It has been suggested that vegetables protect the cardiovascular system in part by attenuating blood pressure. The purpose of the present research was to examine blood lipids according to vegetable intakes. Anthropometric measurements, blood pressures, nutrient intakes using the 24-hour recall method, and serum lipids of < 50th percentile vegetable intake group (< 50th percentile VIG; men = 66, women = 111) and > or = 50th percentile vegetable intake group (> or = 50th percentile VIG; men = 83, women = 94) were estimated. The average age, height, and BMI were 54.7 years, 158.2 cm, 62.2 kg, and 24.9 kg/m2 for < 50th percentile VIG and 53.7 years, 159.6 cm, 63.0 kg, and 24.7 kg/m2 for > or =50th percentile VIG, respectively. The daily food intake of the > or = 50th percentile VIG was significantly higher than that of the < 50th percentile VIG (p < 0.001). Also, daily intakes of cereals (p < 0.001), legumes (p < 0.05), nuts (p < 0.05), vegetables (p < 0.001), and fruits (p < 0.05) of the > or = 50th percentile VIG were significantly higher than those of the < 50th percentile VIG. The daily energy intakes of > or = 50th percentile VIG and< 50th percentile VIG were 1342.7 kcal and 1782.0 kcal (p < 0.001), and most nutrient intakes of the > or = 50th percentile VIG was significantly higher than that of the < 50th percentile VIG. Serum cholesterol of the > or = 50th percentile VIG were significantly lower than that of the < 50th percentile VIG (p < 0.01). Also, vegetable intake showed significantly negative correlations with total cholesterol (p < 0.05) and LDL-cholesterol (p < 0.05). Based on these results, it should be emphasized that increase of vegetable intake improves the blood lipid profile.
Adult* ; Blood Pressure* ; Cardiovascular System ; Edible Grain ; Cholesterol ; Eating ; Fabaceae ; Female ; Fruit ; Humans ; Male ; Nuts ; Vegetables*

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to measure and/or estimate the total antioxidant capacity of the Korean diet. MATERIALS/METHODS: Eighty-one plant foods that were expected to exhibit rather high antioxidant activities were selected from the Korean diet using the Fifth Korean National Health and Nutrition Survey (KNHANES V). These foods were categorized into 11 food groups: cereals, potatoes, legumes, nuts, vegetables, kimchies, mushrooms, fruits, fruit juices, sea weeds, and oils. The foods were mixed in the proportions specified in traditional Korean recipes and analyzed. The measured indicators for antioxidant capacities were total phenolics, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), and Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC). RESULTS: Total phenolics were high in the fruit juices, nuts, vegetables, and fruits; and the average DPPH, ORAC, and TEAC values were high in the vegetables, fruits, fruit juices, and nuts. The correlation coefficient between the content of total phenolics of each food and the in vitro antioxidant capacity was relatively high at 0.851. The intake of total phenolics per capita per day in the Republic of Korea was estimated to be 127 mg. The total dietary antioxidant capacity (TDAC) values, which were obtained from the total antioxidant capacity of each food, taking into account the intake of each food, were 20,763, 54,335, and 876.4 micromol of Trolox equivalents using the DPPH, ORAC, and TEAC methods, respectively. The food group that contributed the most to the Korean TDAC was cereals at 39.7%, followed by fruits and vegetables at 27.8% and 13.9%, respectively. The contribution of legumes, nuts, fruit juices, and mushrooms was quite minimal at less than 2% each. CONCLUSIONS: The content of total phenolics and the antioxidant capacity of the Korean diet are significantly correlated and the high contributing food groups are cereals, fruits, and vegetables.
Agaricales ; Edible Grain ; Diet* ; Fabaceae ; Fruit ; Nutrition Surveys ; Nuts ; Oils ; Oxygen ; Phenol ; Plants ; Republic of Korea ; Solanum tuberosum ; Vegetables

Recently, it is reported that intervention of oral nutritional supplement improves the nutritional status of cancer patients, and the effectiveness is affected by the sensory preference of cancer patients on the oral nutritional supplement. However, the variety of oral nutritional supplement is extremely limited and the number of patient's benefits from using the products are restricted mostly due to sensory dislikes. The objective of this study was to provide sensory preference score of trial manufactured products with different accessory ingredients to maximize the use of oral nutritional supplements. Cancer patients (n = 30) and age, sex-matched healthy volunteers (n = 30) participated in the sensory assessments (taste, flavor, viscosity, color and overall preference) of three types of oral supplements (cereal base, cereal base+herb and cereal base+fruit) and a control supplement product with scorched cereal flavor, a top seller in current Korean market. Results indicate that the cancer patients' overall preference was significantly higher for the control supplement, and fruit added supplement was preferred over plain cereal and herb added products, although the difference was insignificant. However, there was no significant preference difference for the supplements among the control group for all sensory factors. These results suggest that cancer patients are more sensitive to sensory preferences compared to the control group, and the patients prefer the flavor of cooked cereal which is a staple food in Korea.
Edible Grain* ; Fruit ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans ; Korea ; Nutritional Status ; Viscosity

This study was conducted to evaluated the nutrition quality of the commercial supplementary foods for infants and young children and to seek a solution to the establishment of standards of nutrient requirements for supplementary foods in Korea. Information on food ingredients, nutrient contents, claims about usefulness of food components and instructions for feeding preparation were obtained from the labels of 33 commercial supplementary foods manufactured by 4 different domestic companies. According to the standard of supplementary foods for infants and young children described in the Korean Food Code, the commercial supplementary foods were categorized into two different types, weaning food and baby food. All the commercial weaning foods were in powder form and mainly composed of cereals, whereas all the baby foods were mainly composed of fruits in the form of canned juice. The weaning foods contained more nutrients than the baby foods did, and the nutrient levels of the weaning foods expressed as nutrient density on energy basis were higher than the RDA for infants aged 5 to 11 months, suggesting that the commercial weaning foods provide adequate amounts of nutrients. If one followed the instructions for feeding preparation appearing on the label, however, recommended amounts of intake of the weaning foods would provide too much energy as well as nutrients. There were many differences in nutrient standards of weaning foods between the Korean Food Code and Codex international food standard. In conclusion, the establishment of standards for nutrient requirements for the supplementary foods requires significant scientific studies on what nutrients are the most inadequate in Korean infants and young children feeds and what levels of nutrients should be added to the foods in order to supplement their nutrition. In addition, it is very important to have a strong scientific basis to support our standard when discrepancies exist between our standard and the international standard.
Edible Grain ; Child* ; Food Labeling ; Fruit ; Humans ; Infant* ; Korea ; Weaning

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate how to manage food allergy of pre-school children, focusing on the current status of the food allergy in childcare facilities in Hanam which have less than 100 children. METHODS: Targeting 159 preschool childcare facilities, survey was carried out for a month in March, 2015. Recovery rate was 66.7%. 106 surveys out of 159 were available for analysis using SPSS statistical program version 19.0. RESULTS: Among 106 facilities, 58 (54.7%) reported that none of their children had a food allergy and 48 (45.3%) reported one more children had a food allergy. Total number of children having a food allergy was 71. Among them, the occurrences of food allergy in males were significantly more than that of the females (p < 0.001). Further, children under 2 years of age had significantly more food allergy than the other ages (p < 0.001). The allergic inducing foods were nuts (23.3%), egg (17.8%), milk and dairy products (16.4%), fish and shellfish (13.7%), instant foods (12.3%), fruits (8.2%), soybean (4.1%), meat (2.7%), and cereals (1.4%) in order, and 6 children out of 71 were allergic to more than 2 food items. The clinical symptoms of the food allergy were a skin reaction (87.9%) and an oropharyngeal & respiratory reaction (12.1%). Majority of childcare facilities (80.3%) didn't serve alternative foods for children with food allergy. Necessity for food allergy education was significantly higher in facilities with food allergy issues than without such issues. CONCLUSIONS: The Center for Children's Foodservice Management need to educate workers of childcare facilities and parents about managing food allergy and enforce a plan to provide alternative menu to children with food allergies.
Edible Grain ; Child ; Dairy Products ; Education ; Female ; Food Hypersensitivity* ; Fruit ; Gyeonggi-do* ; Humans ; Male ; Meat ; Milk ; Nuts ; Ovum ; Parents ; Shellfish ; Skin ; Soybeans

PURPOSE: This descriptive study aimed to compare the perception of the acceptable foods for the neutropenic diet between nurses and patients by food type. METHODS: The participants were 225 nurses working at chemotherapy wards and 71 patients in chemotherapy treatment. Data were collected with a self-administered questionnaire from January 2 to February 24, 2012, and analyzed with SPSS 12.0 program using descriptive statistics and the chi2-test. RESULTS: Eighty-eight point eight percent of nurses and 76.1% of cancer patients thought the patients needed the neutropenic diets. The most important decisional criteria to determine dietary restriction was neutrophil count for nurses and food type for patients. The two groups showed significantly different allowance to raw fruits and raw vegetables, sterilized canned juice, fried vegetables, yogurt, uncooked tofu, salted fish, cooked fish, cooked shellfish, uncooked grain powder, jellified food, home-made bread/cookies, nuts including peanuts, instant coffee or tea and tea brewed. In general, patients were more permissive about the neutropenic diet than nurses. CONCLUSION: It is recommended to consider patients' preference as well as nurses' professional knowledge and publish standardized clinical diet guidelines for neutropenic patients with collaboration between nurses and patient representatives.
Arachis ; Edible Grain ; Coffee ; Cooperative Behavior ; Diet* ; Drug Therapy ; Fruit ; Humans ; Neutropenia ; Neutrophils ; Nuts ; Patient Advocacy ; Shellfish ; Soy Foods ; Tea ; Vegetables ; Yogurt

PURPOSE: This study was performed to compare total phenolic contents, in vitro antioxidant capacity, and reduction effect of Korean food groups on ex vivo DNA damage in human cells and analyze correlations between each indicator. METHODS: Vegetable foods in the Korean diet based the results of the KNHANES V-2 (2011) were classified into 10 food groups: cereals, fruits, vegetables, nuts, kimchi, seaweeds, potatoes, mushrooms, legumes, and oils. Eighty-four foods constituted more than 1% of the total intake in each food group and finally designated as vegetable foods in the Korean diet. Total phenolic content of each food group was measured. Further, in vitro antioxidant capacity was measured based on DPPH radical scavenging assay, TEAC assay, and ORAC(ROO)• assay. Ex vivo DNA damage in human lymphocytes was assessed using comet assay. RESULTS: Total phenolic contents of food groups of the Korean diet increased in the order of mushrooms, fruits, vegetables, seaweeds, and kimchi. Meanwhile, antioxidant rankings of food groups as mean values from the three in vitro test methods increased in the order of mushrooms, seaweeds, vegetables, kimchi, and fruits. Protection against ex vivo DNA damage in human lymphocytes was highest in mushrooms, followed by vegetables, fruits, seaweeds, and kimchi. The rankings of the food groups for total phenolic content, in vitro DAC, and ex vivo DNA protection activity were similar, and correlations between each indicator were significantly high. CONCLUSION: Mushrooms, fruits, vegetables, and seaweeds among the tested food groups in the Korean diet showed high total phenolic contents, in vitro antioxidant capacities, and protection against DNA damage. Correlations between each indicator in terms of total phenolic content, in vitro antioxidant capacity, and ex vivo DNA protection between each food group were found to be particularly high.
Agaricales ; Comet Assay ; Diet* ; DNA Damage* ; DNA* ; Edible Grain ; Fabaceae ; Fruit ; Humans ; In Vitro Techniques ; Lymphocytes* ; Nuts ; Oils ; Phenol ; Solanum tuberosum ; Vegetables

The Korean diet, including breakfast, is becoming more Western, which could increase the risk of metabolic syndrome. Our aim was to assess whether breakfast patterns are associated with risk for metabolic syndrome in Korean adults. The study subjects (n = 371; 103 men, 268 women) were employees of Jaesang Hospital in Korea and their acquaintances, and all subjects were between 30 and 50 years old. The data collected from each subject included anthropometric measurements, three-day food intake, blood pressure (BP) and blood analyses. The three breakfast patterns identified by factor analysis were "Rice, Kimchi and Vegetables", "Potatoes, Fruits and Nuts" and "Eggs, Breads and Processed meat". The "Rice, Kimchi and Vegetables" pattern scores were positively correlated with systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) measurements in men (P < 0.05) and with serum triglyceride (TG) levels in women (P < 0.05). The "Eggs, Breads and Processed meat" pattern scores correlated positively with weight, body mass index (P < 0.05) and serum TGs (P < 0.01) in men. The "Potatoes, Fruits and Nuts" pattern was associated with lower risk of elevated BP (OR 0.49, 95% CI 0.28-0.88) and fasting glucose levels (OR 0.51, 95% CI 0.26-1.00). In contrast, the "Eggs, Breads and Processed meat" pattern was associated with increased risk of elevated TGs (OR 2.06, 95% CI 1.06-3.98). Our results indicate that reducing the consumption of eggs, western grains and processed meat while increasing fruit, nut and vegetable intake for breakfast could have beneficial effects on decreasing metabolic syndrome risk in Korean adults.
Adult ; Blood Pressure ; Body Weight ; Bread ; Breakfast ; Edible Grain ; Diet ; Eating ; Eggs ; Fasting ; Female ; Friends ; Fruit ; Glucose ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Meat ; Nuts ; Ovum ; Vegetables

Instant noodles are widely consumed in Asian countries. The Korean population consumed the largest quantity of instant noodles in the world in 2008. However, few studies have investigated the relationship between instant noodles and nutritional status in Koreans. The objective of this study was to examine the association between instant noodle consumption and food and nutrient intake in Korean adults. We used dietary data of 6,440 subjects aged 20 years and older who participated in the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III. The average age of the instant noodle consumers (INC) was 36.2 and that of the non-instant noodle consumers (non-INC) was 44.9; men consumed more instant noodles than women (P < 0.001). With the exception of cereals and grain products, legumes, seaweeds, eggs, and milk and dairy products, INC consumed significantly fewer potatoes and starches, sugars, seeds and nuts, vegetables, mushrooms, fruits, seasonings, beverages, meats, fishes, and oils and fats compared with those in the non-INC group. The INC group showed significantly higher nutrient intake of energy, fat, sodium, thiamine, and riboflavin; however, the INC group showed a significantly lower intake of protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, potassium, vitamin A, niacin, and vitamin C compared with those in the non-INC group. This study revealed that consuming instant noodles may lead to excessive intake of energy, fats, and sodium but may also cause increased intake of thiamine and riboflavin. Therefore, nutritional education helping adults to choose a balanced meal while consuming instant noodles should be implemented. Additionally, instant noodle manufacturers should consider nutritional aspects when developing new products.
Adult ; Agaricales ; Aged ; Ascorbic Acid ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Beverages ; Calcium ; Carbohydrates ; Edible Grain ; Dairy Products ; Eating ; Eggs ; Fabaceae ; Fats ; Female ; Fishes ; Fruit ; Humans ; Iron ; Male ; Meals ; Meat ; Milk ; Niacin ; Nutrition Surveys ; Nutritional Status ; Nuts ; Oils ; Ovum ; Phosphorus ; Potassium ; Riboflavin ; Seasons ; Seeds ; Sodium ; Solanum tuberosum ; Starch ; Thiamine ; Vegetables ; Vitamin A

Compliance with food group and nutrient recommendations, and self-efficacy, stage of change, perceived barriers and benefits for healthy eating were assessed among a convenience sample of college students majoring in health-related disciplines. Dietary and psychosocial data were collected using three-day food records and scales, respectively. Means (SD), frequencies, and percents were calculated on all data, and logistic regressions were used to determine whether any of the psychosocial correlates predicted the stage of change for healthy eating. Noncompliance with food group recommendations ranged from 53% for the meat/meat alternates group to 93% for the vegetables/juice group, whereas noncompliance with nutrient recommendations ranged from 26% for cholesterol to 99% for potassium. A majority of students (57%) self-classified in the preaction and 40% in the action stages of change for eating healthy. The students' self-efficacy to eat healthy was highest in positive/social situations and lowest when experiencing emotional upset. The most important perceived barrier to healthy eating was that friends/roommates do not like to eat healthy foods, and the most important perceived benefit was that eating healthy foods provides the body with adequate nutrients. The difficult/inconvenient self-efficacy subscale predicted the stage of change for healthy eating. These students would benefit from interactive learning opportunities that teach how to purchase and prepare more whole grain foods, fruits, and vegetables, enhance their self-efficacy for making healthy food choices when experiencing negative emotions, and overcome perceived barriers to healthy eating.
Edible Grain ; Cholesterol ; Compliance ; Eating ; Fruit ; Humans ; Learning ; Logistic Models ; Potassium ; Vegetables ; Weights and Measures