[Kim Taemin's Food and Medicine Story] There Are No Foods That Cure Insomnia

Sleep, a Serious Issue for Modern People
A Hot Topic in the Health Food Sector
Helps Improve Sleep Quality
Treatment Needed to Solve Insomnia

When we greet each other in the morning, we ask whether to say "Good morning" or "Have a good morning." However, to respond positively to such greetings, a good night's sleep must precede it. It is common knowledge that sleep is an important factor for health scientifically, and the consensus is that at least six hours of sleep is necessary. In the past, except for the midsummer heat and some exam candidates, most people went to bed early at night since there was nothing to do besides watching TV. So, recalling childhood memories, adults were always praised for being diligent because they had to get up early in the morning to work. In an agricultural society, it was very important to go to bed early and get a good night's sleep because working before sunrise was less tiring and helped improve work efficiency and crop cultivation.

However, nowadays, there are too many factors that interfere with going to bed early. After the lifting of social distancing, gatherings resumed, 24-hour online video streaming services (OTT) are available, and the most serious factor is the mobile phone. It has long been difficult to be separated from our phones for more than five minutes, making it hard to part with them until we go to the grave. As a result, the most serious problem for modern people is "sleep." There are two issues with sleep: one is insomnia, the inability to fall asleep, and the other is the quality of sleep. There is a theory that Koreans sleep the least in the world, but it is probably not due to necessity. For these reasons, the sleep-related product sector has recently gained the most attention in health foods, and exaggerated advertising is rampant.

Medically, the two problems above are collectively called insomnia. Insomnia means not being able to sleep for more than two weeks despite having an appropriate environment and conditions for sleep, and it has three forms. Insomnia patients have difficulty falling asleep, wake up frequently at night, or wake up early in the morning and have restless sleep. If these symptoms persist for more than two weeks, one must visit a hospital. However, if it is judged not severe enough to visit a hospital, people tend to look for foods that help with sleep on the internet.

First, the somewhat reliable products are those containing ingredients recognized by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety as functional health foods. They are only approved with the claim that they "may help improve sleep quality," and there are only three such ingredients: Ecklonia cava extract, rice bran alcohol extract, and hydrolyzed milk protein. Health functional foods containing these ingredients must undergo voluntary advertising review before advertising and must advertise according to the review content, which states that they help improve sleep quality but absolutely do not treat insomnia.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety conducted a large-scale investigation into sleep-related products that lure consumers, and as many as 150 companies received administrative sanctions. Exaggerated advertising related to sleep is largely classified into three types: exaggerated advertising claiming insomnia treatment or sleep-inducing effects, misleading advertising that causes confusion by presenting general foods as health functional foods that help improve sleep quality, and advertising that differs from the content approved in the voluntary review of health functional foods. All of these violate the Act on Labeling and Advertising of Foods and are subject to administrative sanctions. If prosecuted, these are serious crimes punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

The first and foremost fact consumers must firmly know is that insomnia is a disease, and diseases must be treated by visiting a hospital; they cannot be solved by foods. Even health functional foods approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety cannot solve insomnia; they only help improve sleep quality to some extent. In fact, they are only allowed to claim that they may help. Also, the functional recognition process for health functional foods can be approved if there is only statistically significant data, so the efficacy or effect may not be as great as the general public thinks. For example, regarding the ingredient recognized for children's height growth, it was judged statistically significant even if children who consumed the ingredient for 12 weeks grew only 3.3 mm more than those who did not. This shows that even a mere 3.3 mm, not 3.3 cm, can be scientific evidence for recognizing the functionality of a health functional food.

From the perspective of the general public who do not know these detailed approval processes, it is easy to equate products containing ingredients approved or recognized by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety with medicines or to overestimate the product's efficacy. If you want to purchase sleep-related health foods, you should immediately close the screen if the advertisement mentions insomnia treatment or sleep disorders. To purchase health functional foods recognized as potentially helpful, check whether the product has the health functional food mark or is labeled as a health functional food. There is no food that can help you sleep soundly as advertised, and the widely known best method is to keep your phone or TV away before bedtime and do light exercise.

Some health foods or overseas direct purchase products may provide temporary effects, but experts say that long-term intake without fundamentally solving sleep deprivation can be harmful to health. Also, there are cases where symptoms seem to improve temporarily due to food intake, causing people to miss the right time to visit a hospital when their condition worsens, so extra caution is needed. Lack of sleep cannot be solved with medicine; ultimately, sufficient physical time for deep sleep is necessary, and it cannot be simply fixed by food intake, so do not be deceived by exaggerated advertising.

Remember the phrase "Disease treatment is for doctors," and keep in mind that foods are not medicines and should not have immediate effects from short-term intake.

Lawyer, Food Hygiene Law Research Institute

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.