Weighty issue
As many as one in every five people in China is overweight or obese - and the problem is rapidly worsening, according to a report in the British Medical Journal that blames western diets, increasing affluence, sedentary lifestyles and a traditional belief that being fat indicates health and prosperity. 'China once [had] one of the leanest populations, but it is fast catching up with the west,' says lead author Wu Yang-feng of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in Beijing. Nationwide, 215 million people out of a population of 1.3 billion are overweight or obese, according to a 2002 survey using WHO definitions, although the report says the figure would be 281 million using stricter, non-Caucasian measures. Weight gains during the past 20 years have been most marked in children, Reuters reports.
Mass protest
Then again ... body-mass index (BMI), the widely used, 100-year-old measure of obesity and cardiovascular risk, is seriously flawed and should be replaced, according to analysis by Mayo Clinic researchers of 40 studies involving more than 250,000 patients. Their report in the Lancet says that people with low BMI typically have a higher risk of fatal heart disease than those with normal BMI. Unlike measures such as waist-hip ratio, BMI doesn't distinguish between muscle and fat, healthday.com reports.
Aids test success
An unspecified number of volunteers in preliminary trials of China's first Aids vaccine developed immunity to HIV within 15 days, and none had severe adverse reactions, according to the State Food and Drug Administration. Team leader Kong Wei of Jilin University told China Daily the initial results, using 49 healthy men and women, were 'truly inspiring', although it was too early to claim success. Further trials, using 800 volunteers, are expected to take years, AFP reports.
A cut above