Study: 33% of Adult Males Are Obese

An adult male (37) who identified himself with only the initial of his family name, “L,” is 170cm tall and weighs 78kg. His body mass index (BMI), which stands at 27, indicates that his is level-2 obese. With the expert help from an obesity clinic for the last four months, he has lost 10 kg. As a result, his BMI has dropped by three points.

While working for a large company, he was not seriously overweight, with his weight standing at 73kg. Three years ago, however, he started his own venture firm and gained weight quite rapidly. Stress and frequent dinner gatherings and drinking with coworkers contributed to his weight gain. He gained 15kg in just two years to weigh 88kg. Consequently, he came to have blood clots and showed initial symptoms of diabetes.

If more Koreans become obese just as L did, studies point out, more than half of the population will be suffering from obesity by 2022. The prediction is partly backed by the number of obese adult males. The percentage share almost doubled from 18.8 percent in 1995 to 34.5 percent last year.

Particularly notable is the fact that around 1998, the very next year after Korea sought help from the IMF, the population of obese adult men considerably increased.

In 1998, the percentage points of obesity were higher among adult women (26.5 percent) than adult men (25.7 percent) by 0.8 percent. In 2005, the number reversed. The percentage points were higher among men (34.5 percent) than women (27.3 percent) by as much as 7.2 percent.

Medical experts agree that adult men came under more pressure due to economic difficulties and layoffs, and smoked and drank more heavily, damaging their own health.

On April 14, the Dong-A Ilbo acquired a report on obesity in Korea published by the Ministry of Health and Welfare as part of the 2005 Survey on Public Health and Nutrition. The Ministry of Health and Welfare has been conducting a Survey on Public Health Nutrition on 12,000 households every three years since 1998. The ministry plans to officially issue the results of the 2005 survey next month.

Lee Jin-hee (32), a researcher at the Korean Center for Disease Control and Prevention, is scheduled to give a presentation on the survey results to the Korean Society for the Study of Obesity on April 15. Experts from Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan are also scheduled to make presentations on their research at the seminar.

In Korea, obesity for adults refers to the group of people whose BMI exceeds 25. In Japan, 27.8 percent of male adults and 22.3 percent of female adults are over the 25 BMI mark.

ditto@donga.com