Thais turn to high-tech solutions to flight growing obesity

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2007

BANGKOK (AFP) — Thailand, known for its tasty food yet slimline people, is getting fatter -- a trend that's creating a new market for high-tech weight loss therapies aimed at portly people who want to shed the pounds.

A commuter munching on a fatty breakfast roll at a busy downtown intersection need only glance up to see a slimming centre billboard showing success stories in skimpy outfits flaunting their trim frames.

Across town, rotund Thais can begin the day strapped into rubber weight-loss suits at a high-tech gym, or sweating off the fat at one of Bangkok's many spas.

The boom in such treatments is partly driven by pressure to emulate noodle-thin movie stars, but also by a growing incidence of obesity.

"We eat more fat now than compared with the...