• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.28 no.5
• /
• pp.621-626
• /
• 2018

We introduced the physiological responses of aging, active aging and also suggest the impact of physical exercise on body health status and elderly immunity. In this purpose, we searched the Pub Med data base for the articles (include our experimental papers) and review papers having the terms 'Aging', 'Active aging' and 'Physical activity and elderly' in the title, published from 1999 until 2018. The results were as follows: Exercise training has been extensively studied about the reduction of inflammation, oxidative stress, disease, and aging in syndrome X patients and elderly. Combined and aerobic or resistance exercise training could reduce obesity, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and hypertension. Exercise training has been extensively studied in cancer settings as part of prevention or treatment strategies. From this research, regular exercise has the potential to target tumor growth through regulation of inflammation and immune responses such as lactate clearance, NK cell activation (innate immunity), activation of cytotoxic immune cells, T cell activation (adaptive immunity), and immune surveillance. However, Endurance physical activity not only induces thermogenesis and diverse sports injuries but also elicits mobilization and functional enhancement of monocytes, neutrophils (which is caused by the cytokine changes such as TNF-alpha, IL-1) whereas it suppresses cell mediated immunity causing to increased susceptibility to inflammation and infections like cough and URTIs (upper respiratory track infections) in young and especially in elderly people. Therefore, Strategies to prevent physical fatigue, sports injuries include avoid overtraining, Adequate recovery and various type of rest during and after physical activity and assuring adequate nutrition supplementation such as glutamine, vitamin B, vitamin C, carbohydrate, ion or berry-contain sports beverages is helpful in physically active elderly.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.19 no.11
• /
• pp.1637-1643
• /
• 2009

Shikonin, a component of Lithospermum erythrorhizon Sieb. et Zucc, exerts various characteristics such as anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer and anti-obesity functions. To elucidate the molecular mechanism of shikonin-induced inhibition of adipogenesis, we analyzed the mRNA expression level of various adipogenesis-related factors including C/EBPs (CCAAT/enhancerbinding proteins) and $PPAR{\gamma}$ (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor $\gamma$). The data showed that mRNA expressions of C/$EBP{\beta}$ and C/$EPB{\delta}$ were only slightly changed by shikonin treatment, but mRNA expressions of $PPAR{\gamma}$ and C/$EPB{\alpha}$ were significantly down-regulated. Then, we tested whether upstream regulators of C/$EBP{\beta}$ and $PPAR{\gamma}$ were involved in anti-adipogenesis of shikonin. C/$EBP{\gamma}$ and CHOP (C/EBP homologous protein), which are upstream regulators of C/$EBP{\beta}$, were not affected by shikonin treatment. On the contrary, the mRNA level of KROX20 was markedly down-regulated by shikonin treatment. These results suggest that KROX20 might regulate downstream factors of adipogenesis through C/$EBP{\beta}$-independent pathway. The expression of KLF15 (Kruppel-like factor15), which is a member of KLF family and is a upstream regulator of $PPAR{\gamma}$, was dramatically decreased by shikonin treatment, but KLF2 was not changed. Shikonin had no impact on the expression of KLF5 in the early stage of adipogenesis, but shikonin increased expression of KLF5 in the late stage of adipogenesis. Even though mRNA expression of KLF5 was moderately changed by shikonin treatment, its effect may be small compared with the effect of KLF15, which was markedly inhibited. Taken together, these results suggest that shikonin inhibits adipogenesis through the down-regulation of $PPAR{\gamma}$ and C/$EPB{\alpha}$, which is mediated by the down-regulation of two pro-adipogenic factors, KROX20 and KLF15.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.53 no.3
• /
• pp.307-313
• /
• 2010

Purpose : Results of the Korea National Health Screening Program for Infants and Children, which was launched in November 2007, were evaluated for future research and policy development. Methods : Data from a total of 2,729,340 cases were analyzed. Five visiting ages, such as 4, 9, 18, 30, and 60 months, were included. Several parameters such as stunting, obesity, and positive rate of developmental screening were also analyzed. Telephone survey was performed in 1,035 users. For the provider survey, 262 doctors participated in our study. Results : The overall participation rate of users was 35.3%. This participation rate showed a decrement tendency to old age and low income. Only 6.9% of users participated in oral screening. Health screening was performed mainly in private clinics (82.6%). The recall rate of 4 months program users at the age of 9 months was 57.3%. The positive rate of screening was 3.1%, and was higher in the low-income group. By telephone survey, users reported that questionnaires were not difficult (94%) and overall satisfaction was good (73%). Longer duration of counseling was related with more satisfied users. Counseling and health education were helpful to users (73.2%). Doctors agreed that this program was helpful to children (98.5%). Conclusion : Korea National Health Screening Program for Infants and Children was launched successfully. Participation rate should be improved, and a quality control program needs to be developed. More intensive support following this program for children of low-income families may lead to effective interventions in controlling health inequality. Periodic update of guidelines is also needed.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.41 no.3
• /
• pp.257-267
• /
• 2017

Background: Heat-processed ginseng, sun ginseng (SG), has been reported to have improved therapeutic properties compared with raw forms, such as increased antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, and antihyperglycemic effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the antiobesity effects of SG through the suppression of cell differentiation and proliferation of mouse 3T3-L1 preadipocyte cells and the lipid accumulation in Caenorhabditis elegans. Methods: To investigate the effect of SG on adipocyte differentiation, levels of stained intracellular lipid droplets were quantified by measuring the oil red O signal in the lipid extracts of cells on differentiation Day 7. To study the effect of SG on fat accumulation in C. elegans, L4 stage worms were cultured on an Escherichia coli OP50 diet supplemented with $10{\mu}g/mL$ of SG, followed by Nile red staining. To determine the effect of SG on gene expression of lipid and glucose metabolism-regulation molecules, messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of genes were analyzed by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis. In addition, the phosphorylation of Akt was examined by Western blotting. Results: SG suppressed the differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells stimulated by a mixture of 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine, dexamethasone, and insulin (MDI), and inhibited the proliferation of adipocytes during differentiation. Treatment of C. elegans with SG showed reductions in lipid accumulation by Nile red staining, thus directly demonstrating an antiobesity effect for SG. Furthermore, SG treatment down-regulated mRNA and protein expression levels of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor subtype ${\gamma}$ ($PPAR{\gamma}$) and CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein-alpha ($C/EBP{\alpha}$) and decreased the mRNA level of sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1c in MDI-treated adipocytes in a dose-dependent manner. In differentiated 3T3-L1 cells, mRNA expression levels of lipid metabolism-regulating factors, such as amplifying mouse fatty acid-binding protein 2, leptin, lipoprotein lipase, fatty acid transporter protein 1, fatty acid synthase, and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase, were increased, whereas that of the lipolytic enzyme carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1 was decreased. Our data demonstrate that SG inversely regulated the expression of these genes in differentiated adipocytes. SG induced increases in the mRNA expression of glycolytic enzymes such as glucokinase and pyruvate kinase, and a decrease in the mRNA level of the glycogenic enzyme phosphoenol pyruvate carboxylase. In addition, mRNA levels of the glucose transporters GLUT1, GLUT4, and insulin receptor substrate-1 were elevated by MDI stimulation, whereas SG dose-dependently inhibited the expression of these genes in differentiated adipocytes. SG also inhibited the phosphorylation of Akt (Ser473) at an early phase of MDI stimulation. Intracellular nitric oxide (NO) production and endothelial nitric oxide synthase mRNA levels were markedly decreased by MDI stimulation and recovered by SG treatment of adipocytes. Conclusion: Our results suggest that SG effectively inhibits adipocyte proliferation and differentiation through the downregulation of $PPAR{\gamma}$ and $C/EBP{\alpha}$, by suppressing Akt (Ser473) phosphorylation and enhancing NO production. These results provide strong evidence to support the development of SG for antiobesity treatment.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.63-83
• /
• 2008

The purpose of this study was to investigate food involvement, dietary behavior and relationship according to the levels of nutrition knowledge. Data in this research was obtained by using the questionnaire which was given out to 528 subjects(boys 182, girls 346) in Naju city area. The awareness of dietary behavior of middle school students put the first priority on breakfast from among 3 meals a day, and they selected 'taste' as the most important criterion. The majority and above of subjects responded that they had ever delivered food at least more than 1 or 2 times a week. This research found that middle school students are tends to regard themselves as being rather close to obesity or fatness. Subjects were also aware that they have some problems with a unbalanced eating habbit and irregular timing of having meals, and more than 40% of the subjects responded that they obtain the most of information about food & dietary behavior through television. Significant difference was found in the food involvement with related variables such as sex, grade, the academic background of mother, self-perception of weight, the way of weight control, perception of problems requiring improvement. Dietary behavior related with variables showed significant difference. Variables are grade, perception of meal importance, selecting standard of food, method of weight control, improvement of eating habits. Dietary behavior is found highly relative with food involvement. Dietary behavior is found highly relative with food involvement. In conclusion, suggestions that could bring motivation to improvement is more essential to the nutrition education rather than knowledge oriented education.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.16 no.11
• /
• pp.7524-7533
• /
• 2015

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of purple sweet potato(PSP) intake and aerobic combined exercise in obese middle school girls. Twenty-four, obese(%body fat > 30%) middle school girls composed of the purple sweet potato intake and aerobic combined exercise group(A, n=6), the aerobic combined exercise group(B, n=6), the purple sweet potato intake group(C, n=6), the control group(D, n=6). The variables of health related fitness, blood lipid profile, insulin resistance were measured in all the subjects before the start and after the end of 12 week aerobic combined exercise program(40~70%HRR, 3 times per week, 70 mins). The test data were analyzed by paired t-test and one way ANOVA, and the alpha level of p<.05 was set for all tests of significance. In the comparison within each group, %body fat[A(p<.01), C(p<.05) groups], TC[A(p<.05), B(p<.01), C(p<.01) groups] and insulin resistance[A(p<.05) group] were significantly decreased and LBM[A(p<.01), B(p<.01) groups], muscular strength[A(p<.01), B(p<.001), C(p<.05) groups], muscular endurance[A(p<.05), B(p<.001) groups], flexibility[A(p<.05), B(p<.01) groups] and cardiorespiratory endurance[A(p<.05), B(p<.001), C(p<.01) groups] were significantly increased. In the comparison between groups, A group was significantly decreased in %body fat, TC and TG than D group(p<.05). A group was significantly increased in muscular strength and cardiorespiratory endurance than C, D groups (p<.05). A group was significantly increased in muscular endurance and HDL-C than D group(p<.05). A, B groups were significantly increased in flexibility than D group(p<.05). A, B, C groups were significantly decreased in insulin resistance than D group(p<.05). In conclusion, purple sweet potato intake and aerobic combined exercise were effective in improving the health related fitness, blood lipid profile and insulin resistance in obese middle school girls.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.19 no.11
• /
• pp.403-410
• /
• 2018

This study is to look at the risk of chronic diseases in adults and oral health behaviors affecting periodontitis by gender. This study selected 3,071 males aged 35 to 65, 4,273 females, and 7,344 people as the final subjects of the study using the sixth original data from the National Health and Nutrition Survey. In this study, subjective oral health classified under 'bad' presented 1.69 times(p<0.001) the risk of Periodontitis for males and 1.50 times(p<0.001) for females. There was a 2.01 times(p<0.001) of a risk of periodontitis for male and 1.40 times(p=0.001) of a risk for females. Smokers have a 1.68 times(p<0.001) of a risk for males and 2.07 times(p<0.001) of a risk for females, thus a higher risk for periodontitis for females. The risk of periodontitis was 1.44 times(p<0.001) of a risk for males and 1.30 times(p<0.05) for females when compared in normal hypertension. Obesity was at a rate of 1.199 times(p<0.05) as much for males in the non-military group, 1.202 times(p<0.05) that of females for periodontitis and putting females slightly more at risk. For diabetes, males were at risk of 1.28(p<0.05) whereas it being 1.53 times(p<0.05) for females, compared the average health female. In total, Males were found to be at the greatest risk of periodontitis, while women were at the highest risk for smoking. All parameters except smoking and diabetes show a higher risk of periodontitis for females. As males are more likely to have a higher risk of periodontitis than females, they are considered to be more interested in oral health care and need systematic oral health education and policies to prevent oral diseases.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• v.55 no.1
• /
• pp.21-35
• /
• 2022

The recommended meal composition allows the general people to organize meals using the number of intakes of foods from each of six food groups (grains, meat·fish·eggs·beans, vegetables, fruits, milk·dairy products and oils·sugars) to meet Dietary Reference Intakes for Koreans (KDRIs) without calculating complex nutritional values. Through an integrated analysis of data from the 6th to 7th Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (2013-2018), representative foods for each food group were selected, and the amounts of representative foods per person were derived based on energy. Based on the EER by age and gender from the KDRIs, a total of 12 kinds of diets were suggested by differentiating meal compositions by age (aged 1-2, 3-5, 6-11, 12-18, 19-64, 65-74 and ≥ 75 years) and gender. The 2020 Food Balance Wheel included the 6th food group of oils and sugars to raise public awareness and avoid confusion in the practical utilization of the model by industries or individuals in reducing the consistent increasing intakes of oils and sugars. To promote the everyday use of the Food Balance Wheel and recommended meal compositions among the general public, the poster of the Food Balance Wheel was created in five languages (Korean, English, Japanese, Vietnamese and Chinese) along with card news. A survey was conducted to provide a basis for categorizing nutritional problems by life cycles and developing customized web-based messages to the public. Based on survey results two types of card news were produced for the general public and youth. Additionally, the educational program was developed through a series of processes, such as prioritization of educational topics, setting educational goals for each stage, creation of a detailed educational system chart and teaching-learning plans for the development of educational materials and media.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• v.55 no.1
• /
• pp.120-140
• /
• 2022

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate whether adherence to the Korea Healthy Eating Index (KHEI) was associated with metabolic syndrome and risk markers. Methods: The participants included 8,345 adults, aged 20-59 years, who took part in the 7th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). The data were analyzed using a complex-sample t-test, the Rao Scott χ²-test, and logistic regression analysis on the SPSS v. 26.0 software. The participants were divided into four groups by quartiles of KHEI scores. Results: The average KHEI score was 61.06 points out of 100, and the women's score (62.50 points) was significantly higher than that of men (59.63 points). The KHEI quartiles status showed significant differences by age (p < 0.001), household income (p < 0.001), smoking status (p < 0.001), and food security. Specifically, the KHEI quartiles in the men showed significant differences in education (p < 0.001) and economic activity (p < 0.001) whereas those of women showed significant differences in alcohol-consumption (p < 0.001), depression (p < 0.01) and eating-out (p < 0.001). As the KHEI scores increased, the proportion of subjects with an energy intake below the estimated energy requirement (EER) was lower, and significantly better levels of intake were observed for carbohydrate, protein, vitamin C, calcium, vitamin B₁, vitamin B₂, and niacin. The incidence of the metabolic syndrome risk factors, hypertriglyceridemia and hyperglycemia for men and hypertension, and hyperglycemia for women showed significant differences. The KHEI scores were inversely associated with abdominal obesity, hypertriglyceridemia, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, hyperglycemia, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome. Conclusion: Based on these results, we conclude that higher adherence to the KHEI was associated with lower metabolic syndrome risk factors and incidence of the metabolic syndrome.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.539-551
• /
• 2017

This study investigated the current status and needs for nutrition education to help reduce children's sugars intake at the Center for Children's Foodservice Management (CCFM, n=115), and Child Care Facilities (CCF, n=646) through an online survey conducted from October $5^{th}$ to $30^{th}$ 2015. A total of 14.8% of CCFM respondents and 31.9% of CCF respondents provided nutrition education on sugars intake to young children as a main topic (p<0.001). A higher percentage (CCFM 47.8%: CCF 42.4%) delivered nutrition education on sugars intake to young children as a sub-component (p<0.001). Over 90% of the CCFM and CCF participants agreed on the necessity of providing nutrition education on sugars intake to children. The most common reasons given for delivering nutrition education on children's sugar intake were "there are many more urgent nutrition education topics" for CCFM, and "insufficient nutrition education information and materials" for CCF. The percentage of nutrition education on children's sugar intake provided to the children's parents was low showing about 20% in the both groups. The percentage of CCFM participants providing nutrition, education on children's sugar intake to the teachers in CCF was also low, showing about 14.8%; however, 68.0% of the CCF participants wanted to received teacher's education on guiding children's sugar intake. Regarding ideas about a nutrition education program on children's sugar intake for young children, most respondents in both groups answered "sugar intake and dental cavities or obesity" for appropriate education contents, "story telling or puppet show" for appropriate education methods, and "dietitian from CCFM and class teacher together" for appropriate educator. For appropriate education time, there was a significantl difference between the CCFM responses (average 2.7 times) and the CCF responses (average 4 times). Based on the above results, we found that implementing nutrition education on children's sugar intake at the CCFM and CCF, was low; however, awareness of the need for nutrition education on children's sugar intake and the program development and supply was very high. Also, the opinions of CCFM and CCF participants about a nutrition education program on children's sugar intake for young children can provide foundation data to develop and implement the CCFM-based nutrition education program.