This study was conducted to identify dietary factors that may affect the occurrence of gastric cancer in Koreans. Preoperative daily nutrition intake and diet quality of patients diagnosed with gastric cancer were evaluated. Collected data were comparatively analyzed by gender. The results were then used to prepare basic materials to aid in the creation of a desirable postoperative nutrition management program. The subjects of this study were 812 patients (562 men and 250 women) who were diagnosed with gastric cancer and admitted for surgery at Soonchunhyang University Hospital between January 2003 and December 2010. Nutrition intake and diet quality were evaluated by the 24-hr recall method, the nutrient adequacy ratio, mean adequacy ratio (MAR), nutrient density (ND), index of nutritional quality (INQ), dietary variety score (DVS), and dietary diversity score (DDS). The rate of skipping meals and eating fast, alcohol consumption, and smoking were significantly higher in males than those in females. The levels of energy, protein, fat, carbohydrate, phosphorous, sodium, potassium, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, niacin, and cholesterol consumption were significantly higher in males than those in females. Intake of fiber, zinc, vitamin A, retinol, carotene, folic acid were significantly higher in females than those in males. MAR in males was significantly higher (0.83) than that in females (0.79). INQ values were higher in females for zinc, vitamin A, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, and folic acid than those in males. The average DVS was 17.63 for females and 13.19 for males. The average DDS was 3.68 and the male's average score was 3.44, whereas the female's average score was 3.92. In conclusion, males had more dietary habit problems and poor nutritional balance than those of females. Our findings suggest that proper nutritional management and adequate dietary education for the primary prevention of gastric cancer should be emphasized in men.
Alcohol Drinking ; Carotenoids ; Cholesterol ; Diet ; Eating ; Female ; Folic Acid ; Food Habits ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Meals ; Niacin ; Nutritive Value ; Potassium ; Primary Prevention ; Riboflavin ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Sodium ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Thiamine ; Vitamin A ; Vitamin B 6 ; Zinc

OBJECTIVES: This study was performed to provide a reference base for suggesting proper guidelines for the health of the people by analyzing perception and intake pattern on health functional foods and by identifying needs in pre- and postmenopausal women. METHODS: We conducted a self-administered survey in women admitted to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at a university hospital between July and August, 2014. The survey questionnaire consisted of 8 items on general characteristics, 4 items on awareness on health functional foods, and 16 items on usage status. RESULTS: Of all 133 women with ages ranging between 19 to 67 years, postmenopausal women were 57 accounting for 42.9% of all subjects. Mean age was 55.4 ± 6.2 and menopausal age was 49.6 ± 4.3 in the postmenopause group. Mean age was 38.7 ± 9.0 in the postmenopause group. With respect to components of health functional foods, 76.3% of women answered "important" in the postmenopause group, significantly higher than 49.1% in the postmenopause group (P < 0.01). In regard to price, those who answered "important" accounted for the largest percentage in the premenopausal group at 56.6%, and those who answered "moderately important" accounted for 57.9% in the postmenopausal women. A significant difference was found between the two groups (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Development of products reflecting consumer needs can be considered. It is important to foster an environment allowing individuals to choose right health functional foods and further studies are warranted.
Female ; Food Habits ; Functional Food* ; Gynecology ; Humans ; Menopause* ; Obstetrics ; Postmenopause

BACKGROUND: Malnutrition among inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may arise from factors including inadequate dietary intake, malabsorption, and progression of disease. IBD has been reported an increased prevalence of low bone mass. The aims of the present study were to evaluate the nutritional status and to investigate the correlation between bone mineral density (BMD) and nutrient factors in patients with IBD. METHODS: A total of 41 subjects were classified into normal group (n=21) and malnourished group (n=20) by the subjective global assessment result. We surveyed the dietary habit, nutrient intake, and BMD. RESULTS: Subjects' average age was 36.7 years old, and included 26 ulcerative colitis and 15 Crohn's disease. The serum C-reactive protein (CRP) was significantly higher and serum calcium was significantly lower in the malnourished group. Lower bone density subjects were more in the malnourished group but no significant difference. Intake of energy, protein, carbohydrate, fiber, iron, sodium, potassium, zinc, vitamin B6, vitamin C and folate were significantly lower in the malnourished group. The BMD of malnourished group showed correlation with triceps skin fold thickness (TSF), CRP, dietary calcium, phosphorous, iron, animal iron, zinc and vitamin. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggested that adequate intake of nutrients is important to prevent bone loss and systemic education programs are need for IBD patients.
Animals ; Ascorbic Acid ; Bone Density* ; C-Reactive Protein ; Calcium ; Calcium, Dietary ; Colitis, Ulcerative ; Crohn Disease ; Education ; Folic Acid ; Food Habits ; Humans ; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases* ; Iron ; Malnutrition ; Nutritional Status* ; Potassium ; Prevalence ; Skin ; Sodium ; Vitamin B 6 ; Vitamins ; Zinc

Bariatric surgery is considered to be the effective treatment alternative conducted over the lifetime for reducing weight in patients with clinically morbid obesity. For many patients, the benefits of weight loss, including decreases in blood glucose, lipids, and blood pressure as well as increase in mobility, will outweigh the risks of surgical complications. But patients undergoing bariatric surgery have the least risk for long-term diet-related complications as reported in several studies. Thus, with an increasing number of severely obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery, the multidisciplinary healthcare system will need to be managed continuously. Many nutrition support specialists will need to become familiar with the metabolic consequences for the frequent monitoring of nutrition status of the patients. South Korea has a very short history with bariatric surgery, and relatively few studies have been conducted on bariatric surgery. Therefore, the objective of this report was to compare the nutrient intake, weight loss, body fat composition, and visceral fat before and after the bariatric surgery.
Adipose Tissue* ; Bariatric Surgery* ; Blood Glucose ; Blood Pressure ; Delivery of Health Care ; Dietary Fats ; Humans ; Intra-Abdominal Fat* ; Korea ; Nutritional Status ; Obesity ; Obesity, Morbid ; Specialization ; Weight Loss

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to develop a common health information exchange (HIE) platform that can provide integrated services for implementing the HIE infrastructure in addition to guidelines for participating in an HIE network in South Korea. METHODS: By exploiting the Health Level 7 (HL7) Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) and Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) Cross-enterprise Document Sharing-b (XDS.b) profile, we defined the architectural model, exchanging data items and their standardization, messaging standards, and privacy and security guidelines, for a secure, nationwide, interoperable HIE. We then developed a service-oriented common HIE platform to minimize the effort and difficulty of fulfilling the standard requirements for participating in the HIE network. The common platform supports open application program interfaces (APIs) for implementing a document registry, a document repository, a document consumer, and a master patient index. It could also be used for testing environments for the implementation of standard requirements. RESULTS: As the initial phase of implementing a nationwide HIE network in South Korea, we built a regional network for workers' compensation (WC) hospitals and their collaborating clinics to share referral and care record summaries to ensure the continuity of care for industrially injured workers, using the common HIE platform and verifying the feasibility of our technologies. CONCLUSIONS: We expect to expand the HIE network on a national scale with rapid support for implementing HL7 and IHE standards in South Korea.
Computer Security ; Computer Systems ; Continuity of Patient Care ; Delivery of Health Care ; Electronic Health Records ; Health Level Seven ; Humans ; Information Services* ; Korea ; Privacy ; Referral and Consultation ; Workers' Compensation

OBJECTIVES: To see the effect of dietary administration of omega 3-fatty acid formula on the vaginal cells of postmenopausal rats. METHODS: Three-week-old female Wistar/ST rats were raised after one week of adjustment period. The rats were then divided into three groups, for three different kinds of diet; general diet, 1% omega-3 fatty acid diet, and 2% omega-3 fatty acid diet. After eight weeks of having assigned diet, after the oophorectomy, with the same diet previously they had Immunohistochemistry, Immunofluorescence, and Western Blot about ezrin, merlin were done. RESULTS: In immunohistochemistry, estrogen injection group revealed thicker and well differentiated features. In Immunofluorescence, Omega-3 fatty acid composition in diet did not effect expression of ezrin and merlin in rat vagina in estrogen injection group, their vaginal epithelium showed full layers (from basal to apical layer). In Western Blot analysis, Omega-3 fatty acid composition in diet did not affect expression of ezrin and merlin in rat vagina estrogen presented significant impact on expression of ezrin and merlin. CONCLUSION: Although omega-3 fatty acid composition changed in diet, vaginal epithelial morphology unchanged. Estrogen did effect on vagina cell, but omega-3 fatty acid did not effect on ezrin and merlin in vagina.
Animals ; Atrophic Vaginitis ; Blotting, Western ; Diet ; Epithelium ; Estrogens ; Female ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Neurofibromin 2 ; Ovariectomy ; Rats* ; Vagina*

Objectives: This study sought to assess the effectiveness of community-based nutrition counseling on improving nutritional status, managing complex chronic diseases, and enhancing the quality of life for elderly individuals with chronic conditions, particularly in older adults with high levels of food insecurity and multiple chronic illnesses. Methods: Thirty elderly subjects with diabetes and hypertension who were registered at local Senior Welfare Center received individualized nutrition counseling, based on their Nutrition Quotient for the Elderly (NQ-E) index. Over a 16-week period, they received tailored counseling and underwent various health and nutritional assessments. The final analysis included 28 participants after two dropped out. Data analysis was conducted using the SPSS v28.0. Results: The subjects were over 70, with multiple chronic diseases including diabetes and hypertension and predominantly female. After 16 weeks, significant improvements were observed in the subjects’ grip strength, and HbA1c levels, as well as in their NQ-E scores, indicating improved dietary balance and diversity. There were no significant improvements in the ‘Moderation’ subdomain of the NQ-E index, suggesting that this aspect requires further attention in nutritional counseling. The subjects' nutritional risk scores (NSI) were also significantly decreased, indicating less nutritional risk. Lastly, as measured by the SF-36K, the subjects’ quality of life showed significant improvement in several domains including physical role performance and social function. Conclusions This study demonstrates that tailored nutrition counseling, based on the NQ-E index, can improve elderly health, manage chronic diseases, and enhance quality of life. This approach potentially broadens the scope of community nutritionists' roles within an aging society.However, additional research is necessary to evaluate these interventions' long-term effects and sustainability.