Obese Students Busy Loosing Weight During Summer Vacation

This summer vacation may have been one of the happiest times in the life of Meng Qinggang's. Meng, who weighs 265 kilograms, or 583.7 pounds, has successfully lost more than 50 kilograms of weight following one month's treatment at Tianjin Aimin Hospital.

Meng is one of the thousands of persons to have lost weight at Tianjin Aimin Hospital, the only hospital in China that specializes in weight loss by means of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine. The hospital has been crowded with students hoping to lose weight since this year's summer vacation began in late July.

Everyday over 1,200 people come to the hospital for outpatient services, according to Doctor Li, a member of the hospital staff. More than half of people using the services are students. During the eight-week vacation students have time to focus on weight loss.

Cases of obesity has been increasing among China's 300 million children at an annual rate of eight percent. According to doctors at Aimin Hospital, the number of middle and elementary school students in Tianjin, an industrial city in north China with double the standard weight has surpassed 600.

The health of obese children is worrying to parents. Obesity can not only be an inconvenience to children's everyday lives, but it can also lead to psychological and physical diseases.

Obese children often suffer from low self-esteem and often have inferiority complexes. They may also be excluded from their school peer groups.

Doctors and nutritionists have pointed out that obesity, which is often the result of an unhealthy diet and a sedentary lifestyle, may lead to high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and related complications.

The latest studies also show that overweight children are likely to have low levels of sexual activity when they reach adulthood, and in the worst cases they may have difficulty in leading normal sexual lives or even they may suffer lifetime sterility.



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