• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.81-93
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• 2022

Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the experience and perception among adult women regarding weight control and the consumption of weight-control foods or health functional foods based on their body mass index (BMI). Methods: The subjects were 634 adult women from the Chungcheong province, Korea, and data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire from July 2021 through September 2021. The subjects were divided into four groups based on their BMI status: underweight (< 18.5 kg/m², 7.6%), normal weight (18.5 ~ 22.9 kg/m², 53.3%), overweight (23 ~ 24.9 kg/m², 19.7%), and obese (≥ 25 kg/m², 19.4%). Results: Over the past 3 years, almost two-thirds (68.6%) of the adult women had tried weight control measures, despite the fact that a significant proportion of them were normal or underweight. More importantly, 57.6% of subjects reported the consumption of weight-control foods, with a lower proportion in the underweight (35.4%) group compared to the normal (56.2%), overweight (62.4%), and obese (65.0%) groups. The food items used for weight control were mostly salads, chicken breasts, low fat (soy) milk, slimming tea, protein shakes, low-calorie cereals, and energy/protein bars among others. In addition, one-third (31.1%) of the subjects reported the use of health functional foods containing ingredients for fat reduction. A significantly higher proportion of these was from the overweight (36.0%) and obese (38.2%) groups compared to the underweight (20.8%) and normal weight (28.1%) groups. Products containing Garcinia cambogia extract, green tea, or Cissus extract, were popular among users. Subjects who were obese had a poorer perception of their health and body. Most subjects felt the need for correct information regarding weight control, but this number was significantly more in the higher BMI groups. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the use of weight-control foods or health functional foods is popular among adult women, especially those who are obese. Thus, nutrition education courses covering facts about weight control and practice need to be developed and provided based on the BMI status of subjects.