At least 40 percent of people who are overweight or obese suffer from symptoms of obesity-related complications such as joint pain and sleep apnea, according to a study carried out by the Obesity Alliance.

The alliance, which is made up of the Chinese Medical Society, Obesity Society and Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, polled over 500 people from May to June this year.

It found that about 40 percent of those surveyed were overweight or obese. But over half thought they were not in these categories.

Almost 80 percent of those with a high body mass index (BMI) suffered from chronic illnesses, namely hypertension, high cholesterol levels and diabetes.

But over half had never tried to lose weight.

“There is a misunderstanding between the BMI body weight and problems obesity may bring. We have seen a lot of people with high BMI who do not think they will suffer from any health issues,” said endocrinologist Michele Yuen, who chairs the Obesity Society.

“Also in the Chinese community, we have a lot of concepts of having heavy bones, so some people might believe that their bones are heavy despite having a high BMI, there is no problem with obesity,” she added.

Yuen said there are inadequacies with commonly-used weight measurement tools as results may fail to take into account people’s body composition and ethnicity.

She also said there is a lack of understanding among society towards obesity, such as views that those living with the condition are lazy or have a poor diet.

“Obesity is a disease where a lot of hormones are involved, once you lose weight, there are also a lot of counter regulatory mechanisms within the body that would push your body weight back up,” Yuen said.

“Therefore people living with obesity, they might be putting in a lot of effort but this is just not seen in the outward appearance,” she added.

The alliance said more public education is needed to eliminate stereotypes and encourage people to face their weight problems.

It also called for the government to roll out screening for obesity at the primary healthcare level so as to provide adequate support, and to include weight loss drugs in the city’s regulatory drug list.