May 11, 2025 is the 8th World Day for Prevention and Control of Obesity. As the numbers on the scale continue to rise, many people first think of quitting milk tea and cutting desserts, but they "turn a blind eye" to the braised pork and oily stir-fried vegetables on the table. Researcher He Li from the Institute of Nutrition and Health of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention pointed out that this phenomenon of "excessive oil intake" is not an isolated case. You should not just stare at sugar after losing weight, but also pay attention to reducing oil intake.

Excessive intake of high-energy and fatty foods can increase the risk of overweight and obesity, and will also disrupt the balance of energy intake and consumption, fat synthesis and decomposition. He Li said that when it comes to weight loss, the first thing people think of is to control sugar and carbohydrates, but ignore controlling the intake of cooking oil. Data from the "Reference Intake of Dietary Nutrients for Chinese Residents (2023 Edition)" released by the Chinese Nutrition Society shows that each gram of fat (oil) contains 9 kcal of energy, which is 2.25 times the same weight of sugar (4 kcal). This means that consuming 30 grams of cooking oil (equivalent to 2 tablespoons) can produce 270 kcal of energy, which is about the energy of 1.5 bowls of rice.

Especially for many people in the workplace, they often eat outside or order takeout due to work reasons. However, among the top ten dishes sold on the takeout platform, such as Kung Pao chicken, boiled beef, and dry pot cauliflower, all use more than 50 grams of oil per serving. If you eat like this for a long time, even if you control sugar and salt intake, it will still lead to obesity.

It is estimated that half of the fat intake of Chinese residents in their diet comes from cooking oil, and using an oil-controlling pot can help people plan the amount of oil used reasonably; it is recommended to choose vegetable oil such as soybean oil, rapeseed oil, peanut oil, olive oil, tea seed oil, sunflower oil, salad oil and other vegetable oils to avoid using animal oils; cooking methods are mostly steamed, boiled, scalded, cold-mixed, and fry less; learn to look at the nutritional labels of pre-packaged foods and choose foods with low fat content.

When ordering or ordering takeout, pay attention to the combination of meat and vegetables, mainly light-flavored dishes, try to reduce heavy-flavored dishes. You can ask the merchant to add less salt, oil and sugar in the notes, or you can use boiled water to rinse it again and then eat it.

He Li also specifically reminded parents that people's taste sense is gradually developed from an early age, and it is very important to develop light tastes in children and adolescents. Therefore, we must cultivate children's healthy eating concepts from an early age, develop light and non-greasy eating habits, and benefit children for life.

[Editor in charge: Bai Bixuan]