China now has the largest overweight population of any country in the world. Photo: Li Hao/GT

It's official: for the first time in human history, there are more obese than underweight people in the world, according to a new study published by the Lancet Medical Journal last week.

The study estimates that 10.8 percent of men and 14.9 percent of women worldwide are obese, which is defined as having a BMI (body mass index) of over 30, while just 8.8 percent of men and 9.7 percent of women are underweight, which is defined as a BMI of under 18.5.

The study pooled data from adults in 186 countries and found that the number of obese people had shot up from 105 million in 1975 to 641 million in 2014.

While obesity is clearly becoming a problem everywhere, the news was especially bad for China - this year it replaced the US as the country with the greatest number of obese people in the world, rising from its number-two ranking in 2014. The numbers are staggering; according to the report, China is home to 43,200,000 obese men and 46,400,000 obese women, accounting for 16.3 percent and 12.4 percent of obese men and women around the world.

"There will be health consequences of magnitudes that we do not know," professor Majid Ezzati, lead author of the study, told AFP.

"Obesity and especially severe and morbid obesity, affect many organs and physiological processes," he said. "We can deal with some of these, like higher cholesterol or blood pressure, through medicines. But for many others, including diabetes, we don't have effective treatment."

Many countries have begun taking measures to curb obesity which not only affects the population's health, but the country's economy. Photo: Li Hao/GT

The explosion in China's obesity rates

While it's easy to blame China's new status as the "fattest country on Earth" on the fact that it has a higher population, the truth remains that obesity has been a growing problem in the country for years, as the conveniences of modern life - fast food, cars - and the effects of greater prosperity - sedentary office jobs - have installed themselves in Chinese cities. It's a shift that, according to Feng Lei, co-founder of Dianfeng Weightloss Center in Shanghai, China's urban lifestyle hasn't yet caught up with.

"Most Chinese dishes feature high amounts of oil and salt, and Chinese people still like to eat packaged food or fast food, which can cause the body to secrete less insulin, and result in weight gain," Feng said. "Also, most Chinese people, especially those from smaller cities, haven't formed regular workout habits."

But it isn't just the uneducated who are affected by the recent obesity epidemic - 40-year-old Mao Yu (pseudonym), who works as a doctor in Beijing, says she has been overweight since she gave birth to her first daughter around 15 years ago. "I think it's because between work and taking care of my family, I barely have any time to care about what I eat, let alone work out," Mao told Metropolitan.

Over those years, Mao established a number of bad habits, including skipping breakfast in the mornings and eating whatever she could find at the hospital canteen or convenience store for lunch.

Mao isn't alone in her on-the-go eating habits. According to a report from the Oriental Outlook magazine in February 2013, a market analysis by IKEA found that Chinese consumers are less interested in kitchen supplies because most of them don't cook. According to IKEA's survey, only 5 percent of female white-collar workers in Shanghai cook for themselves after work.

The Oriental Outlook report also quoted a survey by dianping.com, a Chinese review site similar to Yelp, which found that among its groupon deals, the best-selling items were high-calorie foods like cakes or hotpot.

Alarmingly, the rise of high-calorie foods has been accompanied by a decline in physical activity among Chinese people. The Oriental Outlook  report quoted Shi Xiaoming, the director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as saying that according to their statistics, Chinese people in 2007 spent an average of 3.8 hours sitting still every day, while in 2010, that number rose to 4.8 hours.

Of course, the conditions in big cities like Beijing aren't always conducive to squeezing in a workout. "Sometimes I think about going out for a walk, but the air quality is not so good, and there are cars everywhere in the neighborhood, so I just stay in," Mao said.

While reports on China's obesity epidemic have largely focused on big cities, Feng says that the problem is increasingly spreading to smaller cities and the countryside. "For the past two years, we have seen an average 20 percent increase in our number of customers from small cities and even the countryside wanting to lose weight."

Another worrisome development is the growth of obesity among China' teenagers. According to the Economic Information Daily in August 2012, statistics from International Association for the Study of Obesity, which is headquartered in the UK, showed that obesity rate among  Chinese teenagers was 12 percent in 2012. One-third of Chinese children under the age of 17 were found to have tested positive for risk factors such as inflammation that could lead to heart disease, and 1.9 percent of children between the ages of 12 and 18 were found to have diabetes, as compared with around 0.5 percent of American children in the same age bracket.

Health and economic consequences

Among the mental blocks that China must overcome in its battle against obesity is the traditional notion that a chubby figure is a sign of affluence and well-being. The truth, of course, is that excess weight and obesity can cause a number of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

Shi said in the Oriental Outlook report that the Chinese CDC has now listed obesity, along with drug addiction, alcohol addiction and AIDS, as the country's four biggest health problems and its fifth-ranking cause of death. It is estimated that around 2,800,000 people die of obesity-related health problems every year.

Mao, for example, has noticed the emergence of her own health problems like high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. Eventually, she says, this could turn into heart problems.

"As a doctor, I know these problems are partly caused by hereditary factors, because high blood pressure and diabetes run in my family, but it's also triggered by me being overweight, which is caused by unhealthy eating habits, and the fact that I don't like to exercise," Mao said.

The excess weight, and the problems it brings, have also affected how she feels on a daily basis. "Because of being overweight and those chronic diseases, I always feel tired and uncomfortable. Sometimes I even can't drive myself because I feel dizzy all the time."

Mao has to take insulin injections and pills for her high blood pressure every day, and says she fears that she will face other complications in the future.

Chronic obesity-related diseases not only put stress on individuals, but on the medical systems of countries around the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that developed countries generally devote around 2-to-6 percent of their healthcare funds each year to diseases caused by obesity, with the Chinese government spending around 330,000,000 yuan in 2012, according to the Oriental Outlook report.

According to a report penned by American food science researcher Barry Popkin among others in January 2012, the economic burden caused by obesity in China is huge. In 2000, the indirect economic burden caused by obesity accounted for 3.58 percent of that year's GDP, a number which is expected to rise to 8.7 percent by 2025. That translates to $10.6 billion in lost productivity.

Meanwhile, America's obesity problem currently eats up 17 to 20 percent of the nation's GDP, thanks to medical costs and lost productivity - and it's just a matter of time before China's problem becomes as serious as that of the US.

Governments take action

As obesity rises around the world, more and more governments are beginning to take measures in an effort to curb what is becoming a burgeoning health disaster.

"Global obesity has reached crisis point," Ezzati told AFP.

He added that he hoped the findings would spur governments to develop and implement policies to address obesity.

Among the approaches that different governments have begun taking are instituting "sin" taxes on junk foods. For example, Mexico - one of the biggest soda-drinking countries in the world - recently fought back against its growing rates of diabetes and obesity by passing a 10 percent tax on soft drinks, and an 8 percent tax on junk food. Since then, preliminary studies suggest that the country's population has started drinking fewer sugary beverages and more water, according to a NPR news report in June 2015. It's something China might want to consider - between 2007 and 2012, the consumption of sweet drinks in China increased an average of 22.4 percent each year.

However, there are already glimmers of hope. Feng says in some cities in Jiangsu Province and in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, local governments have already begun taking measures, including adding workout expenses to health insurance coverage.

"It's a good attempt. To tackle obesity problems, the government needs to take the lead," he added. "They should promote awareness about healthy eating and exercise, and get all of the related institutions involved."

Global Times - Agencies