More Korean kids are getting fatter and less healthy from eating instant noodles and fast foods at least once a week, according to a survey by the Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. The Korean government surveyed 19,400 students at 749 schools and learned that 75.6 percent of grade schoolers, 85.4 percent of middle schoolers and 77.7 percent of high schoolers eat instant noodles once a week or more, reported the Associated Press. To add to their rising weights and declining health levels, 49.9 percent of pupils in elementary school, 56.8 percent in middle school, and 60.2 percent in high school eat fast food once or more per week. The health and weight problem are compounded by the fact that vegetables don’t figure in the daily diets of a third of grade schoolers and middle schoolers and a quarter of high schoolers. Obese kids in Korea (i.e. those who weigh 20 percent more than the standard weight for their height) grew from 11.2 percent in 2008 to 13.2 percent in 2009.
