consume about 10g of salt a day, twice the WHO recommended amount.
A diet high in salt can lead to high blood pressure, which is associated with conditions such as stroke and heart attack.
The Chinese eat an average of 13g to 14g of fibre, only half of the recommended intake of 25g to 30g a day, said Zhang, adding that this is one of the reasons for the increasing incidence of intestinal diseases in China.
Health officials have become increasingly worried about the heavy burden that obesity will put on the public health system.
It is a risk factor for a variety of chronic diseases such as Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and certain cancers.
Beijing previously rolled out obesity prevention and control policies targeting school nutrition, promoting exercise and managing weight as part of broader healthy-lifestyle action plans.
For instance, in its Healthy China 2030 blueprint released in 2016, it specifically mentioned a key objective to slow the growth rate of obesity, the first time a national target had been set.
A five-year health policy also released in 2016 called for assessment and intervention for high-risk groups.
A separate scheme for child obesity involving the National Health Commission and six other ministries was also rolled out in 2020, the first such national strategy.
Yet, experts say none of these programmes has done nearly enough to curb the rising rates of overweight adults and children.
Wang, who also heads the International Obesity and Metabolic Disease Research Centre at his institute, said: “Obesity prevention and control requires comprehensive cross-sectoral and cross-disciplinary interventions, but previous actions may have been insufficient in terms of coordination and integration, leading to weak policy implementation.”
Unequal distribution of resources and a shortage of obesity management professionals also make it difficult to effectively respond to the increasingly severe obesity problem, he added.
While China’s obesity crisis has led to calls for a sugar tax, which has been widely adopted by more than 100 countries, experts caution about the implications.
Zhang said: “China is vast, and different regions have different dietary habits, and legislation may impose restrictions on such diversity. Respecting and preserving these food cultures while guiding people through non-compulsory measures is, in my opinion, a more appropriate approach.” – The Straits Times/ANN
