By Lee Hyo-sik
Fourteen of every 100 elementary and secondary school students here were found to be obese, consuming more fast food but less fruit and vegetables.
Lack of sleep and exercise has also contributed to the worsening of Korean teenagers’ health, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said Wednesday.
It said 14.25 percent of those looked at were overweight or obese, up from 13.17 percent in 2009 and 11.24 percent in 2008. The ministry surveyed 188,000 elementary, middle- and high-school students across the country in 2010.
The body mass index (BMI), a measurement which compares weight and height, defines people as possibly overweight or pre-obese, if their BMI is between 25 and 30, and obese when it is greater than 30. Obesity is a condition in which excess body fat accumulates to the extent that it may have adverse effects on health.
In particular, the ratio of students with a BMI over 50 rose to 1.25 percent in 2010, up from 0.56 percent in 2000.
About 16.2 percent of male high-school students were found to be either overweight or obese as their BMIs were over 20. Nearly, 2 percent of them were “extremely obese.”
In contrast, 4.72 percent of the examined students were found to be underweight last year as many female pupils went on diets to lose weight, down from 5.6 percent in 2009.
Still, parents and schools should pay more attention to prevent them from taking extreme measures to lose weight as it could also adversely affect their health, the ministry said.
The height of a male sixth grader averaged 150.24 centimeters in 2010, up 2.15 centimeters and he weighed 46.12 kilograms, up 4.12 kilograms from 10 years ago.
``The average height and weight of Korean students have been showing an upward curve over the years. But the pace of the increase has slowed recently,” a ministry official said. “It seems that the current younger generation has reached an upper limit in physical growth.’’
The ministry also found that 63.6 percent of male high school students eat instant noodles, hamburgers and other fast foods as a meal more than once a week. But only 25.3 percent of them said they eat fruit and vegetables every day.
About 18.7 percent of high school students said they are engaged in intense physical activities more than three times a week. Over 44.6 percent of high school students were found to sleep less than six hours per day.