Pandemic brings some positive changes to Koreans' health: study
gettyimagesbank By Yoon Ja-youngMany people feared that they would gain much weight as they stayed home more due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but a recent study showed that it is not true. In fact, Koreans have become healthier in some diagnostic tests such as blood sugar and cholesterol tests, and this may be partly due to positive effect of eating at home, experts say. A research team led by Professor Song Sang-wook of family medicine at the Catholic University of Korea St. Vincent's Hospital tracked data of 1,867 people who took consecutive annual medical checkups at the hospital in 2019 and 2020. They weighed on average 67.1 kilograms in 2019 before the pandemic, and their average weight only slightly increased to 67.3 kilograms the next year amid the pandemic. Their body mass index (BMI), which indicates the percentage of an individual's body fat, also increased to 24.3 from 24.2, but the research team said it is negligible increase. Subjects' average blood pressu
