Traditional Chinese Medicine Gives Slim Hope to over-fat man
By admin on 2015-01-06

Traditional Chinese medics are claiming a weight-loss breakthrough after helping an overweight young man in northeast China to lose 100 kilograms in only a year.

Li Feng, 25, at 1.78 meters tall, weighed 185 kg when he sought medical help for his obesity in September 2008. Now he weighs 85 kg.

The standard weight for a man of Li's age and height in China is around 65 kg, according to a standard of China's Ministry of Health.

"Usually it takes a month to lose a kilo, which means Li would have normally have taken more than eight years to lose 100 kg," said Professor Zhou Yumei, of the nutrition and food safety institute of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Li is treated with acupuncture and fire treatment," said Yu Shuzhong, head of the obesity treatment center of Kangda Traditional Chinese Medical Hospital in Changchun City, capital of Jilin Province.

"The fire treatment starts with a body scrub, spa bath and massage. Then the fatty area is smeared with a mud-like traditional Chinese medicine solution and covered with wet towels dipped in alcohol," Yu said.

"The towels are then lit, generating heat that drives the medicine through the skin," he said.

Li has also been on diet and exercising under the direction of the doctor. "I've been climbing five flights of stairs a dozen times a day everyday for the past year," Li said.

"At the beginning, 20 minutes of climbing was too much for me. But now 40 minutes is a piece of cake," Li said.

"I feel a lot healthier and comfortable with my life," said Li, who had been suffering from a variety of obesity-linked health conditions, such as pancreatitis, cholecystitis, hypertension and hyperlipemia.

"I plan to learn to operate an excavator. Then I'll marry someone and lead a normal life," said, who lives in Changchun.

"Exercise and diet are essential to lose weight. It also takes strong will power," Yu said.

Li had been on a judo team since the age of 13 and started to gain weight when he left the sport at 16 as his amount of exercise dropped significantly while his appetite remained undiminished.

China has more than 200 million overweight adults, according to a survey by the Ministry of Health.

A survey by the Chinese Association for Student Nutrition and Health Promotion showed that 94 percent of Chinese primary and middle school students lack exercise with 28.6 percent of boys and 7.4 percent of girls suffering from obesity.