This study aimed to analyze about the perception in obesity and body somatotype of university students in Korea and in China. This study provides the basic data of nutrition education for university student healthy weight program in China. The subjects were selected 240 university students of Korea and China. Two types of qualitative and quantitative questionnaires were used to analyze the attitude and body somatotype of subjects. The results of this study were as follows: The average BMI of Korean and Chinese male students was 22.3 and 22.5, respectively while the average BMI of Korean and Chinese female students was 19.8 and 19.7, respectively. In the past three years, the weight gain of Chinese students was higher than that of Korean students. Chinese students preferred the overweight body somatotype more compared to the Korean students. The overweight and obese students had more obvious insufficiency in body somatotype perception. The overweight and obese students had higher tendency to 'eat more meat', 'drink carbonated beverages', 'eat convenience food', 'take fast food' and 'drink alcohol' than the normal and low weight group. The major reasons for Korean students to control weight were 'appearance' and 'self confidence', while the major reasons for Chinese students were 'health' and 'employment'. From the results of associative group analysis (AGA), Chinese students had different semantic value of 'obese' than Korean students. Considering of the food transition status in China, it may be necessary to develop more suitable education programs for weight control for Chinese university students.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Carbon ; China ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Obesity ; Overweight ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Semantics ; Somatotypes ; Weight Gain

To survey the different view points about food service programs among parents and teachers, 2 types of questionnaires, which consisted of attitude, perception, satisfaction and demand of the food service program in child education centers, were used. The data was collected from 2450 parents and 450 teachers who attended a child education center in 16 provinces, nationwide. SPSS was used for descriptive analysis and ANOVA test and chi2-test. The finding results were as follows. 1. The average serving size of meal (lunch) were 80 meals per day and 167 meals per day at large institutions. Mean cost of snacks was 14,709 won per month and mean costs of lunch were 29,319 won per month. The mean price was not significantly different according to the scale of institution. The numbers of servings of lunch, morning snack and afternoon snack were 5, 3.4 and 3.5 times per week each. 56.4% of the institutions served meals to children in classrooms, but the national/public institutions, which were attending elementary school, served meals in a dining place in the elementary school. 2. Teacher controlled serving portion size of snacks (79.6%) and lunch (88.8%) and 30.1% of teacher did not allow leaving lunch food. The ratio of knowing about preserved meals of the teacher who worked at a small institution was significantly higher than the teacher who worked at large institutions (p < 0.01). 3. Between parents and teachers, several different view points about school lunch programs were detected. Most parents and teachers wanted that the school lunch to be fully cooked and served at the child education institution itself, but 12.2% of parents and 14.4% of teachers wanted a catering service. The teachers group preferred 'lunch box from home' and 'home partially prepared lunch' as an ideal meal serving type than the parent groups (p < 0.01). And there were significantly different view points about price factors in school meals, teachers group highly answered that operating expenses must be added in meal prices. 4. The teacher groups' priorities of education activities during meal time were a significantly lower score than parents group in overall education activities. Teacher and parent groups pointed out that individual sanitation activities were most important of the education activities during meal time, but promoting good eating habits was the lowest score in both groups. 5. 'Improving taste and food quality' was most urgent in food service at child education centers, but there were significantly different view points between parent groups (64.5%) and teacher groups (43.8%)(p < 0.05). They answered at a lower percent in 'employee qualified person' and 'cost control' point to improve food service, but there were also different opinions between the two groups (p < 0.01). 6. As to the matter of the advantages and disadvantages of catering services, two group answered that the advantages of a catering service were 'convenience' and 'to solve facilities and labor problems', disadvantages were 'lower in food freshness' and 'sanitation problems'. There were also several different view pionts in catering services, the parents groups were more anxious about food sanitation than teachers. This study found several different view points about school food services among parents and teachers. To improve food services at child education institutions, there is a need to adjust the differences between the two groups through interactive communication channels and education and to employ dietitians as taking charge of adjusting roles between the two groups.
Child* ; Eating ; Education* ; Food Services* ; Humans ; Lunch ; Meals ; Nutritionists ; Parents* ; Portion Size ; Sanitation ; Serving Size ; Snacks

PURPOSE: The study was done to investigate behavioral problems in toddlers who were born prematurely and to analyze related factors. METHODS: A cross-sectional explorative study was conducted with 72 preterm birth (PTB) children at 24 to 41 months of corrected age who were born at 28 to 37 weeks' gestation. During home visits, behavior problems were assessed using the Behavior Rating Index for Children (BRIC). Using a BRIC score of > or =30, children with suspected behavior problems were grouped in the non-regular behavior group. RESULTS: Of the children, 38.9% belong to the non-regular behavior group. The mental development index score for the Korean-Bayley Scale of Infant Development-II was higher for the non-regular behavior group compared to the regular behavior group (t=2.26, p=.027). Logistic regression analysis showed that lower maternal attachment (<96, OR=3.4, 95% CI[1.1, 10.4]) and higher parenting stress (> or =97, OR=4.8, 95% CI[1.3, 17.3]) were independently related to non-regular behavior. CONCLUSION: PTB Toddlers are at risk for behavior problems which are associated with low cognitive performance. Maternal-child attachment and maternal parenting stress were strongly related to behavior problems in these children. More attention is needed to understand possible behavior problems in young children with PTB, particularly focusing on maternal-child interaction and maternal mental well-being.
Child ; House Calls ; Humans ; Infant ; Logistic Models ; Parenting ; Parents ; Pregnancy ; Premature Birth

Intestinal capillariasis is caused by a small trichurid nematode, Capillaria philippinensis, which infects freshwater fish as intermediate hosts and subsequently fish eating birds as definitive hosts. It has occurred in areas such as the Philippines and Thailand where people eat raw fish. We report an imported case of intestinal capillariasis in a 31-year-old Korean man who lived in Saipan for ten years. He suffered from diarrhea with weight loss, abdominal distension, and pitting edema in the lower extremities for two years. He ate raw freshwater fish in the Saipan 2 years ago. The diagnosis was confirmed by jejunal biopsy. Flat mucosal surface without villi contained sections of numerous round worms with stichosome, larvae, and eggs which were identified as Capillaria philippinensis. The patient was successfully treated with albendazole.
Adult ; Albendazole ; Biopsy ; Birds ; Capillaria ; Diagnosis ; Diarrhea ; Eating ; Edema ; Eggs ; Fresh Water ; Humans ; Larva ; Lower Extremity ; Ovum ; Philippines ; Protein-Losing Enteropathies* ; Thailand ; Weight Loss

OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to examine whether healthy diet score was associated with stress and social support among 472 Chinese college students in Korea. METHODS: The study participants were 472 (187 male, 285 female) Chinese college students in Gyeong-gi area. From April 2013 to Oct 2013, participants were asked to fill out questionnaires on healthy diet score (20 questions), stress (20 questions), and social support (20 questions). Each question was scored by a 5-point Likert scale (total scores of each questionnaire were ranged from 20 to 100). Questions on healthy diet were sub-categorized as 'Healthy food eating (HFE)', 'Healthy eating habits (HEH)', and 'Avoidance of unhealthy food (AUF)'. Reliability test was conducted with Cronbach's alphalpha (alpha=0.79). RESULTS: Healthy diet score was higher in participants who stayed longer in Korea, who spoke Korean language fluently, and who assessed his or her own health status as very good. Adjusted means of healthy diet scores were estimated after adjusting for age, gender, body mass index, duration of staying, and Korean language fluency. According to tertile categories, participants with low tertile stress but high tertile social support showed the highest score of healthy diet (72.59+/-1.45), whereas participants with high tertile of stress but low tertile of social support had the lowest score of healthy diet (59.22+/-1.54). As for the three sub-categories of healthy diet score, the score of HFE increased as the score of social support increased. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggested that social support system is beneficial to alleviate stress and to improve healthy diet score.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; Body Mass Index ; Diet* ; Eating ; Humans ; Korea* ; Male

The 2015 Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreak in the Republic of Korea, which started with an imported case and spread throughout the country with a total of 186 cases, revealed the vulnerabilities of the health-care system of the country. The situation was compounded by the unique health-care settings in the Republic of Korea, including crowded emergency departments and large numbers of hospital visitors seeking care at multiple hospitals. To assist with the outbreak response, the Ministry of Health and Welfare of the Republic of Korea hosted several international joint missions that provided valuable information and recommendations for MERS control and prevention of future outbreaks. This report briefly summarizes the missions’ outcomes and discusses their positive impacts.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to develop a Na-reduction education program and apply it for cooks who prepare meals in day-care centers. To development of the program was based on increasing the self-awareness of salinity, eating behaviors and enforcing skills of low-Na cooking. METHODS: The study was carried out from April to October in 2013, fifty five cooks participated in this program. The Na reduction program composed of 4 sessions of education which included a 90-minute lecture and self-reevaluation of personal saltsensitivity degree and three low Na recipe cooking classes. In order to measure the effectiveness of the program, the pretest and posttest of salinity of the soups provided by day care centers was conducted at registration and 5 month after the program with the same menu. RESULTS: After the conduct of the program, salimeter using rate was increased from 8.2% to 94.6% after the program and the other measuring instruments using rate was gradually increased. We observed that the score on eating behaviors increased 1.51 points from 38.80 to 40.31 after the intervention program (p < 0.001). Further, increased knowledge and skill provided by the intervention program resulted in improved Nareduction cooking capability. According to the results from analyzing the soup salinity, the salinity in watery soup was significant reduced from 0.556 to 0.449 0.107 and soybean-paste soup was significant reduced from 0.669 to 0.551 after the intervention program (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: As the result of fact, the intervention programs that was based on self-reevaluation, to enforce practical skill and consciousness was effective to serve low sodium menu at day care centers.
Consciousness* ; Cooking ; Day Care, Medical ; Education ; Feeding Behavior ; Humans ; Meals ; Salinity ; Sodium

This study aimed to elicit the variability of appetite and food intake patterns in female college students during different menstrual phases. The craving for certain foods and physiological and psychological symptoms of menstrual phase (pre- and post-menstrual) were investigated by self-administered questionnaire. Three hundred and sixty six students who were 20.9 years old and had 19.8 kg/m2 of BMI volunteered to participate in this study. Most of the subjects (89.5%) experienced the premenstrual syndrome (PMS) such as irritation, bodily fatigue, nervosity. Symptoms such as tiredness, stomachache, changes in taste and increased appetite were pointed out to be experienced at the onset of the menstrual cycle. The variability of food intake in premenstrual phase, 11.0% of subjects had decreased food intake where as 68.8% had experienced increased intake. The postmenstrual phase, 20.1% had decreased food intake while 45.2% had experienced increased intake due to changes in the appetite. Before starting menstruation, most of the subjects craved for sweets. The group who had experienced abnormal appetite during menstrual phase was significantly high ratio in overweight and obese students (p < 0.05). We also observed an association between the PMS score and the variability of eating patterns during the menstrual phase. The students who experienced changing appetite and food intake had significantly high PMS score in the premenstrual phase (p < 0.01) and postmenstrual phase (p < 0.05). These results suggested a need for future study related to changes in the actual nutrient intake and activity level during the menstrual phase.
Appetite ; Eating* ; Fatigue ; Female ; Female* ; Humans ; Menstrual Cycle ; Menstruation* ; Overweight ; Premenstrual Syndrome ; Surveys and Questionnaires

This study aimed to plan nutrition support programs for the elderly living alone whose nutrition status were seriously concerned, conducted seven stages nutrition intervention program on a trial basis, and evaluated the effectiveness of the program of the Elderly Nutrition Support Project. Subjects were selected for personalized nutrition management based on nutritional risk score and nutrition intervention were tailored to the problems occurred. The elderly nutrition support program targets were 44 senior citizens who lived alone with low income. The 33 (as Type 1) of the subjects with whom milk, tofu, seaweed, eggs, black beans have been supported, and also provide nutrition education, and the rest 11 persons (as Type 2) to whom food was not supported but provide nutrition education programs. As a result, all subjects showed that compared with pre and post program implementation, their daily exercise time and milk and protein consumption level were increased and some improvement was observed regular meals consumption and low-salt diets. Their nutrient intake level such as calories, protein, calcium, iron improved after implementation. In addition, NSL DETERMINE scores significantly improved from 13.21 to 7.24 in Type 1 and 11.27 to 9.91 in Type 2. As positive dietary behavioral changes were observed as in that they purchased more protein and calcium rich foods.
Aged ; Calcium ; Diet, Sodium-Restricted ; Eggs ; Fabaceae ; Humans ; Iron ; Meals ; Milk ; Nutritional Status ; Ovum ; Seaweed ; Soy Foods

The objective of this research was to explore the influences of 'having a meal with someone' on individuals' eating pattern. Eating is not a simple matter of energy intake but also serves to anchor daily routines being cultivated by people and society. This study was conducted using a cross-sectional eating behavior survey of university students (N = 893, 380 men, 513 women) aged 20 to 24 years. Results were analyzed and presented as frequencies, means and chi2-test with SPSS 14.0. Differences in dietary habits by commensality and solo-eating were observed; Students who ate alone, spent 15 min for a meal and ate convenience food items when they didn't feel hungry. Compared to students who ate alone, those who ate together with someone spent 30 min for a meal and ate more amount of food. Eighty percent of respondents ate more various menus in commensality than solo-eating. They felt lonely when they ate alone and preferred to eat together. In conclusion, university students start to decide and select their own meals by themselves after junior and high school food services which are fixed with regard to menu and the amount. Dietary habits of Koreans rapidly changed concomitant with social changes over the past half century. Governments and health experts recognize that unbalanced meals cause lifestyle-related diseases, in particular obesity. Our research findings will contribute to more comprehensive efficient nutrition education programs in order to prevent obesity and other lifestyle-related diseases in early stages of adulthood.
Aged ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Eating ; Energy Intake ; Fast Foods ; Feeding Behavior ; Food Habits ; Food Services ; Humans ; Male ; Meals ; Obesity ; Social Change