Study: Koreans Skip 2 Meals a Month

A survey has found that Koreans skip two meals a month on average in order to lose weight for enhanced health and beauty and because of tight schedules.

Rice consumption is on the decrease, but Koreans’ fervor for wellbeing has increased the consumption of fruits, vegetables, and beans. The National Statistical Office announced on January 10 the result of the sample survey conducted on 1,639 households nationwide during the period from November 2004 to October 2005.

A typical Korean skips an average of 2.06 meals a month, up 0.6 percent from last year’s figure of 2.05. Women (2.39) went without a meal more often than men (1.73).

In particular, women in their 20s skipped as many as 5.20 meals a month on average. Men and women in their 20s skipped 4.50 meals, most among the age groups.

Annual rice consumption per capita was 80.7kg, down 1.6 percent (1.3kg) compared to the same period last year.

Daily rice consumption per capita decreased 1.5 percent year-on-year to only 221.2g. In other words, Koreans don’t eat two bowls of rice per day if a bowl of rice is calculated at 120-130g.

On the other hand, fruit and vegetable consumption has been increasing. Annual fruit and vegetable consumption per capita was 55.8kg and 160.8kg respectively, up 5.4 percent and 5.5 percent from the previous year. Per capita consumption of barley increased 9.1 percent, beans by 8.3 percent, and potatoes and sweet potatoes by 13.6 percent. Increased consumption of the farm products represents the obvious trend of eating healthy foods in Korea.

Sun-Woo Kim sublime@donga.com