With obesity on the rise across China, doctors and nutritionists create healthy treatment path Doctors released China’s first medical guideline on Sunday to help overweight people get lighter.

The guideline, which comes as obesity rises sharply nationwide, covers the principles and methods that should be adopted to help people lose weight and keep it off. It was developed over nearly a year through the collective efforts of nearly 100 doctors and nutritionists across the country, according to the China International Exchange and Promotive Association for Medical and Health Care.

“The guidance is expected to encourage clinical nutritionists and related medical staff to provide standard weight loss services to patients using proper principals and methods,” said Wang Qi, secretary-general of the association. It was jointly released by the association and three other medical organisations, including the Chinese Medical Doctor Association.

According to a report released by the National Health and Family Planning Commission last year, about 30 per cent of people in China aged 18 or older are overweight, an increase of more than 7 percentage points over 2002, and the number of overweight people is increasing faster than in developed countries.

Excessive weight and obesity has been a major contributor to the prevalence of many chronic diseases such as diabetes in China, the commission has said.

Overweight people in general can reduce weight and maintain proper weight afterward through principles that include a balanced diet, proper exercise and psychological consultation, the guideline says, noting that a healthy lifestyle is a long-term benefit.

Chen Wei, vice-director of the Clinical Nutrition Branch of the Chinese Nutrition Society, said an increasing number of people have sought treatment to reduce weight in recent years, but many methods available in the market are not proper, and some can even harm health.

As a pilot programme, the guideline will be adopted by 39 major public hospitals in 20 cities in China this year, including Peking Union Medical College Hospital, he said. “These hospitals will open special clinics for reducing weight,” Chen said. “They will provide services including updated health records and customised weight-loss plans.”

The guidance is expected to be promoted to more hospitals in the future, he said.

Aside from the rapidly increasing number of overweight people, the country is also facing specific challenges – for example, the incidence of excessive weight is also increasing in the rural areas, not just in the cities, Chen said.

Experts have applauded the introduction of a blacklist for unruly air passengers, but caution has been urged in specifying targeted offenders.

Three people have been fined and placed on a no-fly list since the China Air Transport Association introduced the national system in February.

The identities of the offenders have not been revealed. However, the authority said on Friday that the bans were handed out for reckless behaviour on board a flight or at an airport – namely, refusing to switch off a tablet PC while landing, hitting a checkpoint security officer with a milk can, and attacking airline personnel over a flight delay.

The punishment means the trio cannot book flights on five major airlines, including Air China, China Southern and China Eastern, which together operate about 80 per cent of routes in and out of China, for one to two years, depending on the severity of their offence.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China last year laid out 11 kinds of behaviour strictly prohibited on flights and at terminals, including creating disturbances at check-in counters, damaging airport security facilities, and intimidating or assaulting crew members.

Li Xiaojin, a researcher at the Civil Aviation University of China, said a blacklist system is necessary, as conflicts over delays and disputes among passengers over trivial matters increasingly pose safety risks.

“As China’s civil aviation market remains immature, we need more safety education, as well as measures like this to encourage passengers to behave and guarantee safety,” he said.

A series of air rage incidents in recent years back up such concerns.

In December 2014, a Chinese woman poured boiling water over a female flight attendant and punched the cabin windows on an AirAsia flight from Bangkok to Nanjing, Jiangsu province, due to a dispute over seating arrangements.

On Jan 10 last year, police removed 25 passengers from a plane in Kunming, Yunnan province, after they quarrelled with flight crew and opened emergency exits after growing angry over delays caused by bad weather.

However, Qiu Baochang, a legal consultant for the China Consumer Association, said specifications of the blacklist system should be detailed to avoid infringements of consumer rights.

“The system is in line with international convention, but specific conditions under which a passenger can be warned or blacklisted, and the procedure to inform and educate targeted passengers in advance should be further discussed,” he said.