Chinese university offers weight-loss course

Beijing, Oct 17: A Chinese university is offering a course which will link a student's weight loss directly to their marks in a bid to curb obesity.

The course initiated by Zhou Quanfu, teacher at the Nanjing Agricultural University in Jiangsu province, aims to encourage overweight students to control their diet and increase physical activity, reports Xinhua news agency.

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

According to a student, they run on treadmills in the varsity's fitness room and walk 10 km 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 over 30 per cent 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 per cent of students in Zhou's university were obese. He hopes the course will help them lose weight and become more confident.