A capture from InBody Youtube
A recent study has revealed that the percentage of young South Korean women with skinny fat is the highest in the world. Skinny fat refers to cases where an individual’s Body Mass Index (BMI) is normal. Still, they are considered obese due to their body fat percentage exceeding the standard threshold (25% for men and 30% for women), with fat primarily accumulated in the abdomen.
Based on the 2024 InBody Report (2018~2022) recently released by InBody, 15.8% of Korean women in their twenties were found to be skinny and obese, the highest rate among the countries surveyed. This research analyzed data from approximately 2,187,224 women in their twenties worldwide. Following South Korea, Thailand had the next highest rate at 15.2%, with Malaysia (14.2%), Japan (12.4%), and China (12.1%) also ranking high, predominantly Asian nations.
InBody analyzed the social tendency towards a thinner physique among young Asian women, which is not unrelated to this phenomenon. Particularly, women with a body type that is skinny fat, where despite a decrease in weight due to inappropriate exercise and dieting, the body fat percentage remains high, are quite common.
Typically, obesity is measured using the BMI in fields like nutrition and sports medicine. The BMI is calculated by dividing a person’s weight (kg) by their height squared (m²). However, having a normal BMI doesn’t necessarily mean one is free from skinny obesity. This is because the BMI only considers total weight and does not calculate the ratio of muscle to body fat. In extreme cases, it does not distinguish between a person with 40kg of muscle and 10kg of fat and a person with 10kg of muscle and 40kg of fat, even if they both weigh the same 50kg.
For example, Ms. Yang, a 30-year-old office worker, measured 155.6cm in height and weighed 51kg, with a BMI of 20.55. According to BMI standards, she falls within the normal range (18.5-23.0). However, body composition measurements revealed that she had a body fat percentage of 30.2%, classifying her as typically skinny fat with only 19 kg of muscle mass.
The medical community considers skinny fat unhealthy, as it is seen as a cause of various conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, fatty liver, and sarcopenia. High cholesterol and triglyceride levels can lead to metabolic syndrome, and the abundance of visceral fat can increase insulin resistance.