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Ten million Korean adults are overweight, with the number increasing by 400,000 a year -- a result of lack of exercise, change in diet and excessive drinking culture. With the advent of fast food restaurants and changing life styles, the number of overweight children and adolescents is also growing rapidly. Some 10 to 15 percent of people under 20 are overweight.
According to 2001 figures, 30.6 percent of Korean adults were overweight and 36.2 percent suffered from abdominal obesity. The figure in 2005 will be 2 to 3 percentage points greater than in 2001, medical experts predict. The figure is on a level with Western countries like France and nowhere near the U.S., where 65 percent of adult Americans are overweight.
Obesity can cause high blood pressure, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and cerebrovascular accidents. It is also the cause of various diseases like nephropathy, breast cancer and premature ovarian failure. Experts warn that if the situation is left unattended, it could lead to astronomical social and economic costs.
A research on Korean people¡¯s health and nutrition in 1998 conducted by professor Kang Jae-heon at Inje University Seoul Paik Hospital shows that socio-economic costs incurred by obesity and its related complications amounted to about W1 trillion (about US$950 million, representing 0.25 percent of the gross domestic production and 4.9 percent of Korea¡¯s total medical fees, as of 1998.
The study is the only domestic estimation of socio-economic costs caused by obesity. Professor Kang assumed that obesity currently costs more than W1.5 trillion (US$1.43 billion) a year, considering an explosive increase of the overweight population and a rise in medical treatment fees. As of 1998, 25 out of 100 adults were overweight. The U.S. directly and indirectly spent a total of US$200 billion due to obesity in 2000.
Professor Kang warned that if Korea follows the American example and fails to devise national countermeasures against obesity, it will suffer from a maximum of W40 trillion (about US$38.3 billion) in socio-economic costs.
Medical experts stress that as the first step for a war against obesity, it is necessary to acknowledge obesity as a disease and stage a national campaign against it. Professor Kim Young-seol at Kyunghee University Hospital said that the Korean government has not acknowledged obesity as a disease and even not had basic data on socio-economic costs incurred by obesity. A campaign to encourage people to change their attitude toward obesity should be carried out right now and measures to prevent child obesity from developing into adult obesity should be urgently devised, said professor Kim.
Health and Welfare Ministry official Lee Jong-ku said that the government shares the view that obesity is an epidemic in the 21st century, which spreads at a fastest pace and a national fight against it should be waged. Authorities would come up with long-term policies against obesity and launch an anti-obesity drive centering on regional governments and district medical centers, said Lee.
(Im Ho-jun, imhojun@chosun.com )
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