• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.19-28
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• 1995

The relationship of obesity and related behaviors was analyzed among 361 primary school children, 4th and 5th grade, in one of private school in Seoul in July 1994. Compared to 1985 Korean Children's Growth Standard, the surveyed children have shown remarkable growth, which is the secular trend in growth of Korean children accompanied with rapid economic growth. But the relative incremental weight was far larger than that of height and this trend was more evident among children over 50th percentile, which shows a wide prevalence of obesity of the surveyed children. By WLI index, 15% of the children was overweight and 13% was obese. The higher the WLI, the more frequent and stronger stress they had. The nutrition knowledge score of obese children was higher compared to others. They were especially sensitive to their physical fitness but many normal or underweight-children also experienced stress due to their body weight and have tried to lose weight by incorrect methods. On the other hand many obese children thought they were optimal or underweight. These results reasserts the importance of nutrition education focused on children aheading puberty. They need to know the correct degree of obesity and to get appropriate education through teachers, dietitians, parents and doctors. The findings of this study could be applied to a nutrition implementation policy to ensure better physical fitness of children aheading puberty in the future.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.158-167
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• 2009

This study was conducted to reduce children's fat intake and to establish healthy dietary lifestyles. To achieve these goals, we searched, collected, and analyzed the materials related to the fat education, based on which the research personnel-professors and graduate students in nutrition and child education and elementary school teachers-discussed to figure out major topics, objectives, and detailed contents and activities appropriate for fat intake reduction. We also organized an advisory committee composed of 15 professionals in related fields to discuss the adequacy and validity of the specific contents. Finally, we systematically organized the contents and developed children's textbooks and teacher's guidebooks. Considering the different cognitive development stages of junior and senior elementary students we developed two different textbooks for each of them which are easy to read and understand, fun to play with lots of activities, and designed to practice into daily life. The contents cover three major topics-the concept of lipid, lipid in food, lipid in life and are composed of 6 units in total. To help teachers understand and and to instruct, teacher's guidebooks contain an overview of the education, specific information and practical guidelines for each class. We developed these education materials with the aim of lowering children's fat consumption and eventually promoting their health welfare; hopefully we expect these materials would be useful for children's nutritional education in the field.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.341-352
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• 2008

The number of school lunch-supported children who belong to low-income families has been rapidly increased in Korea. This study was aimed at evaluation of nutritional status of school lunch-supported elementary school children. One hundred school lunch-supported children and 119 non-supported children of fourth to sixth year class in 3 elementary schools in Gyeongbuk rural area were selected, and surveys were conducted twice, i.e., once during school term and once during summer vacation in 2006. Food consumption survey during school term was carried out through an interview by dieticians at school-lunch time using a 24-hour recall method, and the survey during summer vacation conducted by recording food intakes for three days by children. Nutrient intakes were calculated using CAN-Pro 3.0 program. School lunch-supported children showed higher rate of skipping breakfast and rather irregular meal time as compared to non-supported students. Eating alone was more frequent in school lunch-supported children than in nonsupported children. The average nutrient intakes and nutrient adequacy ratios were lower in supported children than in non-supported children. During term, percentages of nutrient intakes provided by school-lunch were higher in supported children than in non-supported children. Intakes of energy nutrients were within acceptable macronutrient distribution ranges, but proportion of carbohydrate intake increased during vacation. Analysis of patterns of food intakes based on major food groups (dairy, meat, grain, fruit, vegetable) indicated that meals during term were more balanced as compared to meals during vacation. In conclusion, food behaviors and nutrient intakes of school lunchsupported children were inferior to those of non-supported children during term and during summer vacation. They were provided with more nutrient intakes from school lunch during term as compared to non-supported children. Therefore, it is necessary not only to keep meal support program during vacation but also to provide a proper nutrition education as a part of school lunch program to improve nutritional status and food behaviors of school lunch-supported children.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.159-168
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• 2010

This study was done to come up with a solution to effectively increase nutrition knowledge and education among nursery school teachers in the Gwang-ju metropolitan city area. The scores of teacher's nutrition knowledge were around the average of 9.4 points on a 15-point scale, which is about 63.1 points on a 100-point scale. When the types of subjects were compared, we recognized that the nursery school teachers with a college degree or those who have any training/education in nutrition had the highest scores in nutrition knowledge. Also, the nursery schools who have more than 101 children or public nursery schools had the highest scores in nutrition knowledge (p < 0.05). We can conclude that the knowledge of nutrition of nursery teachers is very lacking and it is not as high as it should be. In addition, we can also see that the dietary guidance and nutrition education time spent towards the children was very short. The lack of professional knowledge and education seems to be due to shortage of educational materials and because the teachers themselves lack the knowledge to pass on to their predecessors. In fact, even the teachers themselves feel the need to set up more nutrition-related education programs, obtain more guides and materials to teach them, as well as implement more organized and systemized teaching methods.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.86-95
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• 2005

Teachers who are responsible for children's education are very important to help the school age children to have right nutrition knowledge, they are confronted with difficulties to teach due to the lack of nutrition knowledge as well as materials that can be easily understood by children. The purpose of this study was to look into the basic knowledge of elementary school teachers on nutrition. The elementary school teachers investigated didn't get good marks in nutritional knowledge, food and cooking method knowledge and sanitary knowledge, as the collective averages in those areas were respectively $56.08{\pm}14.80$, $60.52{\pm}10.95$, and $45.25{\pm}16.13$. Sixty seven percent of respondents the largest group, acquired nutritional information through mass media, but they wanted to be given teaching information in the form of educational materials(49.0%). More than 70 percent believed that nutrition should be educated by nutrition teachers (p<0.01), and as for what should be handled in nutrition education, they thought that students should be educated to build the right eating habits (59.5%). Based on the results, a sequential nutrition education program for the lower grades of school children was developed. This program consisted of five different categories, and according to the results, that was designed to deal with the knowledge of teachers on nutrition, food, cooking method and hygiene, table manners and food-borne illness.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.338-349
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• 2009

We aimed to evaluate the effect of nutrition education program on nutrition knowledge, dietary behavior, dietary intakes and anthropometric parameters in primary school children. Eighty five 4th grade children (boys = 43, girls = 42) were enrolled in the intervention program for 5 months. The subjects were asked to fill out a questionnaire about nutrition knowledge and dietary behavior two times, at the baseline and after completion of the program. Dietary intake information was collected from participants using a 3-day food record and their anthropometric parameters were measured. Upon completion of the intervention program, both nutrition knowledge and dietary behavior scores were significantly improved in all subjects. Energy intake was increased from 1,571.9 kcal to 1,734.1 kcal with significant improvements in nutrient density for protein, Ca, P, K, vitamin A and niacin. While subjects' height, weight, lean body mass and soft lean mass were significantly increased during the program, significant decreases were observed in the rohrer index, percent body fat, waist-hip ratio and body fat mass. The changes in nutrition knowledge scores were positively correlated with the changes in dietary behavior scores, micronutrient intakes and anthropometric parameters. These results indicate that enhancement of nutrition knowledge through well-planned long-term nutrition education program is effective not only for the improvement of dietary behaviors and dietary intakes but also for the positive changes in anthropometric parameters among primary school children.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.464-478
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• 2004

This study investigated the effects of mothers' nutritional attitudes and knowledge on their children's obesity inducing factors： eating habits, food preferences, food frequencies, and physical activities. The subjects were 774 mothers and their elementary school children (774) in Busan. About thirty percent of the children had a tendency toward obesity as a result of their eating habits, food preferences, food frequencies, and physical activities, but their mothers' nutritional attitudes and knowledge had little affect on their children's obesity inducing factors. Though the children were interested in their body weight changes, they chose not to practice appropriate eating habits. Thus, education about good eating habits and appropriate physical activities should be promoted for children's health and growth. Because the mothers' nutritional attitudes and knowledge had little affect on their children in this study, nutrition education in school needs to be enhanced. However, because mothers play many roles in their children's habit and health, they also need to be educated in order that their nutritional attitudes and knowledge help their children's health and growth directly. And school and home should be more closely connected.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.127-142
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• 2022

This study was undertaken to investigate the association between maternal nutrition knowledge, dietary attitudes, and behaviors related to sugar intake and sugar intake reduction in preschool children. Eighty-three children aged 5 to 6 years attending kindergartens in Hongseong and their mothers participated in this study from October 2020 to February 2021. The average age of the mothers was 38.7 years, and 53.0% of the children were male. As child age increased, nutrition knowledge of sugar intake reduction increased, but no relation was found between age and, dietary behavior and preference related to sugar intake reduction. For children whose mothers perceived that their child's sugar preference was high, the behavioral score of sugar intake reduction was low. The more mothers allowed their children to eat sweet food; the higher was their child's preference for sweet food, which was also significantly associated with an increased risk of high sugar intake. When mothers were provided education that encouraged reducing children's sugar intakes, knowledge about reducing sugar intake in children was significantly increased. The study emphasizes the importance of the roles of mothers and primary caregivers regarding reducing the sugar intakes of preschool children.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.746-755
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• 2009

This study was to develop and evaluate a nutrition education program to reduce dietary sodium. The school children (218 boys, 226 girls), from 8 elementary schools in the city of Daegu, Korea, were involved in this study. This research was based on the data from two groups of elementary school children, the "education" group (n = 240), and "no-education" group (n = 204). Educational media and programs were developed to educate the education group for four weeks and were presented on the web (www.saltdown.com). After education, the preference for a non-salty taste in the education group increased 10%, compared with those who preferred a non-salty taste before education. There was a significant change away from a preference for a salty taste and a rise in the mean score for nutrition knowledge and dietary attitude in the education group compared to the no-education group (p < 0.05). This study indicates that school children can reduce their dependency on preference for a salty taste and change their high-salt dietary behavior after the education.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.29-40
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to provide basic information for developing nutrition education programs for preschool children and their families. The subjects were 291 parents whose children went to daycare centers in Uiwang. The questionnaire contained 15 items for children's dietary habits and six items for parents' nutritional attitudes. The results of frequency analysis of children's dietary habits were as follows: 63.9% of children ate meals regularly, however breakfast (46.4%) was usually skipped; 44.0% of children ate a snack more than twice per day; 56.7% did not have late night meals; 49.5% ate out once to twice per week; 89.7% had dinner with family more than three times per week; and 43.6% had picky eating habits. The percentage of children who did not eat vegetables and seaweed was the highest among other food groups. Intake frequencies were low in fatty foods, instant foods, and fast foods. Some correlations were observed between picky eating habits and other dietary habits by cross-tabulation analysis. Intake frequency of non-picky eating children was lower for late night eating and fatty foods but higher for vegetables and seaweed compared to picky eating children. Parents answered that their nutritional knowledge level was normal (72.2%), and nutritional information was collected using the Internet (36.0%). Nutritional value was the most considered point in meal preparation of parents (43.3%), and the most difficult factor in child's diet management was lack of time due to working (36.1%). Parents cited method of creating a menu (27.0%) and table manners (25.3%) as topics of nutrition education by professionals. Therefore, various nutrition education programs need to be developed to improve healthy dietary habits for children and their families.