Objective : To get a better understanding of obesity and etiological factors of obesity among school children. Methods : We have conducted a questionnaire survey of 4542 (2395male and 2147female) age from 7-15 in Shanghai School District to study their 24h nutrition intakes ; we have asked all our survey participating students to take a physical exam and body mass index measurement to determine the morbidity of obesity. Common statistic method was used in analyzing the data. Results : The result shows an over all morbidity (boys and girls) of $12.3\%$ among the students we have studied. Our research shows that boys have a higher rate of morbidity of obesity $17.1\%$ vs. $7.0\%$ for girls. The morbidity for boys starts under age 10, reaches the peak at age 10 ($24.3\%$), then declines after age 11 ; as for girls the morbidity starts at under age 9, reaches the peak at 9, and then declines after 10. Our study also indicates that the daily nutrition intake of protein, fat and carbohydrate by the students have satisfied Chinese Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs), while the daily intakes of calcium, iron, zinc, and vitamin C are below the $80\%$ of the DRIs suggested value. For students who are obese, our study shows that their average daily intakes of calories and protein have reached $90\%$ of the suggested value by the RNI while the intakes of calcium, iron, and zinc are far below standards. Furthermore, our research shows that the obese students usually intake more calories, proteins and vitamin $B_1$, but less for iron and calcium compared to the normal students. Some other factors such as the education and occupation of the parents, especially the mother, the family history of obesity and the eating habits are important factors that should be closely watched. Conclusion : The morbidity of obesity among boys is higher than girls. Obesity is closely related to the family history, the diet habits and the life styles.

Objective : The paper aims to provide predictive coefficients via BIA for the assessment of body composition in children and adolescents to serve clinical as well as research purposes. Methods : Body composition via dual-energy x­ray absorptiometry (DXA) and bioelectric impedance as well as other anthropometric index were derived from meaurements on 1026 children and adolescents aged from 6 to 18 years from Beijing City. The best subset regression and principle component analysis were adopted to build the predictive coefficients with the logarithm of body composition via DXA as response variable. Results : Condition index ${\varphi}$ of fat-free mass multiple linear regression achieves 113.49 and 91.18 for males and females respectively, demonstrating severe multicollinearity among anthropometric indexes in children and adolescents. BIA predictive coefficients base on the best subset regression and principle component analysis boast a content predictive value for lean mass ($r^2$ = 0.9697 and 0.9664 for boys and girls respectively, p < 0.0001) and for Fat$\%$ ($r^2$ = 0.7705 and 0.6959 for boys and girls respectively, p < 0.0001). Conclusions : BIA method is applicable for the prediction of body composition for children and adolescents.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relative influence of diet and physical activity on obesity. The subjects were 155 adults aged 35-52 years from 24 neighborhood committees in 4 urban districts of Beijing (male : 78, female : 77). They were divided into normal weight, overweight and obese groups according to their BMI. The general information of the subjects was collected by interview-administered questionnaire. Dietary intake was obtained by three-day(two weekdays and one weekend day) food weighted method, physical activity was assessed by a validated combination of data obtained from activity monitors, bicycling information and activity records. There were no significant differences of age, gender, height, educational, family economic level, smoking and drinking between different groups. The proportion of flour intake was higher in obese group compared to normal weight and overweight groups, and that of vegetables is lower in obese group. The physical activity (PAL) was not significantly different between two groups of the normal, overweight and obese groups. After the adjustment for confounding factors using logistic regression model, we found that the proportion of flour intake was positively associated with obesity, while the proportion of vegetable intake was inversely associated with obesity. It is concluded that dietary patterns were associated with obesity and diets composed of more vegetables and less staple combined with physical activities could contribute to obesity prevention.

The purpose of this study is to compare the relative risk of metabolic syndrome (MS) in middle aged adults with different body weights. 155 subjects living in urban Beijing were recruited from 24 neighborhood committees of urban Beijing. They were divided into normal weight, overweight and obese groups according to their BMIs. The general information of the subjects was collected using an interview-administered questionnaire. Standard procedure was followed to measure subject's weight, height and waist. Biochemical parameters (total cholesterol (TC), low- and high­density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C ; HDL-C), triglyceride (TG), and fasting glucose) and blood pressure were also determined. The results indicated that the systolic and diastolic blood pressure, HDL-C of obese group was lower than that of the normal weight group. Fasting glucose of obese males was significantly higher than that of normal weight males. No significant difference of fasting glucose was found among female groups. No significant difference of TG was found among male groups, while TG of overweight and obese females was both significantly higher than normal weight females. There was no significant difference of TC and LDL-C among normal weight, overweight and obese groups in both males and females. The MS rate of obese males was significantly higher than the normal weight and overweight males, as was the female. The relative risk of MS in obese group was about 11 times higher (OR=11.249, $95\%CI$ = 3.812 - 33.191) than the normal weight group after adjusting for age, gender, smoking, drinking, family economic level and education status. It is concluded that obesity contributed to lower HDL-C, hypertriglyceride, hypertension and MS after controlling the effects of age, gender, socioeconomic status, alcohol drinking and smoking. Obese individuals have a higher risk of having MS than their normal weight counterparts.

Parents play an important role in the development of their children's nutritional knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP). This study was conducted to investigate and assess the nutrition KAP status related to prevention of childhood obesity for parents of preschool children. 1828 subjects were selected cluster-randomly from 6 kindergartens in the urban of Chengdu, China and were surveyed by questionnaire. The results showed that the rate above $80\%$ of total score were $64.3\%(K),\;89.6\%(A),\;19.5\%(P)$ respectively. The nutrition KAP score of subjects was influenced by their education, gender and age. K, A and P scores were positively correlated with each other. The most expected approach obtained nutritional information for subjects was from newspaper, magazines, lectures and TV. It is concluded that the parents of preschool children in Chengdu indicated the limited nutrition knowledge, imperfect nutrition practice and better nutrition attitude. It is suggested that more nutritional education programs on childhood obesity prevention should be given mainly by newspapers, magazines and lectures in this population.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between life style and metabolic syndrome. The cross-sectional survey was conducted in Pingliang community in Shanghai in Jan 2003. The data was collected by questionnaire, and the results were analyzed by SPSS. It was found that the prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome (MS) was $13.4\%$ in the community, and the body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), serum triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol(TC), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), and fast plasma glucose (FPG) in MS group were higher than that in non-MS group. Logistic regression analysis indicated that BMI and WHR were positively correlated to the prevalence of MS, and physical activity was negatively correlated to the prevalence of MS. People with higher education levels (${\geq}10y$) had lower BMI, SBP, DBP, LDL-C and FPG. The prevalence of MS in the higher education level group was significantly lower than that of the lower education level group. These results suggested that BMI, WHR and physical activity were important factors of MS, and education background played an important role in the occurrence of MS. Therefore, it is very important to build a healthy life style for preventing and controlling the incidence and developing of MS.

This study compared intake of vitamins and antioxidant nutritional status of smokers and nonsmokers, and the effect of supplementation of vitamin C and vitamin E on antioxidant system of smokers and nonsmokers. Subjects were 30 smokers and 30 non-smokers of male university students. They were divided into groups of 10 subjects each one with supplementation for 4 weeks, to investigate the effects of supplementation. Smokers were divided into vitamin C supplement group, vitamin E supplement group and vitamin C and vitamin E combination supplement group, and so were nonsmokers. The supplementation of vitamin C was 500mg and vitamin E was 400IU. There was no significant difference of antioxidant vitamin intakes between smokers and non-smokers, and plasma concentration of vitamin C in smokers was lower than non-smokers (p<0.05). Blood pressure was higher in smokers (p<0.05), with no difference in blood glucose levels, methemoglobin and TBARS, but SOD activity was significantly higher in non-smokers (p<0.001). Vitamin C supplementation resulted in a significant decrease of diastolic blood pressure (p<0.01), systolic blood pressure (p<0.001) and methemoglobin (p<0.001) in smokers. Also a significant decrease of diastolic blood pressure (p<0.05), systolic blood pressure (p<0.05), blood glucose (p<0.05), methemoglobin (p<0.001) and TBARS (p<0.05), with significant increase of SOD activity (p<0.001) were found in vitamin E supplement group. In vitamin C and vitamin E combination supplement group, there was a significant decrease of diastolic blood pressure (p<0.05), methemoglobin (p<0.01) and TBARS (p<0.05). In non-smokers, methemoglobins (p<0.001) of vitamin C supplement group and vitamin E supplement group decreased, and diastolic pressure (p<0.05), methemoglobin (p<0.01) and TBARS (p<0.05) significantly decreased in vitamin C and vitamin E combination supplement group. These results indicated better efficacy of antioxidant supplementation in smokers than in nonsmokers, suggesting that the supplementation of vitamin C and vitamin E might decrease the oxidative stress and various risk factors of smoking-related diseases.

In our country, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and Coronary heart diseases (CHD) are the leading causes of death. It is well known that CHD is multifactorial, involving environmental factors such as diet, level of exercise and cigarette smoking, and inherited factors. According to the statistical data in 2003, the cause of death with the highest mortality was including hypertension, ischemic heart disease and atherosclerosis, which accounted for $24.7\%$ of total mortality. In spite of, there have been few study reports on the change of biochemical markers and mechanisms concerned. The development of biochemical markers is required for an early diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases that are related with dietary habits of Korean people enjoying mixtures of traditional dietary style and westernized food-styles. Therefore, the most efficient cost-saving biochemical marker was established in this study, through analysis of biochemical markers related with dietary habits which are susceptibly being changed in association to cardiovascular diseases from the pre-disease phase, and through reanalysis and assessment of early diagnosis of and preventive effects of diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases by demographical character including sex, age, and socioeconomic level with use of biochemical markers that are identified and selected among the parameters in consideration of the effectiveness and appropriateness of early diagnosis of diseases. The appropriateness of biochemical markers was reviewed by professionals (medical, pharmaceutical area and food/ nutrition area) and CRP(C-Reactive Protein) and was identified to be possible in Korea. It is thought that these biochemical markers may be used as the basic data for early diagnosis and prevention of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) which may be used for Korean people.