Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, March 16th Title: "Weight Management" leads the new trend of health in China

Xinhua News Agency reporters Liu Lantao, Sun Yixuan, Yu Xiaohua

Looking at the dazzling array of snacks on the supermarket shelves, Mr. Yu, a citizen, wandered for a long time, but finally decided to give up. Mr. Yu has abnormal physical examinations in the past two years, and he is determined to stick to his weight management plan - to scientifically reduce intake and strengthen exercise.

"The country is calling for attention to weight management." Mr. Yu said with a smile.

Sometimes, Lei Haichao, director of the National Health Commission, spent 7 minutes talking about weight loss at a press conference, and "weight management" quickly became a hot word on social platforms again. As early as June last year, the National Health Commission and 16 other departments jointly launched the three-year "Weight Management Year" activity.

Wang Youfa, dean of the Global Health Research Institute of Xi'an Jiaotong University and director of the International Center for Obesity and Metabolic Diseases Research, said that from the popularity of topics such as "the country calls you to lose weight", it can be seen that a healthy lifestyle may become a social trend in the future.

On March 15, at Luoshe Town Health Center, Deqing County, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province, medical staff registered children's diagnosis and treatment information. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Xie Shangguo)

In recent years, hospitals at all levels in many places have gradually opened weight clinics. In this regard, Wang Youfa pointed out that weight clinics are a comprehensive manifestation of scientific research promotion, policy implementation, public awareness improvement and social atmosphere improvement.

The reporter recently came to the clinic of the obesity clinic of Jilin University First Hospital and saw that medical staff were establishing weight loss files for patients. "In the past, people always looked at abnormal indicators in isolation and rarely came to the obesity clinic. Now, with the change in understanding of obesity, our outpatient clinic is often difficult to find." Chief physician Gang Xiaokun said.

Gang Xiaokun's department is the first hospital department in the country to open an obesity-specific clinic. It has been popularizing the public on weight management issues for many years. After checking the backend data of popular science tweets, she found that the public's attention to weight management-related tweets is clearly on the rise.

The report of the National Health Commission shows that if it is not effectively curbed, the overweight and obesity rate of adults in China will reach 70.5% in 2030, and the overweight and obesity rate of children will reach 31.8%.

Medical evidence has been proven that overweight and obesity are the key causes of many chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Obesity may also be related to people's negative emotions such as inferiority and depression, and then affect life and work.

On November 14, 2024, nurses from the Coast Guard Hospital provided healthy diet guidance to residents. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Jin Peng)

Last year, the National Health Commission issued the "Adult Obesity Food and Care Guide", providing detailed reference for scientific diets in different regions and groups.

Open the food and nourishment guide, and the recipes provided in them are detailed to different regions across the country and note the total energy of the recipe. For example, a recommended recipe for spring dinner in central China is: quinoa rice, steamed sea bass, stir-fried mushroom hearts, and stir-fried oil and wheat vegetables.

"The food and nutrition guide provides operational dietary references to meet the core needs of the people in the weight management process, making the meals both delicious and healthy." He Gengsheng, deputy chairman of the Obesity Prevention and Control Branch of the Chinese Nutrition Society, said.

The Research Report on Nutrition and Healthy Development Trend of Catering Takeaway 2024 shows that in recent years, consumers' consumption of takeaway purchases has grown rapidly, and the proportion of fruit consumption has increased significantly. Nearly 70% of tea consumers choose low sugar... The general trend of the people's pursuit of nutrition and health is highlighted.

While "controlling your mouth", more and more people are "leaving their legs", and the concept of "scientific movement" is more popular.

The Third National Time Utilization Survey Bulletin released in 2024 showed that the participation rate of Chinese residents in sports and fitness activities was 49.6%, an increase of 18.7 percentage points from 2018.

On February 21, students ran and warmed up in physical education class at the First Primary School Affiliated to Xuanwu Normal School in Beijing. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ju Huanzong

Many families pay more attention to the cultivation of their own and youth sports habits, and will use more free time to exercise, such as outdoor hiking and cycling, to eliminate the "overnutritional surplus" through exercise.

Next to Tumote Middle School in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, in a gym called "Jumping Cat", a "round" student and a "slim as bamboo" student are training under the guidance of coach Han Kuo. Han Kuo said: "It is actually not good to be too fat or too thin. I feel happy to see the children's body shapes become more symmetrical day by day." Huang Peng, professor at the School of Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation of Beijing Sports University, said: "Now, physical indicators such as metabolic rate and body fat rate are gradually replacing traditional weight data and becoming new standards for everyone to measure their physical health." The medical journal "The Lancet" published an article pointing out that the number of people overweight and obese in the world has increased from 929 million in 1990 to 2.6 billion in 2021, and the obesity rates of adult men and women have more than doubled. Obesity has become an important public health issue around the world.

Wang Youfa said that China's weight management practice, which integrates governance, full life cycle intervention, plays the role of traditional medicine, and promotes interdisciplinary cooperative research, provides four major paradigm innovations for global obesity governance, and will provide important scientific research data and practical experience for China and the world.