Obesity Research · Vol. 5, No. 1 · 2018 · pp. e1–e2 · e-ISSN 2377-8385

Obesity: A Growing Problem in China

Chengjun Sun

School of Management and Economics, Kunming University of Science and Technology, 253, Xuefu Road, Kunming, Yunnan 650093, ChinaChina

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17140/oroj-5-e013 · Published 2018-04-19 · Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 · © 2018 The Author(s)

Also available as PDF (figures and tables appear in the PDF).

Abstract

Obesity is defined as excessive body fat accumulated to the extent that presents a risk to health. A measure of obesity is the body mass index (BMI), a person’s weight (in kilograms) divided by the square of the person’s height (in meters). A person with a BMI of 30 or over is generally considered obese, and a BMI of 25 or over considered overweight.1 Obesity is a major risk factor for chronic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Obesity also damages productivity. Obese people move slower and are sick from work more often due to complications of diabetes and other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Obesity was once considered a problem only in high-income countries, and now, however, it is dramatically increasing in developing countries.1 Unfortunately, at present, nearly one-third of the world’s population is obese or overweight, i.e., 2.1 billion

Keywords: cardiovascular; productivity

Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges financial support from the project of KMUST for Fostering Talents in provincial level (KKSY20160 8050) and the project of Yunnan Education Department (2016ZZX055). The author would like to acknowledgement Kunming University of Science and Technology research facility and support.

References

  1. Wikipedia. Obesity. Web site. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Obesity. Accessed April 18, 2018
  2. ChungC. Obesity and malnutrition: Two sides of one crisis. News Deeply. 2017. Web site. https://www.newsdeeply.com/ malnutrition/articles/2017/12/15/obesity-and-malnutrition-twosides-of-one-crisis-2. Accessed April 18, 2018. Obes Res Open J. 2018; 5(1): e1-e2. doi: 10.17140/OROJ-5-e01310.17140/oroj-5-e013 https://doi.org/10.17140/oroj-5-e013
  3. World Health Organization. Obesity: Preventing and managing the global epidemic (Report). 2000. Web site. http://www.who. int/nutrition/publications/obesity/WHO_TRS_894/en/. Accessed April 18, 2018
  4. Global Times. According to a new study, China is now home to the greatest number of obese people on Earth–what that means for its present and future. 2016. Web site. http://www.globaltimes. cn/content/977264.shtml. Accessed April 18, 2018
  5. MatchC. Obesity rates skyrocket in China’s rural kids. Science. 2016. Web site. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/04/obesity-rates-skyrocket-china-s-rural-kids. Accessed April 18, 2018
  6. SatcherD. The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity. U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Office of Surgeon General. 2001. Web site. https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/pdf/Callto-Action.pdf. Accessed April 18, 2018