Chinese university offers weight-loss course to tackle obesity

NANJING - A course offered at a university in East China will link students' weight loss directly to their marks in a bid to curb student obesity.

The course from Zhou Quanfu, teacher at the Nanjing Agricultural University in Jiangsu province, aims to encourage overweight students to control their diets and increase their exercise.

Zhou said 60 percent of a student's grade will be determined by their weight loss. If they shed 7 percent of their original weight, they can pass the course.

According to a student who declined to give her real name, the students run on treadmills in the school's fitness room and walk 10 kilometers every Monday and Friday evening. Every Wednesday afternoon, the teacher leads them on a mountain-climbing excursion.

"We use mobile apps to record daily food intake," said the student. Before eating, they send photos of their food via a mobile app for suggestions from nutritionists.

According to Zhou, only students with more than 30 percent body fat or a body mass index over 28 can sign up for the course.

Physical fitness test data showed that between 2013 and 2014, around 13 percent of students in Zhou's university were obese. He hopes the course will help them lose weight and become more confident.