
HANOI -- Brisk economic growth, rising incomes and evolving diets are driving up obesity rates in Vietnam. This has businesses lining up to help citizens shed unwanted kilograms.
Fitness centers are sprouting up across the country. California Management Group, which opened its first gym in Vietnam in 2007, now operates 22 in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Danang. At its facility in Vincom Mega Mall Royal City, a large commercial complex in Hanoi, treadmills and other equipment fill a space about the size of a small school gymnasium.