Who knew such a day existed, but yesterday was National High Blood Pressure Day. To mark the occasion, it was revealed that one in five adults in Guangdong suffers from high blood pressure. This came a day after it was revealed that 40% of men and 30% of women in the province are overweight.

Guangzhou Daily reported that half of those suffering from high blood pressure are not even aware of their problem.

According to the paper, the four cornerstones of avoiding high blood pressure are a healthy diet, regular exercise, avoiding excessive consumption of alcohol or cigarettes, and psychological health. Evidently, a large number of people are unable to adhere to these, because the National Centre for Disease Control published a report claiming that 33.5% of adults in the country suffer from high blood pressure.

In this province, excessive consumption of salt appears to be exacerbating the problem.

A significant number of people in the province also suffer from being overweight or obese. According to statistics revealed by Sun Yat-sen University’s Institute of Public Health and the Guangdong Provincial Institute of Nutrition, 37.65% of men are overweight and 11.85% are obese. The statistics for women are not much better, as 27.9% are overweight and 8.76% are obese.

This is a considerable increase from 10 years ago. Qin Jian of the provincial CPPCC has suggested that 2014 be the year in which a healthy diet is promoted across the province as the problem could get out of hand, particularly in urban areas.