Chinese people pursue balanced, healthy approach to tackling obesity

Many people seek magical weight-loss methods from their doctors, hoping for immediate results. However, Chinese experts have called for the prudent application of weight-loss medicines and related surgeries, recommending instead weight control through a healthy lifestyle.

Medical experts attending the ongoing 2024 China Obesity Congress (COC), which opened here on Saturday, suggested reasonable dieting and appropriate exercise to keep weight within a healthy range.

These discussions within the professional medical community have caught public attention on Chinese social media, reflecting the growing interest in the cause of weight management in all sectors.

Obesity has become one of the most pressing public health concerns worldwide. Data from the World Health Organization shows that in 2022, about one-eighth of the global population was obese.

As for China, over half of its adult population is overweight or obese, and the figure is still rising. It is estimated that by 2030, China will see 65.3 percent of its adults overweight or obese, incurring about 418 billion yuan (58.5 billion US dollars) of medical expenses.

Zhang Yuqing, a senior physician at the cardiovascular department of a hospital affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, said it is a must to combat obesity to help reduce the incidence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, diabetes as well as some cancers. More than 2 million people die of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease in China each year.

China is stepping up efforts to raise public awareness of the dangers of obesity, striking a chord among the government, academic circles and social forces to see that citizens maintain a healthy weight using healthy methods.

Hosted by China's National Clinical Research Center for Digestive Diseases (NCRCDD) and initiated in 2021, the COC is committed to ensuring healthy weight levels across the whole population through standard diagnosis and treatment.

COC chairman Zhang Zhongtao suggested an integrated approach to tackling obesity, living a healthy lifestyle while leveraging special medical treatment under the circumstance of being in urgent need to control diabetes, high blood pressure and heart failure caused by obesity.

As obesity can be avoided through timely prevention and control, experts have called for greater attention to be placed on incidence among children, which is believed to have effects not only on their childhood health but also throughout their lives.

Wang Lu, who lives in east China's Shandong Province, took her daughter to the hospital for an endocrine examination this June, hoping for a solution to the girl's obesity. She is only eight years old but already weighs 43 kg.

"Our health awareness has improved. Parents in the older generations used to see chubby children as well-fed, but now we think overweight is not a good thing, and it has affected my daughter's social life and mood," said Wang.

Following the doctor's advice, Wang helped her daughter quit sugar and fast-food intake, and arranged daily rope-skipping and cycling activities.

Interestingly, Wang said that after she shared how she supervised her daughter's weight loss on social media platforms, she found many other parents were having the same trouble.

Nearly one-fifth of Chinese teenagers aged between 6 and 17, and 10 percent of children under six, are overweight or obese, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

China has included the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases into an outline for advancing its Healthy China Initiative. The top health authority and other government departments launched a three-year campaign on weight control this June. Other policy measures include releasing dieting guidance for adults and a plan for obesity prevention and control among children.

The NCRCDD, which organized the congress, has led in setting up a specific organization to fight obesity, aiming to establish a standard and integrated multi-disciplinary diagnosis and treatment system, and to mobilize society as a whole to contribute to scientific weight loss.

Many hospitals across China have opened outpatient departments for weight control, offering systematic services for obese patients.

Overweight people, especially the young, originally chose to lose weight for the purpose of maintaining a good figure, but now more are doing so for health reasons, according to Liu Rong, head of the nutrition department of a leading hospital based in the city of Lanzhou.

The ongoing COC event also features discussions about traditional Chinese medicine therapies targeting obesity, which are widely used and are also a highlight in the country's public campaign to promote weight control.

While noting that the development of medicines has brought about more clinical alternatives for people suffering from obesity, experts also warned of challenges including insufficient scientific research in this regard, a lack of professional training, as well as social prejudice against obesity.

"Whether one depends on medication or surgery, it ultimately comes back to following a healthy lifestyle to achieve a long-term healthy weight," Chen Wei, a chief physician of the clinical nutrition department at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, concluded.