Korean Physician Links Rice Cake, Gimbap, Coffee Mix, Juice to Pancreatic Health Risks

A Korean physician has highlighted four everyday foods as potentially harmful to pancreatic health, arguing they can contribute to diabetes risk and pancreatic disease. In a YouTube video posted recently, Dr. Lee Won-kyung, a radiology specialist who runs the channel “Lee Won-kyung’s Medical Knowledge Digest,” identifies tteok (rice cake), gimbap, instant coffee mix, and fruit juice as “the worst” for the pancreas and warns viewers to avoid them.

Dr. Lee links these items to rapid spikes in blood sugar. He notes that Korea’s cuisine tends to be high in sugar and salt, and he points to rising diabetes rates there—about a 19% increase in five years—as context for his cautions. He says rice flour-based tteok can cause sharp blood-sugar increases, and he argues that many store-bought gimbap contain added sweeteners that can raise glucose quickly. He also warns that mix coffee, which combines sugar and creamer, can elevate blood sugar and, with long-term use, raise risks of high cholesterol and diabetes. Fruit juice, he says, can cause blood sugar spikes because sugar is absorbed rapidly when fruit is blended rather than eaten whole.

One study cited by the presenter is from Gongju National University of Education’s Department of Food and Nutrition, which analyzed 925 commercially available beverages sold in Korea. The researchers found that fruit juice contained, on average, 10.6 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters—the highest sugar content among the beverages examined in that sample. Dr. Lee uses these kinds of findings to emphasize how readily some popular drinks can affect glucose levels.

For dietary adjustments, Dr. Lee recommends swapping white rice for brown rice or mixed grains in tteok when possible. He also advocates a broader meal-timing strategy: eat dietary fiber and protein before carbohydrates to slow glucose absorption. He explains that the pancreas responds to blood-sugar changes by regulating insulin, and that sustained intake of refined carbohydrates can increase insulin demand and potentially lead to insulin resistance, inflammation, and damage to pancreatic cells over time.

In Korea, the pancreas is a key organ for managing insulin release in response to glucose. Public health context matters because pancreatic cancer remains difficult to detect early; the five-year relative survival rate in Korea is about 17%, among the lowest for major cancers, in part because early symptoms are not obvious and early detection is challenging.

The relevance to U.S. readers goes beyond Korea’s borders. The foods highlighted—instant coffee mixes, prepared meals, and fruit juice—are widely consumed in the United States and elsewhere, and sugar-heavy diets contribute to rising diabetes rates and related health costs in many countries. Greater awareness about how common foods and beverages affect blood sugar can inform American consumer choices, nutrition labeling debates, and policy discussions on sugar consumption in beverages and processed foods, as well as research into cancer prevention and metabolic disease.

The article’s framing rests on a physician sharing dietary cautions on a personal channel rather than presenting peer-reviewed research. While the physician cites known links between refined carbohydrates, insulin response, and metabolic disease, readers should note that these views reflect one clinician’s perspective and are part of a broader, evolving scientific dialogue about diet, diabetes, and pancreatic health.