Dietary Behavior and Food Intake of Korean Farmers in Relation to Farmers' Syndrome and Gastro-Intestinal Problem

The purpose of this study was to compare dietary behavior and food intake in relation to physical complaints, such as farmer' syndrome(FS) and gastro-intestinal(GI) problem among Korean farmers. The questionnaire was composed of 24 Cornell Medical Index (CMI), 8 farmers' syndrome, and 5 GI problem questions. Food intake data was gathered by the semi-quantitative food frequency method. The subjects(male 226, female 415) who had FS and Gi problem were 12./8% and 8.3%, respectively. The physical complaints were higher in female and the elderly group. In the FS group, lower activity was seen that in normal groups. The lower health status and fatigues were found in the physical complaint groups. Dietary behavior showed low appetite in the physical complaint group, irregular lunch in FS, and irregular breakfast in GI problem group. Changes in dietary behavior were shown in the aspects of lower amount of intake quantity(40.8%), lower consumption in fat(32.8%) and salty(38.8%) foods, and diverse food items(47.8%). Quantity of food consumed was significantly different withing groups with FS. Kinds of food consumed, intake of protein source foods, milk and calcium and total animal foods were lower in the FS group. But milk and calcium source food and all animal food intakes were higher in the GID problem group. The results suggest that dietary behavior and food intake differ within the group of physical complaints.