"To prevent obesity Koreans should maintain their traditional diet of foods such as rice and mixed vegetables, and not succumb to the American diet. While the fast food industry reaches out to manipulate the tastes of even one-year-old children through a variety of cultural and commercial tactics, Koreans should maintain their traditional diet and avoid the western foods that contain too much fat and sugar," said Philip James, chairman of the International Obesity TaskForce (IOTF) at the World Health Organization (WHO) who visited Korea at the invitation of the Korean Society of Food Hygiene and Safety. He cited as an example of such manipulation the frequent appearance of advertisements featuring young women with coffee, biscuits and sandwiches in their hands.
Having worked for the IOTF since he established it in 1996, he is the first person to have raised awareness about the seriousness of obesity by presenting a report on obesity to the WHO.
Concerning the use in Korea of drugs such as thyroid hormones and diuretics to treat obesity, he said, "Such practices used in Europe would cause doctors to lose their licenses as they are considered too dangerous." After tasting some Korean traditional foods, such as bean-paste pot stew and rice mixed with vegetables, he recommended 10 things to do to prevent obesity in Koreans: maintain a traditional Korean diet, reduce consumption of fat and sugar, eat more than 400 grams of fruit and vegetables a day, walk 1 hour a day, do not have a meal while doing something else, keep a health diary, increase the time between meals, stop smoking, do not try to lose weight quickly, and consult a doctor.
(Kim Choel-jung, [email protected] )