How many people around you are overweight? Well, determining who is too fat may be influenced by where you live. New research carried out by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, suggests that there are more overweight people in northern China than in the south.

The academy worked in conjunction with a weight-loss enterprise to get a large amount of data on which to base the research.

According to the results released on October 21, more than 35 percent of people in northern China who are on diet are overweight, with a body mass index (BMI) of over 28. However, in southern China, only 27 percent of people on a diet are actually overweight.

The research has also found that people in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, are more likely to be overweight than people in smaller cities, irrespective of the cities' location.

The main reasons for this "obesity map" include the country's different dietary habits and the rapid urbanization in large cities, Wang Jingzhong, a research fellow at the National Institute for Nutrition and Health under the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told the Beijing Evening Post on October 21.

The different dietary habits, customs and climates determine the so-called "obesity map" of China. Photo: IC

A tale of two cities

Li Wenjing, an airline stewardess who was born in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, was rather confused when she was based in Beijing for a year on a job transfer.

It has been a habit of hers since childhood to eat light and to have green leafy vegetables with every meal. She is over 1.7 meters tall, and her weight had been constant at around 55 kilograms when she was living in Guangzhou.

However, during her time in Beijing, she picked up around three kilograms, something she never experienced before.

"Although I am still far from being overweight, I am not sure what will happen if I keep living in Beijing," Li joked. "I might be out of a job for being too fat."

Her experience of Beijing is that there are surprisingly little soup options on restaurant menus and the flavor of most dishes is too heavy. The most noticeable difference is that there is always more meat on the table than vegetables.

Since Li always flies on night flights, she has to eat at midnight. "Midnight snacking never made me pick up extra weight before when I was eating traditional Guangdong snacks, such as shrimp dumplings and steamed vermicelli rolls, which are nutritious with less oil and fat," said Li. "But in Beijing, my colleagues often eat malatang (spicy mini hot pot) and skewers at midnight."

Not only Chinese, but expats also experience the regional influence in China on their body weight.

Canadian Chris Hawke, 46, lost about 10 kilograms within a year after moving from Beijing to Dali, Yunnan Province.

While living in Beijing, Hawke, who is a vegetarian, ate out more. After moving to a relatively secluded part of Dali, seven kilometers from the town, Hawke started cooking more and rides a bike as his only transport.

"I cook by myself. Smelly tofu and rice noodles are popular there," said Hawke, who thinks the food he cooks himself is "better" than the food in Beijing restaurants because it contains less additives, oil and fat. Besides eating more healthier homemade food, Hawke thinks in the south he gets more exercise, which is important for his fitness.

"I ride my bike everywhere, including the village and the city. Dali is full of nature and beautiful things to do outside," said Hawke. "Three of the seasons are all like spring, and the fourth (winter) is usually warm during the day, which encourages people to be active."

People living in large cities like Beijing and Shanghai are more likely to be overweight due to an unhealthy diet and lifestyle. Photo: Li Hao/GT

Eating habits matter

According to a 2014 report by the website of the People's Daily, an online gourmet, cooking and recipe sharing platform douguo.com, released findings about China's catering industry based on data from its large number of online users.

The research ranked northern and southern China's 10 favorite dishes. In the north, people's favorite dishes mainly contained meat and oily foods, such as braised pork with vermicelli and donkey burger meat. In the south, people favored porridge and soup cooked in earthenware pots.

Tan Guijun, director of the Nutrition Department at Tianjin First Center Hospital, said in the report that generally speaking, food in southern China is lighter in flavor than in northern China.

According to Wang, people living in northern China eat more high-fat and high-cholesterol foods, and their traditional custom of drinking alcohol also increases their risks of putting on weight.

The report by douguo.com also revealed the top 10 cities where alcohol is consumed most. Shenyang in Liaoning Province ranked highest, while Beijing ranked ninth. Three of the top 10 cities are in the south of China - Luzhou, Sichuan Province, Guiyang, Guizhou Province and Nanchang, Jiangxi Province.

 "A glass of beer, about 200 milliliters, contains about 65 calories, and you need to walk for more than 40 minutes to burn it off," said Shi Jie, a Beijing-based nutritionist.

"Not to mention that baijiu (white liquor), which is the favorite alcohol in northern China, has about three times more calories than beer."

Shi added that the staple food in people's diets also plays a major role in their daily consumption of foods. It is well-known that people in northern China like flour-based foods, while those in southern China prefer rice.

Every 100 grams of rice contains about 340 calories, while flour contains 335 calories, said Shi. "Although rice contains slightly more calories than flour, flour-based foods are usually more processed with more oil, salt, and even meat, thus making it more calorie-rich."

Overweight metropolises

 In major metropolises like Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, more than 40 percent of people who are on diet are overweight, compared to smaller cities where the average overweight rate of people on diet is 27 percent, said the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences report.

"The fast urbanization in China is providing a catalyst for increased obesity," Wang said. "[Irrespective of whether they are in northern or southern China], people in large cities sit longer, depend more on cars, and have easier access to more kinds of delicious foods."

Shi agrees with Wang. "Actually large cities like Beijing and Shanghai have a similar development level and people's lifestyles are not that different," said Shi.

"No matter whether northern or southern, large city dwellers are all facing a serious problem of rising body weight."

To avoid becoming overweight, Shi suggested that people living in southern China insist on maintaining their traditional diet pattern of lightly flavored foods and less meat. While people in northern China, especially in large cities like Beijing, Shi said they should consider cutting down the proportion of staple food and red meat in their daily meals.

Shi has also warned those living in the north about gaining holiday weight, as the New Year approaches.

"In China the festival atmosphere is always intense and family reunions during the holidays and festivals always feature numerous feasts, especially in northern China," said Shi.

"People should make at least half their dishes at family reunions vegetable ones, or have homemade dishes by controlling fat and oil for dinner instead of going to a restaurant."

"If you are worried about your weight, get active and cut down on beer," Hawke suggested. He seldom drinks in Dali because there is neither a bar nor a restaurant in his village. He thinks blaming ones weight problems on the Chinese diet, is silly.

"[No matter whether it is in northern China or southern China], the Chinese eat Chinese food and are not generally fat," said Hawke. "So the issue is not the food. But the lifestyle."