How to Stop the Obesity Epidemic?

China has entered the era of obesity. Data from China Noncommunicable Disease (NCD) Surveillance 2010 have shown that one in three Chinese adults had either central or general obesity. Meanwhile, the epidemic of childhood obesity may weigh on China’s future. Obesity affects virtually all ages and socioeconomic groups and significantly contributes to the rocket-rising incidence of NCDs, including type 2 diabetes,cardiovasculardiseases,andcertain forms of cancer, which is worrisome for a country with a population of 1.37 billion. The huge demographic pressure, unbalanced economic development, unmet social diversity, and childhood obesity epidemic have all created tough challenges for the Chinese government to fight against obesity. Prevention and control strategies must be comprehensive and should include proactive approaches: reducing health disparity through healthcare reform and development, protecting parental and childhood health, enhancing education on a healthy lifestyle, implementing awareness and detection programs for genetically susceptible individuals, and early interventions targeting high-risk population. To efficiently halt the obesity epidemic, the main focus should be placed on children and adolescents. The national research supporting systems should encourage biomedical scientists to explore the pathogenesis of obesity and develop safe and effective novel anti-obesity drugs/procedures toward gut microbes, brown fat, and genetic targets in regulatory network of metabolism. International cooperation is of key importance in basic research and translational studies. It is tough, but with hope. Move It and Lose It