The 2023 national provincial obesity rate rankings are here! Which provinces have the most "fat people"? Why are men more likely to be fat than women? | Yiyisi

Editor: Sunny Morning

Recently, Professor Mu Yiming's team from the First Medical Center of the General Hospital of the People's Liberation Army published a report titled "Prevalence of Obesity and Related Complications in China: A Cross-sectional Real-World Study of 15.8 Million Adults" in the journal "Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism". The report data showed that the overall overweight population in my country accounted for 34.8%, and the obese population accounted for 14.1%.

This is the largest contemporary study on the prevalence of overweight and obesity and related complications conducted in my country to date, with 15.8 million eligible adults from 243 cities across the country participating.

The study also found that the proportion of overweight/obesity in the north is generally higher than in the south , with the top three provinces in terms of overweight proportion being Inner Mongolia (37.1%), Shandong (37.1%) and Hebei (36.6%). Henan, Ningxia, Shanxi, Liaoning, Tianjin, Xinjiang and Beijing ranked fourth to tenth.

Overweight and obesity are more common among men than women , with 41.1% of men being overweight compared to 27.7% of women, and 18.2% of men being obese compared to 9.4% of women.

The prevalence of complications was higher in overweight/obese participants compared with those with normal BMI. The most common complications among overweight/obese participants were fatty liver, prediabetes, dyslipidemia, and hypertension. The higher the BMI, the more complications there were.

Why are men more likely to be obese than women?

Wu Xueyan, chief physician of the Department of Endocrinology at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, said that there are several reasons why men are more prone to obesity, which are usually related to the stress and emotions they experience in life or work. First, long-term excessive stress and negative emotions can easily lead to endocrine hormone secretion disorders, mainly the stress hormone-adrenal glucocorticoid (that is, the hormone usually referred to by the public) secretion increased significantly, which plays a role in counteracting insulin, increasing abdominal fat accumulation, and causing abdominal obesity characterized by "general's belly". Second, in order to relieve stress and release emotions, men often adopt unhealthy lifestyles such as drinking and eating too much. In addition to overeating, alcohol often produces a lot of calories, which can also promote the formation of obesity. The third is sleep problems. Long-term lack of sleep or irregular sleep can also cause obesity in men by disrupting energy balance.

Why are most provinces with “fat people” in the north?

Wang Jingzhong, a researcher at the Institute of Nutrition and Health of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, analyzed that the reason why the overweight rate in the north is higher than that in the south on the obesity map of China is inevitable, which is related to various objective factors such as regional climate and eating habits. There are many factors that contribute to the low obesity rate among southerners, among which the most critical reason is that the hot weather causes the locals to metabolize quickly. In addition to weather factors, obesity may also be closely related to the dietary structure of local people. Take Guangdong as an example. There are few fat people in Guangdong, which is related to the fact that Guangdong people have always maintained traditional dietary concepts. In the diet of urban residents in the north, the intake of rice is decreasing, and the intake of high-fat and high-cholesterol foods is increasing. In addition, northerners also like to "have a drink", which is equivalent to increasing the factors of obesity in such eating habits.

However, the above overweight and obesity are mainly judged based on BMI, but this formula also has certain defects. It can only roughly assess the overall condition of the body, but cannot accurately determine the distribution of fat, and it is easy to miss the abdominal obesity group. That is, those people whose BMI index may not be high, but their fat is concentrated in the abdomen, because it affects the internal organs, it also brings health risks .

The fat in the human body can be divided into two categories: the first category is "visible fat", that is, subcutaneous fat . They are attached to the skin and help the body keep warm. But if they accumulate too much, they will become the culprit that makes us look fat. The second category of "invisible fat" is visceral fat . They wrap and fill our various internal organs, such as the liver, pancreas, stomach, intestines, etc.

Zhao Jie, a resident physician at the Endocrinology Department of Yunnan Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, pointed out that normal thickness of visceral fat can protect the internal organs and prevent damage to them when falling, but too much visceral fat can lead to abnormal functions of organs such as fatty heart, fatty liver, fatty kidney, and fatty pancreas. If you want to lose visceral fat, you can refer to the following four methods.

Exercise for at least half an hour every day : People with excessive visceral fat need to exercise for half an hour to an hour every day, such as running, walking, swimming, cycling, etc. Ball games can help decompose fat while consuming energy. Even if you don't have abdominal obesity, you can still exercise more to prevent it.

Remember this ratio when eating: 5:3:2 : Eating too much staple food such as rice and bread can easily accumulate visceral fat in the abdominal cavity, but you can't completely stop eating them to avoid the brain's inability to concentrate when you don't eat anything. For example, for women with abdominal obesity, the daily staple food intake should not exceed 100 grams, and the ratio of three meals is 5:3:2.

Limit calorie intake according to exercise : If you don’t exercise much on a daily basis, your calorie intake (kcal) should not exceed your body weight (kg) × 25; if you exercise regularly and are very active, your calorie intake (kcal) should not exceed your body weight (kg) × 35.

Increase your daily fiber intake : If you want to lose weight successfully, you can’t lack fiber. You can choose fiber-rich foods such as oats, mung beans, tomatoes, grapefruit, etc. on a daily basis, which will help smooth excretion and promote metabolism.

Reference sources: Xinhuanet, Health Times, Southern Metropolis Daily, The Paper, etc.