Korean Female Adolescents' Food Attitudes and Food Intake Relative to the Korean Food Tower (I) : Food Intake

A survey was conducted to examine the food intake of 285 Korean female students attending a secondary school in Seoul. Food intake was assessed using a food frequency based on the Korean Food Tower which consists of five food groups, i.e., grain products, vegetables and fruits, meat, milk, and fats and sweets. To describe food intake descriptive statistics were obtained using SPSS. The food frequency analysis indicated that the participants ate rice, cabbage kimchi, radish, and soybean/red pepper paste most frequently along with milk, ice cream, tea, and seasonal fruits such as citrus fruits, apples, watermelon, and grapes for snacks. Distributions of the total standardized serving frequency for each food group indicated that approximately 84, 83, 45, 60, and 34%, respectively, of the respondents met the recommended serving frequency for grain products, vegetables and fruits, meat, milk, and fats and sweets groups(mean servings per day 5.5, 10.6, 5.5, 2.1, 3.5). Income was the only demographic factor that affected food intake, particularly with respect to meat, milk, and fats and sweets(p < .01). In Korea, these food groups are generally more expensive than the other ones. (J Community Nutrition 4(3) : 164∼179, 2002)