Pandemic brings some positive changes to Koreans' health: study

 

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By Yoon Ja-young

Many 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 keonhacai 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 pressure also rose, but Song said this is due to the age factor.

"Their average blood pressure rose by on average 1 mmHg after the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is most likely due to the fact that their age has increased by one year," he said.

He instead pointed to positive changes. Their fasting blood sugar fell to 97.4 mg/dl from 99.9 mg/dl. The HDL cholesterol, which is generally known as "good" cholesterol, also rose to 60.6 mg/dl from 57.6 mg/dl.

"The decrease in fasting blood sugar and the rise of HDL cholesterol level may be due to changes in lifestyle," he said. He estimated that many people seem to have watched their diet and taken more exercise amid the prolonged pandemic. For example, a survey by Korea Health Promotion Institute showed that 21 percent of Koreans are more frequently preparing their own meals at home than before the pandemic. The change was especially notable among those in their 50s or older. A report by Nielsen Korea also showed that 68.1 percent of Koreans reduced how often they eat out while 58.8 percent said they cook their own food at home.

"As they decreased eating out and instead ate at home, they probably had rice-based Korean dishes more often while decreasing consumption of restaurant foods that contain more saturated and trans fats, higher calories and sodium," the research team noted in the paper. Especially in the case of males, the decrease of alcohol consumption also seems to have had a positive impact, they pointed out.

The research team also noted there could be limitations in the study as it only includes those who voluntarily took medical checkups at the hospital, which means they probably generally take a higher level of interest in their health.

The study was published by the Korean Journal of Family Practice and introduced by the Korea Food Forum.