One in 6 South Korean teenagers eat fast food more than three times a week, data showed Monday.

According to a survey by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 16.7 percent of students aged 13-18 regularly consume fast food such as hamburgers, pizzas and chicken, up 1.9 percentage points from a year earlier. The figure was also 4.5 percentage points higher than 2009, when the annual survey began to be conducted.

The report also showed that slightly more male students (17.9 percent) opted for fast food than their female counterparts (15.4 percent). 

As for physical activities, about one quarter of the teenagers exercised for more than an hour five days a week, the report found. Some 18.8 percent of male students were regularly working out compared to just 7 percent of female students.

Compared to 2009, the proportion of students who exercise regularly have gone up slightly. The proportion of male students who did so was 15.7 percent in 2009 and the proportion for female students was 5.4 percent in the same year. Reasons for not exercising included not having time (38.6 percent), not wanting to sweat (14.8 percent) and not having people to work out with (9.7 percent).

The report also showed that 1 in 3 teenagers have tried losing weight within a month.

About 17 percent said that they tried losing weight by skipping meals or taking weight-loss supplements that do not require a doctor’s prescription. This proportion went up by 1.1 percentage points from the previous year.

“These key findings from the report underlines South Korean’s changing diet, while early diagnoses of childhood and adolescent obesity and chronic diseases have also become necessary,” said professor Kang Jae-hon from Seoul Paik Hospital, who participated in the study.

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)