Experts provide Chinese obesity measurement standards

In recent years, there have been gradually more and more obese people in our country. So how fat is it? At the recently held "Seminar on Obesity and Disease Risk in China Population", medical experts proposed evaluation standards for this for the first time: adult body mass index (weight in kilograms/height square in meters) greater than 24 means overweight, and greater than 28 means obesity; male waist circumference greater than 85 cm and female waist circumference greater than 80 cm are also considered obese.

The above standards are based on a summary and analysis of survey data of more than 240,000 adults in 21 provinces and cities in mainland China and Taiwan Province in the 1990s, and a 4.7-15-year prospective follow-up survey of 62000 people. Research analysis found that in the 10 years from 1982 to 1992, the number of people with a body mass index of more than 25 in my country increased from 7%-8% to 14%-15%, doubling. This indicates that if no control intervention is taken, the incidence of obesity in my country will increase significantly in the future.

Experts point out that obesity is an important risk factor for many chronic diseases and cancer such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, and diabetes.

In my country, not only has the number of obese adults increased significantly, but the number of obese children and adolescents is also increasing. According to survey and analysis, nearly a quarter of children in my country are chubby; according to a survey of children aged 0-7 in eight cities, the obesity rate of children in this age group has also nearly doubled in the 10 years from 1986 to 1996.

Experts have analyzed the reasons for childhood obesity and believe that it is mainly caused by excessive calorie intake, lack of exercise and genetic factors. Some studies also believe that it is related to long-term TV viewing. According to a questionnaire survey conducted among parents of 9356 children and adolescents in four cities of Guangzhou, Shanghai, Jinan and Harbin, the obesity rates for children who watched TV for an average of less than 1 hour, 1-2 hours, 2-3 hours, and more than 3 hours were 10.9%, 11.8%, 13.2%, and 15.1%. In addition, it is also related to the impact of TV food advertisements on children's snack selection and consumption, because most TV advertisements frequently appear in children's TV programs are advertisements for high-fat and high-sugar foods. To this end, experts suggest helping children reduce the time they spend watching TV. (Internship Editor: Zheng Yanjun)