Young people in South Korea are ageing faster, new data has found.
According to research by the country’s National Health Insurance Service, people in their 20s and 30s showed a sharper increase in chronic metabolic disease rates than those in their 50s and 60s, Korea JoongAng Daily reported.
This means diseases typically found in seniors that are related to a person’s metabolism now appear decades earlier in those in the MZ generation, or millennials born between 1980 and 1995. Such diseases include diabetes, high blood pressure, gout and arthritis.
Health experts told Korea JoongAng Daily that the MZ generation is at risk of “accelerating ageing” – where their biological age is older than their actual age – with many attributing this to the lack of a work-and-life balance and the younger generations’ different dietary patterns and lifestyle choices.
Research found a 73.8 per cent spike in the number of diabetes patients among those in their 20s and 30s between 2012 and 2022.
Over the same period, there was a 45.2 per cent increase in young patients with high blood pressure. Young people suffering from high cholesterol also more than doubled.
At the same time, these diseases showed a much more gradual increase in people in their 50s and 60s.
A 35-year-old researcher who wanted to be known only as Mr Kang told Korea JoongAng Daily that after having a long day with no sufficient breaks but endless work and study, he turns to fast-food spots or convenience stores for a quick meal.
But his lifestyle has taken a toll on his health.
Mr Kang was diagnosed with high cholesterol, fatty liver disease and lifestyle-induced arteriosclerosis. He now takes statins, a medication to manage his cholesterol levels.
“I never thought these diseases could happen in my 30s,” Mr Kang told the newspaper.
Health experts told Korea JoongAng Daily that the increase in chronic disease rate in young people could be attributed to generational differences in food, dietary patterns and lifestyles.
“Younger people are physically inactive, with little exercise since school. After college and finding a job, they have little time for workouts or quality sleep. Once this cycle sets in, people resort to food as a sort of reward,” said Professor Shim Kyung-won from the Department of Family Medicine at Ewha Women’s University Medical Centre.
Young Koreans’ consumption of meat and refined carbohydrates like bread and sugar has also grown in tandem with the convenience of accessing these foods.
Eating processed food, simple sugars and refined grains causes stress hormones to emerge and facilitates the growth of fat and cancer cells, said geriatrician Jung Hee-won.
This comes as a growing number of young patients are seeing orthopaedists, Korea JoongAng Daily reported.
Adhesive capsulitis, also known as frozen shoulder, used to present itself in people older than 50, but is now appearing in those who are in their 20s, according to doctors.
Prof Jung said: “If we let the ‘accelerating ageing’ problem continue without taking measures, young people in their 20s and 30s could become unhealthier than their parents, the baby boomers.”