赘肉换牛肉：中国肥胖防控的多元实践

江苏无锡梁溪区山北街道推出 “减掉1斤赘肉，换回1斤牛肉” 的社区减重活动，凭借直观实在的激励迅速走红，参与热情高涨。该活动面向 BMI 超标居民，要求通过合理运动与饮食减重，严禁使用减肥药或极端节食，达到减重目标者可在 2027 年初兑换牛肉奖励，既体现了行为经济学的激励思路，也意在提升辖区居民与职工健康水平、优化营商环境。

当前，中国超重与肥胖问题日益突出，已从个人健康问题上升为国家层面的公共卫生议题。数据显示，中国半数以上成年人超重或肥胖，如不加以控制，预计 2030 年成人和儿童超重肥胖率将分别达到 70.5% 和 31.8%，给慢性病防控和医疗卫生体系带来巨大压力。这一变化源于四十多年经济快速发展带来的饮食结构与生活方式转变，高热量饮食、久坐少动等成为重要诱因。

为此，国家及各地政府出台多项措施综合应对。国家卫健委推动全国二级以上医疗机构广泛开设体重管理门诊，计划到 2026 年底实现所有三级公立综合医院全覆盖。上海、四川南充、浙江台州等地结合基层服务、志愿者干预、数字健康技术等探索本地化方案。与此同时，民众健康意识不断提升，线下健身场所与线上健身课程热度攀升，智能设备与 AI 技术也为个性化体重管理提供助力，全社会正形成科学减重、健康第一的新风尚。

《北京周报》2026年第13期刊发的英文文章带您关注中国肥胖防控。

Residents perform traditional kungfu fan movements at a fitness-themed activity in Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, on June 10, 2025 (XINHUA)

Lose a Pound, Gain a Pound

The offer, posted on a community bulletin board in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, in early March, was strikingly straightforward: Lose a pound of belly fat, gain a pound of beef.

Within 48 hours, more than 1,000 people signed up. Within a week, that number more than doubled, as word spread through Chinese social media of how one neighborhood is tackling what has now become a national priority: shrinking the nation's waistline.

The "fat-for-beef" challenge launched by a neighborhood in Wuxi's Liangxi District, is open to residents with a body mass index (BMI) above 23 or waistlines exceeding healthy standards. Those who shed pounds through exercise and diet—strictly no diet pills or fasting—can claim their reward at the beginning of 2027: one pound of beef or three pounds of beef bones for every pound lost, up to 20 pounds maximum. In China, the threshold BMI for overweight is 24, and that for obesity is 28. These numbers are lower than the standard World Health Organization thresholds (25 and 30) to account for different body compositions and higher health risks at lower BMIs in Asian populations.

"We wanted to give people a tangible incentive," said Lin Ye, head of the Shanbei Subdistrict Service Center, which organized the program with the support of local authorities. "Telling people to lose weight for the sake of their health is abstract. Telling them they'll get beef—that's tangible."

Heavy burden

"We also want to help our workers improve their fitness and energy levels," Lin explained. The subdistrict is home to over 330 businesses, making this initiative not just about health, but about workforce quality and creating a more attractive business environment.

Online reactions have been overwhelmingly positive, with netizens nationwide asking, "Why can't our community do this?"

The smartness of this idea lies in behavioral economics, transforming the tedious process of weight loss into immediate, tangible rewards.

The program's viral success reflects a deeper shift underway in China, where weight management has moved from a personal vanity project to a matter of national concern. With more than half of Chinese adults now overweight or obese, and chronic diseases straining the healthcare system, the country can no longer afford to ignore its expanding waistline.

At this year's session of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, which concluded in Beijing on March 12, lawmakers and health officials delivered a sobering message. "Weight management is not about aesthetics," said Cheng Lifen, a deputy to the NPC and Vice President of Nanchang Normal University's School of Physical Education, during the meeting. "It is about the foundation of national development."

The numbers are stark. According to a set of guidelines for weight management issued by the National Health Commission (NHC) in December 2024, if the issue is not effectively solved, by 2030, the rates of obesity among adults and children in China will reach 70.5 percent and 31.8 percent, respectively. Obesity is linked to chronic conditions, including diabetes, heart disease and different types of cancer.

In stark contrast, back in 1982, the obesity rate among Chinese children and teenagers aged 7 to 17 was just 0.2 percent, according to the NHC.

Four decades of rapid economic growth have transformed diets and lifestyles, shifting the national challenge from getting enough to eat to eating too much of the wrong things.

"We've gone from worrying about starvation to worrying about excess," Chen Wei, a Beijing-based nutritionist, told Beijing Review. "The human body hasn't evolved to handle the abundance and convenience that modernity provides." She added that abundance is visible everywhere, in the proliferation of delivery apps offering greasy meals at midnight, in sedentary office jobs that leave workers motionless for hours, and in the sugary drinks that have become ubiquitous in schoolyards.

Diverse approaches

In response, governments at different levels across the country are mobilizing to address this issue. Li Dachuan, Deputy Director of the NHC's medical administration department, revealed at a press conference in February that more than 5,500 secondary and above medical institutions across the country, about one third of the total, currently have established healthy weight management clinics. China has a three-tier system for grading hospitals, with tertiary hospitals—which have the largest number of beds and provide comprehensive medical services—at the top of the system. These clinics provide everything from dietary counseling to, in severe cases, referrals for bariatric surgery.

"This year, building on the work of previous years, we have decided to improve the quality and expand the coverage of healthy weight management clinics, with the goal that by the end of 2026, all tertiary public general hospitals nationwide will provide healthy weight-management clinic services," Li said.

At the local level, governments are experimenting with their own approaches. In Shanghai, the focus has been on weight management at the grassroots level. Community health centers across the cities are rolling out weight management services under a first-of-its-kind Community Weight Management Service Guideline, developed by the Shanghai Medical Doctor Association under commission from the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission. The guideline was released in late October last year.

Shanghai is equipped with smart health stations featuring weight-management modules, allowing residents to self-measure height, weight, waist circumference and BMI, then receive personalized guidance reports through their phones.

Nanchong City in Sichuan Province employs a different tactic, having launched a volunteer-based intervention program in September 2025. The program recruits volunteers who are overweight to receive free, multidisciplinary guidance from expert teams at hospitals. After eight weeks of intervention, the first cohort of volunteers achieved a 70-percent weight-loss target rate, with an average loss of 4.3 kg and a maximum loss exceeding 18 kg. More importantly, participants saw improvements in blood glucose, blood lipids and blood pressure, with some reporting relief from conditions like fatty liver disease and sleep apnea.

Lunan Subdistrict in Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, has made full use of digital technology. Residents can visit chronic disease clinics at community health centers, complete a comprehensive physical assessment using national fitness testing equipment in about 15 minutes, and receive a professional health prescription with daily exercise and dietary recommendations.

This fusion of technology and health consciousness is rippling far beyond government programs. Across the country, gyms, yoga studios and swimming pools are reporting a surge in users, with weight-management courses proving particularly popular. Online fitness platforms have also flourished, as millions follow live-streamed workouts and virtual coaching sessions from home.

Wang Chaofei, an office worker at a company in Beijing, who lost 10 kg, embodies this shift. "I exercise for an hour before lunch every day," he told Beijing Review. "It helps my brain relax, relieves work stress and afterward I eat more consciously—healthier foods, smaller portions."

Technology, he added, has been a game-changer. "My fitness buddies and I use smart bands and scales to track our weight, body fat and activity levels in real time. Combined with AI algorithms, we get personalized diet and exercise plans. With technology, losing weight feels twice as effective with half the effort."

英文采写：吕 岩

编 辑：万明子

责任编辑：季 风

设计排版：卢一凡

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