Dietary behaviors and food perception of Koreans living in Seoul by age and gender

서울지역 주민의 연령.성별에 따른 식사행동 및 식품인식도 비교

Korean food habits, dietary behaviors and perception of food were compared according to gender and age. The subjects were composed of 274 males and 315 females. According to age, the age group of 10s was 26.3%, 20s 24.6%, 30s 16.8%, 40s 18.7%, and 50s and over 13.6%, respectively. The majority (65.2%) of all age groups except the 20s took meals 3 times a day and the ratio 20s eating twice a day was higher than other age groups. All age groups took cooked rice(bap) two or three times a day and the 20s group took smaller amount than other age groups did. The younger age groups of 10s and 20s took larger amount of processed food. The older age groups appeared to have higher frequency of eating fish, bean, vegetable, Kimchi, laver.brown seaweed, soybean oil, sesame oil, coffee, tea, and rice cake(ddhuk). The younger groups have the higher frequency of eating ramyeon, corn flake, milk, milk-processed food, butterㆍmargarine, ham.sausage, carbonated drink candyㆍchocolate, hamburger, and pizza. All age groups perceived cooked rice(bap), meat, fish, egg, vegetable, fruit, and Kimchi to be the delicious, excellent and healthy food. According to the above results, age groups of 30s and over had relatively better food habits compared with those of younger groups. On the other hand, the groups of 10s and 20s had meals irregularly, showed a high ratio of skipping meals, and took processed food much. These results raised a concern of their nutritional imbalance in the future. Therefore, the correct nutritional education must be conducted to make these age groups have a healthy food habits.