Nearly 74 percent of the respondents in a recent survey said they have acquaintances who are trying every possible means of losing weight, although only 3.6 percent said they believe there is a essential correlation between staying slim and being beautiful.

The survey, conducted by China Youth Daily's social research center, polled 1,624 people on the Internet earlier this month, and the results were released on Thursday.

About 32 percent of the people polled were female, and about 50 percent were younger than 30.

According to the survey, 73.5 percent of the respondents said they have relatives, friends or colleagues who are extremely vigilant of their weight.

"Many of my friends are on a diet because becoming slim could make them more attractive," said Cheng Jia, a 28-year-old Beijing white-collar worker.

Cheng said she and her friends like street-fashion photographs and believe that the models in such sessions seem more elegant than average people not because they dress better but because they are in better shape.

"If you are slim, every suit fits you perfectly," Cheng said.

In the survey, 27.3 percent respondents said they are taking "extreme measures" in the hope of making themselves leaner. Some admitted to dieting constantly, vomiting after dinners and overusing weight-loss drugs.

"These extreme measures do not help with weight control," Gao Huiying, a professor of the Chinese Nutrition Society, told the China Youth Daily. "They will instead impair a person's health, and even harm the next generation."

According to Gao, women between the ages of 18 and 25 should have a certain amount of body fat, which will help to ensure their health during puberty, pregnancies and lactation periods.

"Excessive weight loss can harm the physical growth and reproductive health of women," Gao said.

Ninety-five percent of the respondents in the survey said women are more interested than men in losing weight, and 59 percent believed young people are conscious of their weight more than the old.

Even so, some under 30 say they think the pursuit of a slim waist can come at too great of a cost.

"If the price of being thin is the loss of health, I prefer not to keep fit," said Wei Min, a 26-year-old Beijing office worker.

"In the end, a healthy body is the most precious treasure of all."

Of the respondents to the survey, only 3.6 percent said they believe that "the thinner a person is, the more beautiful"; 65 percent were opposed to using slimness as the sole criteria for judging beauty, and 75.8 percent said they think people try to lose weight simply to follow current fashions.