GOOD EFFORTS: Men and women stretch during a yoga class inside the 474-meter high Shanghai World Financial Center Observatory (LIU YING)

On Chinese Valentine's Day (which fell on August 13 this year), a young woman with the pseudonym Xiaoyue suddenly died while getting ready for a date with her boyfriend in Changzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, according to the Yangtze Evening Post.

Xiaoyue, aged 27, was killed by a weight loss drug, or diet pill. A month before she was to be married, she started taking the weight loss medication in hopes of looking her best for the ceremony. No one would have imagined her aspirations for beauty would take her life.

The drug in question was found to contain sibutramine, which increases the risk of heart attack and strokes. The news shocked the ever increasing number of women who are currently using diet pills. A debate ensued as to whether the health risks associated with the drugs are worth shedding a few pounds for, as many women who take the pills are already considered medically underweight or slender.

Potential dangers

"If you suffer from obesity and really need to lose weight, you should visit a doctor and seek professional advice," said Hua Fei, a senior doctor at the Endocrinology Department of the First People's Hospital of Changzhou. "You should be very cautious about weight loss drugs, especially those bought online."

"Obesity is divided into two types: physiological and pathological, which can only be identified via a doctor's diagnosis," said Hua. "Physiological obesity, if combined with cardiovascular disease, requires medical treatment in hospital, while pathological obesity necessitates an operation."

"The weight loss drug market is currently in chaos. Some contain sibutramine and xenical, which may cause cardiovascular and liver problems if taken in an excessive amount. Although the government has prohibited their use since 2010, some factories still secretly add them to strengthen the impact of the drugs," Hua noted.

"Actually, there is no absolutely reliable weight loss drug on the market anywhere in the world," Hua said.

Currently, however, many women taking diet pills are not subject to obesity at all. According to medical standards, Xiaoyue was not overweight. She used the drug to be even more slender.

She is not the only woman desperate to lose weight in China. The issue has in fact become quite the obsession, especially in big cities.

"I want to have a fabulous figure, with no extra fat around the belly or thighs," said Zhu Kaili, a 28-year-old woman who works at a state-owned company in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province.

With a good educational background and high salary, Zhu pays a lot of attention to her body and is quite keen on fashion, which she equates to more slender physiques.

When asked about her efforts to control weight, Zhu said, "When I was at college, every time I found it necessary to lose weight, I would skip supper and exercise more often for a whole week, which was very effective at the time. But now it has become more difficult to lose weight."

Compared to Zhu, Wang Biying, a woman aged 26 who works for a foreign-funded company in Beijing, commented that, "It is very important to keep a good figure. It can make me feel more confident at work and in my private life. Besides, without a nice shape, you won't look pretty even if you wear the most gorgeous outfit. This can be very frustrating," she said.

She goes to the gym every week, doing yoga and aerobics, while mindful of her diet. "I never have snacks or junk food," Wang said. She is 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 100 pounds, but still wants to be thinner.