Half of Taiwan's adults overweight or obese: Medical group

Taipei, March. 4 (CNA) Most Taiwanese have a limited understanding of obesity, resulting in one in every two adults in Taiwan being overweight or obese, a medical group said Tuesday on World Obesity Day.

"There's no such thing as a healthy obese person. It's only a matter of time before health issues arise," said Lin Wen-yuan (林文元), president of the Taiwan Medical Association for the Study of Obesity, at a press conference in Taipei.

Citing the latest from Taiwan's Health Promotion Administration (HPA) on obesity from 2017 to 2020, Lin said more than 10 million adults, or 50.3 percent of people in Taiwan aged 18 and above, are either overweight or obese.

That is in part because many of them lack an understanding of obesity, and many people believe "there is nothing wrong with being fat," Lin said.

Warning that "most chronic diseases take time to develop," he said eight of the top 10 causes of death listed by the HPA are related to obesity, though he did not identify them specifically.

According to the HPA, the 10 leading causes in 2023 were cancer, heart disease, pneumonia, cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes, COVID-19, high blood-pressure-related diseases, accidents, chronic lower respiratory diseases, and kidney diseases.

Lin said the standards for being overweight and obese are determined by a person's body mass index (BMI), calculated by dividing an adult's weight in kilograms by their height in meters squared, or waist size, Lin said.

A BMI between 24 and 26.9 signals being overweight, while a score of 27 or higher signals obesity.

A waist circumference -- measured at the midpoint between the lowest rib and the top of the pelvis -- exceeding 80 centimeters (cm) for women and 90 cm for men is also classified as obesity, he said.

Echoing the 2025 World Obesity Day theme -- "Changing Systems, Healthier Lives" -- Lin said weight loss is not just a "personal matter" but a national and global concern, as obesity places a significant burden on health care systems and society.

He urged people not to "discriminate" against those who are overweight but instead encourage them to lose weight through exercise.