User:VeroByun/ObesityinSouthKorea

Obesity is becoming a significant contemporary health concern all over the world nowadays. Not only in western countries, obesity is also a notable issue in South Korea. South Korea is famous for its economic blooming and its entertainment industry (K-pop). Also, South Korean fashion and Korean beauty have become new trends around the world especially in Asia. As South Korea is getting more attention from other countries, thereupon its existed obesity problem and effects cannot be ignored when people follow Korean fashion and beauty trends, since there is a stereotype that all South Korean celebrities have a perfect body shape.

Definition
Obesity is a state of excessive body fat accumulation. Weight is measured by body mass index [ BMI, defined by weight (kg)/height (m)2]. People are defined as overweight if their BMI is greater than 25, and obese if their BMI is greater than 30.

Obesity in South Korea
The rate of obesity in South Korea is among the lowest in the OECD record, but has been increasing steadily over the years. Overall, almost about 4% of the adult population is obese in South Korea, and about 30% are overweight (including obesity). The prevalence of obesity among Korean children and adolescents increased from 6.8% in 1998 to 10.0% in 2013. OECD has predicted that the rate of overweight in South Korea will increase by a further 5% within ten years. In developing countries, men with higher income are associated with higher BMI. In a previous study, the results show that the age-standardized obesity prevalence in men has a relationship with high education level and high income. In addition, the prevalence of obesity in male differs depending on the different areas of residence in South Korea, as exemplified by a comparison between Jeju (12.5%) and Gangwon-do (7.7%). The table of distribution of obesity by 17 areas including metropolitan cities and large administrative districts shows that the male obesity rates are positively correlated with female obesity rates.

Comparison with other countries
According to the OECD’s latest Obesity Update, the countries with heavy obesity rates include the United States with 38.2 percent of population considered obese, followed by Mexico, New Zealand, Hungary, Australia and the UK. The prevalence of obesity in South Korea is not only much lower than Western countries, but also lower than any other Asian countries except for Japan. The overall estimated obesity rate of South Korea is the second lowest, following Japan which recorded 3.7 percent.

Though compared to other countries, obesity rates in South Korea are at a remarkably low level, but overweight rates are high and it seem to be one of the major health issues in South Korea.

Society and culture
The imbalance between daily calories consumed and calories expended is the fundamental cause of obesity. There are many other potential causes might lead to obesity such as inactive lifestyle, unhealthy lifestyle habits, genes and family history, health conditions, medicines, psychological factors, drinking and smoking, age, pregnancy, the lack of sleep, etc.

Obesity in children and adolescents is mainly associated with sleep quality and psychosocial problems. Children and adolescents who have shorter sleep duration or a shared family environment have higher rate of obesity comparing to those have longer sleep duration and better sleep environment. Also, obesity will make Korean children feel troubled with their body dissatisfaction and even lead to psychological stress and depression. Obese children with lower self-esteem and depression are more likely to relieve stress and anxiety through binge eating.

Skipping breakfast and more dining out are also positively associated with BMI standard deviation score.

As digital orders and payment in South Korea have become more common and convenient, there is a growing demand of simple meals such as fast food for home delivery. People can easily order fast food such as fried chicken and burgers through the fast food brands’ homepages and delivery apps on phone, which is convenient since customers do not need to leave home and can easily get what they want. Increasing fast food consumption and more common delivery options are also the factors that speed up the rate of obesity in South Korea.

Recently the ‘Mukbang’ TV on social medias has become extremely popular and a new trend in South Korea. ‘Mukbang’ is a Korean word and means a person who really loves food. And the content of a ‘Mukbang’ video is mostly about binge eating of junk food. More and more Youtubers start doing ‘Mukbang’ TV with eating a large amount of food in a short time as their business since there are increasing interests of this kind of videos by audiences. People can watch these video when having meals, which can satisfies their desire to eat with someone, so that is why it can be such a popular trend in South Korea. However, many Korean parents are worried about that their children will get influenced and become eating a lot and overweight after watching these videos, since children and teenagers can be easily influenced by medias and try to follow others.

Dietary data analysis
Unhealthy diet habits such as high sugar and fat intake will cause excessive calories intake. The top processed food sources of total sugar intake are granulated sugar, carbonated beverages, coffee, breads, and fruit and vegetable drinks. Coffee and staple food such as noodles, bread and rice are the main dietary sources that most of South Korean people will take every day. In recent years, there is a growing amount of self owned cafes and chain stores, with various good-looking and good-tasting dessert such as cakes and macaroons. Cafes become the most usual places for people catching up and working nowadays, some people who go to cafe might order coffee and dessert at the same time. Daily per capita fat intake more than doubled from 1969 to 1998. Fat intakes derived from both of plant foods and animal foods are increasing. This large increase in the consumption of sugar and animal food products summarize the major dietary changes in the South Korean nutrition transition.

As digital orders and payment in South Korea have become more common and convenient, there is a growing demand of simple meals such as fast food for home delivery. People can easily order fast food such as fried chicken and burgers through the fast food brands’ homepages and delivery apps on phone, which is convenient since customers do not need to leave home and can easily get what they want. Increasing fast food consumption and more common delivery options are also the factors that speed up the rate of obesity in South Korea.

Though obesity and overweight rates are keep increasing year by year, the prevalence of obesity and overweight is still less than most of countries. One of the reasons caused to this situation is the tradition South Korean diet is low fat and with a large amount of vegetables. The consumption of vegetable in South Korea is the highest among Asian countries. And also, there is a large variety of common used vegetables in South Korea, with over 300 eatable types all over the country as reported. Vegetable deeply influences the Korean traditional dietary because many Korean traditional food and dishes are made with vegetable, such as Kimchi (salted and fermented vegetables), Na-mul (cooked vegetables), Sang-chae (raw vegetables), Ssam (vegetable wrap), etc. In addition, though meat consumption in South Korea is increasing every year, the way to cook meat in South Korea also contains with diverse vegetables. For example, in South Korea, some beef and pork dishes usually wrapped with leaves such as Ssam. And if you walk into a Korean restaurant, you will be firstly served with a large range of Korean traditional side dishes for free, and most of them are made with vegetables as well. The fact that vegetable plays an essential role for Korean people can control the obesity and overweight rates in some way.

Effects
The prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents will have big impact on their organ system and might lead to serious consequences like metabolic syndrome, gastrointestinal disorder, cardiovascular problems and even psychosocial stress. Therefore, it is essential and crucial for local governments, organizations, communities and guardians to put efforts on preventing and dealing with childhood obesity.

The South Korean government has given an alarm that the rate of obesity in South Korea has steadily increased from 26% in 1998 to 31.7%t in 2007 and upwards to 34.8% in 2016.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has predicted that the rate of obesity in South Korea will double in 2030 and will keep rising with this speed.

Action
South Korea is being famous with its plastic surgery industry to make people more pretty. Nowadays plastic surgery hospitals in South Korea are not only focusing on making changes on face but also starting to create perfect body shape. Some people with obesity issue would prefer to remove unwanted stubborn fat by doing liposuction, since liposuction can remove fat from any specific parts of the body. Liposuction could be considered as a shortcut of losing weight and body fat because the surgery only takes few hours and clients can achieve the body shape they want without doing diet and exercise, but the extremely high costs and long recovery period will be more decisive factors to be considered.

In order to control long-term obesity and overweight rates, some specialists suggest that obese patients can take approved weight-loss medication to improve physical functioning to achieve greater physical activity. (Kmen)

Public education through diverse channel can play an essential role to help people increase their awareness of the importance of the factor that tradition Korean diet can contribute to weight maintenance. Therefore, a range of government, nutrition specialists and some private organizations are initiating numerous efforts to advertise the healthful dimensions of South Korean traditional diets.

As the increasing amounts of binge-eating related internet broadcasts have a large influence on people’s eating behaviors especially for teenagers, there will be a crackdown on binge-eating related videos and blogs on social media aiming to curb rising obesity rates by South Korean government.