Research trends in obesity & obesogenic environments in Korea

Abstract

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVESGlobally, it has been projected that there will be 2 billion overweight and 1 billion obese individuals by 2030. In Korea, the prevalence of adult obesity (BMI>25) increased from 29.7% in 2009 to 32.4% in 2015. Moreover, childhood obesity, which leads to adulthood obesity, has increasingly become a social problem. The purpose of this review is to summarize the scientific basis for the development of effective models and policies aimed at preventing obesity over a lifetime based on research modeling obesogenic environments.MATERIALS/METHODSThe review focuses on the characteristics of obesity prevalence and trends in 3P analysis (papers, patents, and products) as well as government-funded projects in Korean obesity obesogenic environments over the last 10 years.RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONAs a result of the 3P analysis, studies on obesity risk factors were frequently carried out, according to two data bases RISS (4.9%) and PubMed (24.7%). Since there were only 17% patents related to the mechanism of preventing obesity in 7,951 Korean patents related to obesity, new paradigms of technologies to dominate the global obesity markets are needed. After government-funded projects were analyzed, communication and cooperation in multi-governmental departments were suggested to elucidate the characteristics of Korean obesity. Government should also produce short- and long-term road maps to develop a practical, successful outcome. Although the rate of obesity in Korea is currently lower than in other developed countries according to WHO criteria, without adequate governmental intervention, obesity rates will approach those of the top countries with high incidence rates of obesity within the next 10 years.

Secular trends in cesarean sections and risk factors in South Korea (2006–2015)

“…Pre-pregnancy obesity was one important factor that increased the rate of CS. There has been a rapid rise in maternal pregnancy BMIs in the past decades, and the prevalence of adult obesity in South Korea increased from 29.7% in 2009 to 32.4% in 2015 due to increase in childhood obesity and human microbiome issues, in agreement with our results [ 28 , 29 ]. Obesity is a well-known factor that contributes to adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes [ 30 ].…”

Obesity Fact Sheet in Korea, 2019: Prevalence of Obesity and Abdominal Obesity from 2009 to 2018 and Social Factors

“…It is expected that two billion individuals will be overweight and one billion individuals will be obese by 2030. 11 Although the obesity rate in Korean adults is lower when with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development standard, 12 based on our findings, it has steadily increased in recent years. Changes in the global food system combined with the conduct of sedentary behaviors are widely accepted as the main causes of the rise in obesity prevalence worldwide.…”

Efficacy and safety of anti-obesity herbal medicine focused on pattern identification: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Recently, there has been increasing interest in precision medicine, as with obesity research. [56,57] PI can be an attractive option for individualized medicine, considering the developing procedures of precision medicine. For developing precision medicine, deep phenotyping of patients, such as medical history, lifestyle, physical examination, basic laboratory tests, imaging, functional diagnostics, and omics, is important.…”