Overview of noncommunicable diseases in Korean children and adolescents: focus on obesity and its effect on metabolic syndrome

Obesity during childhood is a dominant risk factor for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), and is itself considered a disease that needs to be treated. Recently, the growth in childhood obesity in Korea has become stagnant; however, two in every ten children are still overweight. In addition, 60% or more of overweight children have at least one metabolic syndrome risk factor. Thus, childhood obesity should be controlled through lifestyle modification. This paper reviews studies of the modifiable risk factors of obesity in Korean children. According to the life-course approach, preschool-aged children (