OBJECTIVES: Snacks contribute to the diet quality in youth, which is often poor. Although the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has guidelines for healthy snacks, this is lost in translation when youth are choosing snacks. To develop a userfriendly app to help identify healthy snacks based on the US Department of Agriculture guidelines and evaluate the app's feasibility, usability, satisfaction, and acceptability. METHODS: The ‘Snackability’ app was developed following the ADDIE (analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation) model. The app was pilot tested for 2 weeks among college-age students (18–24 years) using questionnaires and focus groups. Based on the feedback received, the app was improved, and pilot-tested again. RESULTS: The app had a simple score (−1 to 11) and feedback (the higher the score, the healthier the snack is). The 1st pilot test among 12 students showed that the app's feasibility and usability were >50% (p < 0.05). Participants reported that the app was a good way to help individuals select and consume healthy snacks and suggested improving the search process and including average score reports, a ‘consumed history’ tab, gamification, notifications, and the option to add snacks not found. These were incorporated into the 2nd version of the app, which was pilot tested among 8 students. Feasibility, usability, and acceptability of the 2nd version were >50% (p < 0.05). Additional suggestions were to include images for serving size, snack alternatives, and barcode scanning, which were incorporated into the 3rd version. CONCLUSIONS: Snackability app was feasible, usable, satisfactory, and acceptable, and several features were improved as suggested by participants.
Adolescent ; Agriculture ; Diet ; Focus Groups ; Humans ; Serving Size ; Smartphone ; Snacks ; United States Department of Agriculture

The purpose of this study was to provide information on the labeling of nutritional components on beverages to aid in nutrition education and oral health promotion. The study was conducted to evaluate nutritional effects and risk factors associated with the consumption of different beverages with respect to oral health. A total of 52 products from seven different types of beverages were analyzed for their nutrient content, sugar content, and pH. The sugar content per serving size, based on the nutrition labeling of beverages, was highest for the milk beverages, at 26.6 g, and lowest for the teas, at 13.0 g. According to the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO), beverages should contain less than 10% (50 g) total sugars. Our assessment revealed that total sugars in and carbonated beverages were 53.2% and 50.0% of daily value, respectively. Therefore, the milk and carbonated beverages contained more than 50% sugars per serving size, exceeding the recommendation of WHO. The pH of the beverages, from the most acidic to the least acidic were: carbonated beverages, pH 3.0; fruit and vegetable beverages, pH 3.1; mixed beverages, pH 3.6; fruit and vegetable juices, pH 3.7; teas, pH 4.7; coffees, pH 6.6; and milk beverages, pH 6.8. The intake of acidic and sweetened beverages could potentially cause dental caries and erosion. Therefore, the results of this study could be used by oral health care professionals to counsel their patients by providing relevant information on the possibility of oral disease caused by consumption of commercial beverages.
Beverages* ; Carbohydrates ; Carbonated Beverages ; Dental Caries ; Education ; Food Labeling ; Fruit ; Fruit and Vegetable Juices ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration* ; Milk ; Oral Health ; Risk Factors ; Serving Size ; Tea ; Vegetables ; World Health Organization

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: This study analyzed factors affecting consumption frequencies of vegetables and fruits in Korean adolescents. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Consumption frequencies of vegetables and fruits, general characteristics, meal, health, and other variables were analyzed for a total of 147,047 adolescents who participated in the KYRBWS (Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey) conducted in 2006 and 2011 by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. RESULTS: Consumption frequencies of vegetables and fruits more than once a day significantly decreased in 2011 compared to 2006 based on Chi-square test conducted for every factor employed in the study. Analysis of factors showed that consumption frequencies of vegetables and fruits were reduced in both study years as subjective income decreased, whereas intake frequencies increased with mother's education level and reduction of adolescent stress level. CONCLUSIONS: In general, consumption frequencies of vegetables and fruits decreased in 2011 compared to those in 2006. Thus, future research needs to improve dietary guidelines for nutrition education in order for students to recognize the importance of food consumption and necessity of increasing daily serving sizes of vegetables and fruits for their balanced consumption.
Adolescent* ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) ; Chi-Square Distribution ; Education ; Fruit* ; Humans ; Korea ; Meals ; Nutrition Policy ; Risk-Taking* ; Serving Size ; Vegetables*

OBJECTIVES: Maintaining a balanced diet is very crucial for adolescents. However, adolescents, who may have a short notion about the amount of food, find it difficult to plan daily meals by applying the target pattern proposed by the Korean Nutrition Society. This study was carried out to revise the target pattern based on cooked dishes instead of raw material food groups as an easier way for Korean adolescents to plan their meals. METHODS: Target pattern for Korean adolescents were revised based on the following: 1st, categorize dish groups, 2nd, calculate representative values of each dish based on the adolescent' intake amount. 3rd, assign the recommended number of intake for each dish. Validity of the target pattern for Korean adolescent meal plan was examined by the energy content, energy contribution ratio, and NAR & INQ of nutrients. RESULTS: The 11 dish groups categorized were bab; gook.tang.gigae; side dishes of meat, fish, egg, legume, kimchi, vegetable, seaweed; and between meal of fruit, and milk.dairy product. Based on the representative energy values, recommended number of intake were assigned to each dish. For boys, bab and gook.tang.gigae: 3 each; meat, fish, egg, and legume: 1 each; kimchi and vegetable: 3 each; seaweed: 1; fruit and milk.dairy product: 2 each were assigned. For girls, bab and gook.tang.gigae: 2 each; meat, fish, egg, and legume: choice of 3 dishes, 1 each; kimchi and vegetable: 3 each; seaweed: 1; fruit and milk.dairy product: 2 each were assigned. Energy contents, energy contribution ratio of carbohydrate, protein, and fat for boys and girls were in adequate range. The NARs were 1.0 and INQs were > or = 1.0 for all nutrients examined. CONCLUSIONS: Revised dish-based, instead of food-based adolescent target patterns for boys and girls were easier and a valid way of Korean adolescent meal planning.
Adolescent* ; Diet ; Fabaceae ; Female ; Fruit ; Humans ; Meals* ; Meat ; Ovum ; Seaweed ; Serving Size* ; Vegetables

The glycemic index (GI) is the measure of how much and how quickly a particular food elevates blood glucose levels. The glycemic load (GL) is a related measurement that is used to reflect how an average serving of a particular food will affect blood glucose. Using the GI in meal planning can improve diabetes control and other health parameters. Many factors affect a food's glycemic effect, including its soluble fiber content, the type of starch it contains, its fat and protein content, its acid content, its physiologic state, the cooking method used, and the glycemic condition of the person eating it. GI focuses on only one parameter of how quickly blood glucose rises in response to a particular food and provides no guidance in terms of serving size or nutrient balance. It is not necessary to teach patients to calculate the GI/GL of complex meals made up of many different ingredients. Instead, advice to patients should focus on broad general principles that can be easily followed. The most helpful message is to not focus on the numerical GI or GL values of each meal, but rather to think about the overall glycemic impact of that particular meal. Such practical methods to use GI may be helpful in improving glycemic control.
Blood Glucose ; Cooking ; Glycemic Index* ; Humans ; Meals ; Serving Size ; Starch

OBJECTIVES: This study was performed to set easily applicable portion sizes by sex and age for children at the Community Child Centers (CCC) in Korea. METHODS: Considering the age and gender specific energy level at Target Patterns for children aged 6-18 years, which were suggested as a part of the 2010 Korean Food Guidance System (KFGS), we set three meal sizes. We reclassified the recommended daily servings of Grains, Meat.fish.eggs.beans and Vegetables group at Target Patterns into three meal sizes, and then calculated the recommended serving per meal. Each proposed amount of food per meal was calculated based on serving size of foods commonly eaten at KFGS, which was then allocated to five meal components; rice, soup, stew, protein and vegetable side-dishes and Kimchi. Each proposed amount of food per meal was applied to 173 menus' recipes from CANpro 3.0 as main ingredient's amounts. We cooked the 173 menus at the medium size and measured their weights after cooking. RESULTS: Each recommended serving per meal was 0.75, 0.9 and 1.2 for Grains; 1.2, 1.6 and 2.4 for Meat.fish.eggs.beans; 2, 2.4 and 2.8 for Vegetables by meal sizes. Among five meal components, the ratio of small and large to medium size was 1/5 less and 1/3 more for rice and 1/3 less and 1/3 more for soup.stew, protein side-dish and Kimchi, respectively. We suggested the same amount for a vegetable side-dish to encourage vegetable intake. Proper portion sizes per meal of medium were rice 190 g, soup.stew 210 g (solid ingredients 60 g), protein side-dish 100 g (meat.eggs.beans) and 70 g (fish), vegetable side-dish 80g and Kimchi 30 g. CONCLUSIONS: Proper portion size per meal suggested in this study may be useful at the CCC where dietitians are not available and the approach could be applicable to the other types of meal services.
Edible Grain ; Child* ; Cooking ; Humans ; Korea ; Meals* ; Nutritionists ; Portion Size ; Serving Size* ; Vegetables ; Weights and Measures

Diets high in fruits and vegetables are recommended to maintain health. However, accurate fruit intake evaluation is hard and high sugar content in most of the fruits suggest possible negative relationships with health indices. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the fruit intake status of adolescents and to examine the relationship between fruit intake and body mass index (BMI). For this, 400 middle and high school students were surveyed for their fruit eating attitude, preference, and intake level for fruit along with the evaluation of their relationship with anthropometric measures. As for fruit preference, the most frequent answer was 'like very much' (60.0%) and the preference of fruit was significantly higher in females than in males (p < 0.01). The highest answer to the reason to like fruits was 'delicious' (67.0%). The highest proportion of subjects replied that the amount of fruit intake was similar in both school meals and at home (39.3%) and unlikable feeling of fruits was 'sour' (47.0%). The favorite fruit was the apple followed by oriental melon, grape, Korean cherry, cherry, tangerine/orange, hallabong, plum, mango, persimmon, peach, pear/kiwi, apricot, Japanese apricot, and fig in order. As for the number of serving sizes per person were 2.9 times/day for male students and 3.0 times/day for female students showing no significant difference. The frequency of eating fruits in the evening showed a significant positive correlation with body weight (p < 0.05) and BMI (p < 0.01), respectively. In summary of these study findings, it was found that the fruit preference of adolescents was relatively high and their fruit intake level satisfied the recommended number of intake. The number of evening fruit intake had a significantly positive correlation with body weight and BMI. Further studies are required to examine the relationship between fruit intake and health indicators.
Adolescent* ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Body Mass Index* ; Body Weight ; Cucurbitaceae ; Diet ; Diospyros ; Eating ; Female ; Fruit* ; Humans ; Male ; Mangifera ; Meals ; Prunus armeniaca ; Prunus persica ; Prunus domestica ; Serving Size ; Vegetables ; Vitis

The accuracy of dietary assessments has emerged as a major concern in nutritional epidemiology and new dietary assessment tools using computer technology to increase accuracy have been developed in many countries. The purpose of this study was to develop a web-based computer-assisted personal interview system (CAPIS) for conducting dietary assessment and to evaluate its practical utilization among Koreans. The client software was developed using Microsoft's ClickOnce technology, which allows communication with a database system via an http server to add or retrieve data. The system consists of a tracking system for the subject and researcher, a data-input system during the interview, a calculation system for estimating food and nutrient intake, a data-output system for presenting the results, and an evaluation system for assessing the adequacy of nutrient and food intake. Databases of the nutrient composition of common food (n = 3,642), recipes for common dishes (n = 1,886), and photos of serving sizes for food and dishes (n = 4,152) were constructed, and logical processes for data collection, calculation, and output were developed. The functionality, on-site applicability, and efficiency of CAPIS were evaluated in a convenience sample of 181 participants (61 males, 120 females; aged 24 to 85) by comparing with manual 24 hour recall method with paper questionnaire. The CAPIS was functioned adequately in the field survey in terms of completeness of function, security, and compliance of researcher and subjects. Regarding on-site applicability, 23.2%, 32.6%, 35.4%, and 43.7% of subjects reported that CAPIS was easier to recall their diet, to estimate the amount consumed, to communicate with the interviewer, and to concentrate on the interview than the manual method with paper questionnaire, respectively. Although CAPIS required more interview time (9 min 42 sec) compared to the manual method (7 min 30 sec), it saved time and cost for data coding and entry (15 min 35 sec) and gave high satisfaction from the prompt feedback after interview to the subjects, which increase efficiency to apply on the field survey. Our results suggest that the newly developed CAPIS is suitable for conducting personal interviews for dietary assessment in Korean population.
Clinical Coding ; Compliance ; Data Collection ; Diet ; Eating ; Epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Logic ; Male ; Nutrition Assessment ; Serving Size ; Surveys and Questionnaires

The aim of this study was to develop various types of a dish frequency questionnaire (DFQ) for estimating the habitual sodium intake and to evaluate the validity of a 125 item dish frequency questionnaire (DFQ 125) with the DFQ 70, DFQ 36 and DFQ 15. For the DFQ 125, one hundred and twenty five dish items were selected based on the information of sodium content of a one serving size, consumption frequency and dish items that contributed most to the variation of sodium intake. Frequency of consumption was determined through nine categories ranging from more than 3 times a day to almost never to indicate how often the specified amount of each food item was consumed during the past 6 months. The sodium intake estimated with DFQ 125 was 5775.0 +/- 3636.3mg, 12.6% higher than that estimated with a 24 hr urine analysis (5009.7 +/- 1541.9mg) and significant correlation was observed between them (r = 0.3315, p < 0.001). When sodium content in broth leftover was subtracted from the total intake, the actual sodium intakes was decreased to 5309.6 +/- 3076.6mg, which was 3.2% higher than that with a 24-hr urine analysis. Overall, 56% of subjects in the lowest quintile of sodium intake computed with DFQ 125 were also in the lowest of adjacent quintile while categorization into the opposite quintile were 4.9%. DFQ 70 was developed from DFQ 125 by omitting the food items not frequently consumed, selecting the dish items that showed higher sodium content per one portion size and higher consumption frequency. The sodium intake estimated with DFQ 70 (5026.6 +/- 3107.1mg) showed only 0.2% difference from that estimated with a 24-hr urine analysis, significant correlation with it (r = 0.3199, p < 0.001) and higher proportion of subjects to be classified into the same or adjacent quintile. The sodium intake estimated with DFQ 36 or DFQ 15 was also significancy correlated with that estimated with a 24-hr urine analysis (r = 0.3441, p < 0.001; r = 0.321, p < 0.001 respectively) and more. The proportion of subjects was classified into the same or adjacent quintile. However, the actual sodium intake estimated with DFQ 36 or DFQ 15 were 3534.0 +/- 1804.6mg and 2508.0 +/- 1261.5mg, respectively, 31.3% or 51.3% less than that estimated with a 24-hr urine analysis. It seems the DFQ 125 with subtraction of sodium content in broth leftover or DFQ 70 can be used quantitatively to estimate sodium intake of adults. DFQ 36 or DFQ 15 can be used as a screening tool or to assess the changes of sodium intake after nutrition education.
Adult* ; Education ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Portion Size ; Serving Size ; Sodium*

This study was performed to weigh the average meal portion sizes served for preschoolers by kindergarten teacher. The subjects were 53 teachers from 8 kindergartens, which are random sampled by meal service number. Using the weighing method assessed the meal portion sizes of food items at lunch. The data was complied by performing chi-square-test using SPSS WIN 11.0. The result was as followed: 98.0% of teacher agreed with the meal service because of 'better food habit and table etiquette' ( 68.0%) , 'health promotion with balanced diet' ( 22.0%) , 'owing to extending school time' ( 6.0%) and 'demand of parents' ( 2.0%) . Preschooler eat lunch at class ( 84.9%) and meal serving size was decided by teacher ( 79.2%) . Teachers thought that they know very well about portion size 3.8%, 96.2% of teacher thought that they don't know much about portion size. Portion size were not significantly different by food tray types but there was much different ( almost 100%) compared with minimum and maximum within dishes. Most average portion size was not met dietary reference intake except cooked rice, soups and fish cutlet. Working experience effected on portion size. More served, more working experienced of teacher. For example Bulgogi was served 26.8 g by teacher who has over 6 years working experience compared with 2 - 6 years ( 20.4 g) and less than 2 years ( 17.1 g)(p < 0.01) . Spinach portion size was significantly different by teacher's working experience ( p < 0.01) . Portion size were not significantly different by preschooler's age. The reference of dietary for preschooler was different by age, but teachers served meal by their exper-ience. According to the results of this study, it is necessary to educate meal portion size for kindergarten teacher who take charge in meal serving. To provide guidance to teacher about reasonable portion sizes for preschoolers, teacher need to take nutrition education about meal service and child nutrition in college. This study would be useful to those who plan meals for preschoolers and to researchers studying dietary intakes of preschooler.
Child ; Education ; Food Habits ; Humans ; Lunch ; Meals* ; Portion Size* ; Recommended Dietary Allowances ; Serving Size ; Spinacia oleracea