Late Night Eating Clue to Obesity
By Park Chung-a
Staff Reporter
Obese patients enjoy late night food more than excessive eating, according to a survey by local hospital Thursday.
In the survey, about 40 percent of obese patients had the habit of eating after 7 p.m., taking in more than 50 percent of the recommended daily calories at once.
The survey on eating habits was conducted on 516 obese adult patients consisting of 141 men and 375 women by an obesity management clinic run by Kangbuk Samsung Medical Center.
Some 41.1 percent of men said they had the habit of having late-night meals, as did 39.7 percent of women.
Those who had the habit of excessive eating only accounted for 14 percent of the total respondents _ 14.9 percent of men and 13.9 percent of women.
Smokers and alcohol drinkers accounted for a large portion of those who ate late at night. The survey showed that the late night eaters usually spent less than 10 minutes in having a meal, skipped breakfast more than three times a week and had meals at restaurants more than three times a week.
In addition, those eating excessively or late at night had unbalanced diets that could cause health problems. While over-eaters ingested instant food such as ice cream or carbonated beverages, night food eaters had insufficient protein and ate meat or fried food.
Obesity in Korea 
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