BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The purposes of the study were to investigate folate intakes and plasma folate concentrations as well as estimate folate status in Korean healthy adults. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A total of 254 healthy 19- to 64-year-old adults (68 men and 186 women) living in Seoul metropolitan area, Gumi, and Kwangju, Korea participated. Three consecutive 24-hour dietary recalls, information on folate supplementation, and fasting blood samples were collected from the subjects. RESULTS: The mean dietary folate intakes were 587.4 and 499.2 µg dietary folate equivalent (DFE)/day for men and women, respectively. The median dietary intakes of men and women were 566.6 and 474.6 µg DFE/day, respectively. Forty subjects (16.7% of total) less total folate than the estimated average requirement (EAR). Folate intakes of 23.3% of men and 34.8% of women aged 19–29 years did not meet the EAR for folate. Major food sources consumed for dietary folate were baechukimchi (Chinese cabbage kimchi), rice, spinach, eggs, and laver, which provided 44% of dietary folate intake for the subjects. Plasma folate concentrations were 23.4 nmol/L for men and 28.3 nmol/L for women, and this level was significantly lower in men than in women. Approximately 13% of men and 3% of women were folate-deficient, and the percentages of subjects showing folate concentrations lower than 10 nmol/L were 27.9% of men and 6.4% of women. CONCLUSIONS: Folate intakes of Korean adults in this study were generally adequate. However, one-third of young adults had inadequate folate intakes.
Adult ; Brassica ; Ear ; Eggs ; Fasting ; Female ; Folic Acid ; Gwangju ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nutritional Status ; Ovum ; Plasma ; Recommended Dietary Allowances ; Seoul ; Spinacia oleracea ; Young Adult

The genus Peronospora, an obligate biotrophic group belonging to Oomycota, causes serious damage to a variety of wild and ornamental plants, as well as cultivated crops, such as beet, rose, spinach, and tobacco. To investigate the diversity of Peronospora species parasitic to Stellaria and Pseudostellaria (Caryophyllaceae) plants in Korea, we performed a morphological analysis on dried herbarium specimens and molecular phylogenetic inferences based on internal transcribed spacer rDNA and cox2 mitochondrial DNA sequences. As a result, it was confirmed that there are four species of Peronospora parasitic to specific species of Stellaria and Pseudostellaria, all of which were hitherto unrecorded in Korea: P. alsinearum (ex Stellaria media), P. stellariae-aquaticae (ex Stellaria aquatica), P. stellariae-uliginosae (ex Stellaria alsine), and P. pseudostellariae (ex Pseudostellaria palibiniana). In addition, Peronospora specimens parasitic to Pseudostellaria davidii differed morphologically from P. pseudostellariae owing to the large and ellipsoidal conidia; this morphological discrepancy was also validated by the high genetic divergence between the two species. Peronospora casparyi sp. nov. is described and illustrated here.
Beta vulgaris ; Caryophyllaceae ; Classification* ; DNA, Mitochondrial ; DNA, Ribosomal ; Host Specificity ; Korea* ; Oomycetes ; Peronospora* ; Phylogeny* ; Spinacia oleracea ; Spores, Fungal ; Stellaria* ; Tobacco

Diets rich in fruits and vegetables reduce risk of adverse cardiovascular events. However, the constituents responsible for this effect have not been well established. Lately, the attention has been brought to vegetables with high nitrate content with evidence that this might represent a source of vasoprotective nitric oxide. We hypothesized that short-term consumption of spinach, a vegetable having high dietary nitrate content, can affect the arterial waveform indicative of arterial stiffness, as well as central and peripheral blood pressure (BP). Using a placebo-controlled, crossover design, 27 healthy participants were randomly assigned to receive either a high-nitrate (spinach; 845 mg nitrate/day) or low-nitrate soup (asparagus; 0.6 mg nitrate/day) for 7 days with a 1-week washout period. On days 1 and 7, profiles of augmentation index, central, and brachial BP were obtained over 180 min post-consumption in 4 fasted visits. A postprandial reduction in augmentation index was observed at 180 min on high-nitrate compared to low-nitrate intervention (-6.54 +/- 9.7% vs. -0.82 +/- 8.0%, p = 0.01) on Day 1, and from baseline on Day 7 (-6.93 +/- 8.7%, p < 0.001; high vs. low: -2.28 +/- 12.5%, p = 0.35), suggesting that the nitrate intervention is not associated with the development of tolerance for at least 7 days of continued supplementation. High vs. low-nitrate intervention also reduced central systolic (-3.39 +/- 5.6 mmHg, p = 0.004) and diastolic BP (-2.60 +/- 5.8 mmHg, p = 0.028) and brachial systolic BP (-3.48 +/- 7.4 mmHg, p = 0.022) at 180 min following 7-day supplementation only. These findings suggest that dietary nitrate from spinach may contribute to beneficial hemodynamic effects of vegetable-rich diets and highlights the potential of developing a targeted dietary approach in the management of elevated BP.
Adult* ; Blood Pressure ; Cross-Over Studies ; Diet ; Fruit ; Hemodynamics* ; Humans ; Nitric Oxide ; Spinacia oleracea* ; Vascular Stiffness* ; Vegetables

BACKGROUND/OBJECTS: When the functions involved in the ingestion of food occurs failure, not only loss of enjoyment of eating, it will be faced with protein-energy malnutrition. Dysmasesis and difficulty of swallowing occurs in various diseases, but it may be a major cause of aging, and elderly people with authoring and dysmasesis and difficulty of swallowing in the aging society is expected to increase rapidly. SUBJECTS/METHODS: In this study, we carried out a survey targeting nutritionists who work in elderly care facilities, and examined characteristics of offering of foods for elderly and the degree of demand of development of easily chewable and swallowable foods for the elderly who can crush foods and take that by their own tongues, and sometimes have difficulty in drinking water and tea. RESULTS: In elderly care facilities, it was found to provide a finely chopped food or ground food that was ground with water in a blender for elderly with dysmasesis. Elderly satisfaction of provided foods is appeared overall low. Results of investigating the applicability of foods for elderly and the reflection will of menus, were showed the highest response rate in a gelification method in molecular gastronomic science technics, and results of investigating the frequent food of the elderly; representative menu of beef, pork, white fish, anchovies and spinach, were showed Korean barbecue beef, hot pepper paste stir fried pork, pan fried white fish, stir fried anchovy, seasoned spinach were the highest offer frequency. CONCLUSIONS: This study will provide the fundamentals of the development of easily chewable and swallowable foods, gelification, for the elderly. The study will also illustrate that, in the elderly, food undergone gelification will reduce the risk of swallowing down to the wrong pipe and improve overall food preference.
Aged* ; Aging ; Deglutition ; Drinking Water ; Eating ; Food Preferences ; Humans ; Nutritionists ; Protein-Energy Malnutrition ; Seasons ; Spinacia oleracea ; Tea ; Tongue ; Water

There is little information on dietary vitamin K intake and nutritional status of daily requirements of vitamin K in Korea. The objective of this study was to investigate the vitamin K intake and major food sources of Vitamin K in Koreans. The survey data from the 2010-2011 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of 7,792 subjects (aged 19-64 years) were examined. Total vitamin K intake was calculated from 24-hour dietary recall using a vitamin K food database, Computer Aided Nutritional analysis Program and the United States Department of Agriculture database. The geometric mean of vitamin K was estimated as 322.40 +/- 6.33 ug/day for men and 271.20 +/- 4.92 ug/day for women. Daily vitamin K intake increased significantly with age (p for trend < 0.001). The main food source of vitamin K was vegetables (72.84%), including cabbage kimchi (19.26%), spinach (17.38%), sesame leaves (7.11%), radish leaves (6.65%), spring onions (6.28%), and laver (4.82%), followed by seaweed, seasonings, and fat and oils. We observed that the vitamin K intake of Koreans was relatively higher than that reported by other studies in Western countries and differed depending on age.
Brassica ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Nutrition Surveys* ; Nutritional Status ; Oils ; Onions ; Raphanus ; Seasons ; Seaweed ; Sesamum ; Spinacia oleracea ; United States Department of Agriculture ; Vegetables ; Vitamin K 1 ; Vitamin K* ; Vitamins*

This study was performed to assess the nutritional status and hair mineral content of children with behavioral problems and compare the values with a gender, age-matched control group. The subjects were recruited from S elementary school children in Seoul, Korea. Students scored higher than 60 points were diagnosed with behavioral problems according to the Korean-Child Behavior Checklist. Nutritional assessment of the two groups (behavior problem group: male n=15, female n=24; 9.6+/-1.6 years, control group: male n=16, female n=18; 9.5+/-1.9 years) was performed using a nutritional survey and by measuring hair mineral contents. In the results, food frequency questionnaire analysis showed that the intakes of anchovy (P<0.05), soybean curb (P<0.01), radish (P<0.05), bean sprouts (P<0.05), spinach (P<0.05), carrot (P<0.05), pumpkin (P<0.05), lettuce (P<0.05), cabbage (P<0.01), apple (P<0.05), and milk (P<0.01) were higher in the control group than the behavior problem group, whereas intakes of ramyeon (P<0.05), cookies (P<0.05), and coke (P<0.01) were higher in the behavior problem group than the control group. Intakes of most nutrients such as plant-derived protein (P<0.05), fiber (P<0.05), plant-derived calcium (P<0.05), phosphorus (P<0.05), plant-derived iron (P<0.05), vitamin B2 (P<0.05), vitamin B6 (P<0.05), vitamin C (P<0.01), vitamin E (P<0.05), and folate (P<0.05) were significantly higher in the control group than the behavior problem group. Hair analysis showed that the levels of arsenic (P<0.05), mercury (P<0.001), uranium (P<0.05), iron (P<0.001), boron (P<0.01), and germanium (P<0.001) were lower, but the levels of phosphate (P<0.05), chromium (P<0.001), sodium (P<0.05), and sulfur (P<0.001) were higher in the behavior problem group than the control group. Conclusively, behavioral problems constitute a complicated condition in which nutritional factors may play major roles. However, it is still under investigation as to whether or not modification of dietary habits or nutritional supplementation can improve children's behavior, since symptoms require a broad understanding of the environmental and genetic interactions.
Arsenic ; Ascorbic Acid ; Boron ; Brassica ; Calcium ; Checklist ; Child ; Chromium ; Coke ; Cucurbita ; Daucus carota ; Female ; Folic Acid ; Food Habits ; Germanium ; Hair ; Humans ; Iron ; Korea ; Lettuce ; Male ; Milk ; Nutrition Assessment ; Nutrition Surveys ; Nutritional Status ; Phosphorus ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Raphanus ; Riboflavin ; Sodium ; Soybeans ; Spinacia oleracea ; Sulfur ; Uranium ; Vitamin B 6 ; Vitamin E ; Vitamins

The purpose of this study was to estimate the daily intake of vitamin A in Korean female university students. Vitamin A intake was estimated using an inconsecutive 3-day dietary intake survey from 481 young women. Vitamin A intake values were calculated based on the data in USDA database. Average age, height, and weight of the subjects were 20.05 years, 162.13 cm and 54.38 kg, respectively. The subject's average intake of energy was 1645.67 kcal. The mean vitamin A, retinol and beta carotene intakes were 908.35 +/- 863.18 ug retinol equivalent/day, 199.19 +/- 166.00 ug/day and 3872.59 +/- 4972.17 ug/day, respectively. The 21.83% of the subjects consumed less than the Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) for vitamin A. And subjects consumed 141.69% of the Recommended Nutrient Intake (RNI) for vitamin A. Food groups consumed with high vitamin A content in our subjects included vegetables (423.96 ug RE/day), potato and starches (213.64 ug RE/day), cereals (62.60 ug RE/day), eggs (55.17 ug RE/day) and milks (53.45 ug RE/day). The major food sources of vitamin A were sweet potato, carrot, spinach, egg, and cereal, and the top 30 foods provided 89.57% of total vitamin A. Also animal-derived food provided 9.65% of the vitamin A intake from the top 30 foods. In conclusion, judging from RNI, the vitamin A intake of the Korean female university students in this study was generally adequate. The result of our study may be used as a basis for follow-up studies of vitamin A intake like assessment of vitamin A nutritional status or evaluation of carotenoid food sources in Korean young women.
beta Carotene ; Carotenoids ; Edible Grain ; Daucus carota ; Eggs ; Female ; Humans ; Ipomoea batatas ; Milk ; Nutritional Status ; Ovum ; Solanum tuberosum ; Spinacia oleracea ; Starch ; United States Department of Agriculture ; Vegetables ; Vitamin A ; Vitamins

Carboxyl-terminal processing protease of D1 protein (CtpA) catalyzes carboxyl terminal processing of the D1 protein of photosystem II, which is essential for the assembly of a manganese cluster and consequent light-mediated water oxidation. It is a target for the discovery of wide-spectrum herbicide. We amplified the CtpA gene from spinach cDNA with standard PCR method and constructed it into pET-28a vector to generate a recombinant expression plasmid. Recombinant CtpA fusion protein with His-tag was expressed as soluble protein in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) after induction with 0.1 mmol/L IPTG at 8 degrees C for 72 h. We purified the CtpA protein with the Ni-NTA affinity chromatography and Superdex 75 gel filtration chromatography respectively, and verified the protein by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting with anti-his antibody. Hydrolysis activity of CtpA was assayed by HPLC method with a synthetic 24-mer oligopeptide corresponding to carboxyl terminal of precursor D1 protein, and gave a total activity of 1.10 nmol/(mg x min). We used the purified CtpA protein as antigen to immune rabbit for the production of polyclonal antibody, and prepared antibody with high specificity and sensitivity. The results obtained in this paper provided the feasibility of high-throughput screening of lead compounds for the protease as inhibitors and mechanism analysis of CtpA enzyme.
Algal Proteins ; Antibodies ; metabolism ; Carboxypeptidases ; biosynthesis ; chemistry ; genetics ; immunology ; Cloning, Molecular ; DNA, Complementary ; genetics ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; metabolism ; Hydrolysis ; Proprotein Convertases ; biosynthesis ; chemistry ; genetics ; immunology ; RNA, Plant ; genetics ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; immunology ; Spinacia oleracea ; enzymology ; genetics

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between bone density and dietary intake for college women in their twenties. This study was performed on 160 female college students residing in Gangwon-do. It was conducted using ultrasound measurement of calcaneus bone density, anthropometric checkup and food-frequency questionnaires (FFQ) comprising 94 kinds of commonly consumed foods. Subjects were divided into two groups according to the T-score of bone density: a normal group (n = 113 persons, T-score > or = 1) and a risk group (n = 47, T-score < 1.0). The average age of the subjects was 20.17 years and there was no significant difference between the two groups. Body weight and body fat percentage of the normal group were significantly higher than those of the risk group. The mean daily energy intake of the normal group was significantly higher than that of the risk group. Also, protein, fat, vitamin A, niacin, vitamin B6, folate, calcium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, iron and zinc intake for the normal group were significantly higher than for the risk group. For the intake of the commonly consumed foods (or dishes) listed in FFQ, the mean daily intake amount of loaf bread, rice cake, potatoes, spicy beef soup, cucumber, seasoned spinach perilla leaves, crown daisy, stir-fried mushroom, sea mustard, beef rib, ham, chicken, mackerel, common squid, drink type curd yogurt, oriental melon and chocolate in the normal group was significantly higher than in the risk group. While, the mean daily intake of ramyun (instant noodle) and carbonated beverage by the normal group was significantly lower than that of the risk group. In conclusion, 20 something female college students showed a higher rate (26.9%) of the bone mineral density risk group (osteopenia or osteoporosis). For the risk group, the levels of nutrient and food intake were lower than in the normal group. Therefore, the bone density risk group needs to increase their nutrient intake and diet quality by increasing the intake of various foods. In addition, they should decrease the intake of foods, which are negative for skeletal health such as instant noodles and carbonated beverages.
Adipose Tissue ; Agaricales ; Body Weight ; Bone Density ; Bread ; Cacao ; Calcaneus ; Calcium ; Carbonated Beverages ; Chickens ; Crowns ; Cucurbitaceae ; Decapodiformes ; Diet ; Eating ; Energy Intake ; Female ; Folic Acid ; Humans ; Iron ; Mustard Plant ; Niacin ; Perciformes ; Perilla ; Phosphorus ; Potassium ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Ribs ; Seasons ; Sodium ; Solanum tuberosum ; Spinacia oleracea ; Vitamin A ; Vitamin B 6 ; Yogurt ; Zinc

To determine vitamin A and E intakes and their food sources, dietary intakes were collected by three consecutive 24-hour recalls from 192 adults living in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, Korea. The mean vitamin A, retinol and beta-carotene intakes were 1240.1 +/- 1101.1 microg retinol equivalent/day (693.3 +/- 563.2 microg retinol activity equivalent/day), 182.6 +/- 149.5 microg/day and 5443.3 +/- 6365.5 microg/day, respectively. Only 9.4% of the subjects consumed less than the Korean Estimated Average Requirement for vitamin A. The mean vitamin E intake was 6.03 +/- 2.54 mg alpha-tocopherol equivalent/day. The alpha-tocopherol and gamma-tocopherol intakes were 4.83 +/- 2.03 and 5.57 +/- 3.41 mg/day, respectively. Most of the subjects (93.8%) consumed less than the Korean Adequate Intake for vitamin E. The major food sources of vitamin A were sweet potato, carrot, red pepper powder, spinach, and citrus fruit, and the top 30 foods provided 91.5% of total Plant foods provided 81.0% and animalderived foods 10.5% of the vitamin A intake from the top 30 foods. The major food sources of vitamin E were soybean oil, red pepper powder, Ramyeon (cup noodles), spinach, and egg. The top 30 foods provided 78.0% of total vitamin E intake. Plant foods provided 61.3% and animal-derived foods 15.9% of the vitamin E intake from the top 30 foods. In conclusion, the vitamin A intake of the Korean adults in this study was ge-nerally adequate, but the vitamin E intake of many subjects was inadequate. Therefore, nutritional education may be of benefit to Korean adults to increase their vitamin E intake.
Adult ; alpha-Tocopherol ; beta Carotene ; Capsicum ; Carotenoids ; Citrus ; Daucus carota ; gamma-Tocopherol ; Humans ; Ipomoea batatas ; Korea ; Ovum ; Plants ; Soybean Oil ; Spinacia oleracea ; Tocopherols ; Vitamin A ; Vitamin E ; Vitamins