At 1.7 metres tall and 100kg, Jackson Lee, a freelance consultant has a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 34.6. That means he is morbidly obese.
Studies show that such a high BMI puts Lee (real name withheld for confidentiality reasons) at very high risk for life-threatening conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, gall bladder disease, and gastrointestinal cancers. He could also suffer from other ailments such as sleep apnea, back pain, arthritis and infertility.
Worryingly, Lee is not alone. A recent study of some 30,000 people by The Family Project - an initiative sponsored by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust in collaboration with University of Hong Kong's School of Public Health - found that one in two Hongkongers is either obese or overweight.
The survey is the largest of its kind in Hong Kong, says Professor Lam Tai-hing, director of the School of Public Health and the project's principal investigator. It's also unique because trained surveyors were sent to about 20,000 households to conduct interviews and obtain the data. Most other studies rely on participants to self-report, which may be less accurate.
There are no equivalent studies against which to compare the Project's data. But looking at the Centre for Health Protection's Behavioural Risk Factor Survey of April 2009, in which 38.7 per cent of people aged 18 to 64 were overweight or obese, the latest statistics suggest a marked increase in weight issues in the territory. 'If you look at the overall figure, it is very alarming,' says Lam.
Hong Kong's growing obesity epidemic is part of a worldwide trend. According to the World Health Organisation, obesity is the fifth leading risk of death in the world. It is considered a chronic but preventable disease.
