• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.331-348
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• 2001

The purpose of this study was to obtain basic data for nutrition education of the children in a health promoting elementry school. The data was collected by a questionaire of food habits, and anthropometric measurement and biochemical test in comparison with obesity index. The study subjects were boys and girls aged 10 to 12 years who participated in the “99 Children Nutrition Camp”. The average obesity index was 1.7$\pm$21.6% in boys and -11.4$\pm$12.6% in girls. After school, major leisure items were significnatly different by gender but both boys and girls played mainly computer game. In concern for body image and eating habits, girls had more concern and girls had attempted weight control more than boys. 80.2% of subjects had prejudice for special food, especially, all subjects in the severely underweight group had prejudice. But this tendency was significantly decreased with the increasing obesity index. The lowest preferency was for vegetables(64.4%). The tendency of prejudice of subjects was higher whose mother are thirties than those of subjects whose mother are in fourties. The serum GOT and GPT values were significantly higher in overweight and obese group than the other groups. The only serum T-chol was significantly higher in boys than in girls. The number of risk factors related to coronary heart disease(CHD) based on coresponding criteria of TG, T-chol, HDL-chol, and LDL-chol was not increased significantly with the degree of obesity index. The results indicated the need of nutritional management for the children. At a point of view, to educate children early who are able to change food habits and life-styles means to help heathy growth and to deliver up heathy adults. Active nutrition education for both children and mothers will be recommended with joint participation of nutritionists in community public health center and elementary school.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.945-958
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• 2023

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Food literacy (FL) is a crucial skill for selecting sustainable and healthy food options, necessitating the identification of vulnerable groups in the community using valid measurement tools. Identifying weak domains in FL is essential for enhancing the overall FL. This study examined the FL levels of Seoul citizens based on their sociodemographic characteristics and assessed the relationship between FL, food intake, and weight status. SUBJECTS/METHODS: This study utilized the data from the Seoul Food Survey, a cross-sectional study employing representative samples of Seoul citizens. Data collection occurred from September to October 2021, with 4,039 citizens aged 18 yrs and above participating in face-to-face surveys. Thirty-three FL items were assessed, comprising 14 items in the nutrition and safety (NS) domain, eight items in the cultural and relational (CR) domain, and 11 items in the socio-ecological (SE) domain. In addition, data on food intake sufficiency and obesity status were collected. The descriptive statistics, t-tests, analysis of variance, and logistic regression analysis were used for analysis. RESULTS: Men, students, young adults, older citizens, and people experiencing food insecurity had the lowest scores for all the FL domains. The highest quartile group of NS scores had a higher probability of consuming adequate servings of vegetables and fruits, with significant linear trends observed (P for trend < 0.05). In all three FL domains, the odds ratio for obesity was significantly lower in the groups with high FL scores (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: A close relationship was observed between low FL, obesity, and food intake, even after controlling for other covariates. Vulnerable groups with low FL were also identified. Therefore, it is essential to develop programs to improve FL and the health and well-being of these groups.

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.41-53
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• 2024

Objectives: We used the Korea Health Panel Annual Data 2019 to analyze factors related to visits to both Korean medicine and Western medicine (WM) outpatient clinics among patients with overweight and obesity. Methods: The inclusion criteria for this study are as follows: 1) adults over 18 years of age, 2) overweight or obese with a body mass index of 25.0 or more, 3) visited WM outpatient clinics at least once during 2019. Total 2,963 individuals were included in WM group or integrative medicine (IM) group. Using the Andersen healthcare utilization model, factors related to healthcare utilization of the participants were classified. Binomial logistic regression analysis was used to analyze factors associated with IM use. Results: Among the participants, 80.49% (n=2,385) were assigned to WM group and 19.51% (n=578) to IM group. As a result of the regression analysis, factors significantly related to the use of IM included the elderly over 65 years of age, sex (men), college or higher education level, residential area (Gwangju/Jeolla/Jeju), presence of cancer, and presence of musculoskeletal disease. The main diagnosis associated with both WM and IM use was most frequently musculoskeletal conditions. Also, IM group received WM treatment for musculoskeletal conditions more frequently compared to WM group. Conclusions: This study is the first to analyze healthcare utilization patterns among overweight or obese patients in Korea. The current findings suggest that the presence of musculoskeletal conditions, especially in this population, may be strongly associated with concurrent use of IM services.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.149-160
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• 2003

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects after having the obesity education with obese elementary school children. The subjects were made up of 31 obese children out of U elementary school in B town as experimental group, and also were selected 34 children out of S elementary school under the same circumstance as control group. They ranged from the third to sixth grades with over 30% body fat ratio. The proceeding of obesity education consisted of three stage; stage for preparation, stage for practice, and stage for finish. The stages mentioned above were put into practice in turn for eleven weeks beginning on Oct. 8, 2001 through Dec. 22, 2001, while two stages only, stage for preparation and finish, were put into practice on the control group. The contents of the education for eleven weeks obesity regulation contained counseling and taking regular exercises once a week by professional gym teacher. In order to evaluate the effects of the education, physical characteristics, body composition, physical fitness, knowledge of obesity, dietry habit and attitude were measured. The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS program, the effects of pre and post obesity education in experimintal group were measured by paired-t test. The conclusions of this study were as follows : 1. Body fat ratio was significantly reduced after obesity education in experimintal group(p=.003). 2. The height with experimental group got taller remarkably(p=.000), but weight showed no signeficance after obesity education(p=.258). 3. Triceps and subscapular skinfold thickness showed remarkable decrese after obesity education(p=.000), percentage body fat and body fat amount got down remarkably after obesity education(p=.000). Percentage lean body mass and lean body mass amount got down remarkably after obesity education(p=.000). 4. Body flexibility, agility and muscle endurance graded up remarkably after obesity education(p=.009, p=.000, p=.000). 5. The grade in obesity knowledge got up remarkably after obesity education(p.000), but dietry habits and its life showed no significance in figures after obesity education(p=.335, p=.112). Through the results shown above, the obesity education caused body fat ratio, physique, body composition to grade up and physical fitness elevated, while dietry habits and its life showed no significance.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.169-183
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• 2008

In this study, we measured body mass index, visceral fat ratio and 6 parts of body, neck circumference, circumference of upper arm, chest circumference, abdomen circumference, hip circumference, and thigh circumference by bioimpedence analysis system, after taking Gyeongshingangjeehwan16 (GGEx16) in five months except the first period before taking GGEx16 on 49 women who are obesity or high-level obesity. In order to examine the significance test for the effect of obesity improvement of GGEx16, we practices repeated measure ANOVA with values of measurement variables in 6 monthly times. As a result of all measurement variables, there were significant difference (P-value=0.001). Therefore, we can say that GGEx16 is effective about obesity improvement. As it dramatically decreased between second measure period and first measure period for all measure variables, we can see that there were the most effect of GGEx16 in the first time after taking GGEx16. It is known that a important measurement variable to have a effect for obesity improvement about two variable which are body mass index and visceral fat ratio is waist circumference through correlation analysis. The result of whether there are differences to effect of obesity improvement for GGEx16 around the climacteric, there were significant difference for the effect of obesity improvement for GGEx16 around the climacteric about all parts of body (P-value=0.001). There were also powerfully difference in effect of obesity improvement for GGEx16 around the climacteric about all parts of body (P-value=0.001). Especially, the climacteric before is more effective than the climacteric after in the aspect of the effect of GGEx16.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.705-714
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• 2002

The purpose of this study was to examine the relative importance of everyday life stress, obesity stress, and social support on the BMIs of junior. high school students. Subjects in this study consisted of 229 adolescents from two junior high schools in Iksan-city and Hamyul-eup. For data analyses, the frequencies, percentages, means, 1-tests, Chi-squares, one-way ANOVAS, Pearson's correlation coefficients and regressions were conducted using SPSS WIN program. The mean BMI of the subjects was 20.18, and the ratio of students'BMIs less than 20 was 56.8%, that of students'BMIs greater than or equal to 25 was 8.3%. There were no statistical differences in BMIs by grade and sex. Statistically significant differences in the obesity of the junior high school students were detected according to demographic characteristics such as economic levels, areas of residence, TV watching time, and fathers'physiques. There were significant differences in everyday life stresses, obesity stresses, and social support by sex, but not by grade. Girls showed higher stress levels than boys, specially in family-related life stresses, social relationships, and self-related stresses. Also girls showed higher stress level related to obesity than boys. Girls got more support from their mothers, siblings and friends than boys. With respect to the type of social support, girls perceived more financial, informational, emotional, and judgemental support than boys. These results suggest that girls became more stressed, although on the other hand, they received more social support than boys. The higher the economic level, the longer the TV watching time, and the higher the stresses from everyday life and obesity, the higher the BHIs of the junior high school students were. In conclusion, everyday life stress and obesity stress were the important factors in relation to the junior high school students'obesity.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.268-276
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• 2018

Background: Although a variety of instruments implement body maps for the precise identification of pain symptoms, no instrument has been validated for use in people with obesity. This study reports the adaptation and validation of body maps for musculoskeletal pain location in people with obesity. Methods: Nine key anatomical regions were highlighted based on the original images of the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire body maps. Adult silhouettes were generated from photographs of men and women with obesity. The body dimensions were adjusted to take into account the different body fat distribution patterns of people with obesity. The validity of the images was assessed by 12 experts. Subsequently, a data collection stage was performed with 58 patients with severe obesity from both sexes. The reproducibility of the images was tested by comparison with the original images. Results: The results of the validation pilot study indicated that the adapted images facilitated the location of musculoskeletal pain in men and women with obesity. The reproducibility of the original and adapted versions of the body maps indicated good agreement for pain over the last 12 months and 7 days (80% vs. 79.7%). Pain scores in the last 12 months indicated good and high sensitivity and specificity for all body areas (60.9% vs. 89.1%). Considering pain in the last 7 days, high sensitivity and specificity for all areas of the body (85.1% vs. 70.1%). Conclusions: The body maps developed in this study are reliable and valid to identify the location of pain in people with obesity.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.256-268
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• 2020

Purpose: This study aimed to explore ecological factors and strategies for childhood obesity prevention targeting vulnerable children using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) methodology. Methods: The CBPR was conducted by following basic process steps. Participants were 12 community stakeholders such as community child center directors (n=4), vulnerable children's mothers (n=3), community health center officials (n=2), and lay health advisors (n=4); they were purposively sampled from K municipal county in Seoul, South Korea. The qualitative content analysis was performed to explore main themes of the ecological factors and strategies by using data obtained from 5 times of focus group interview. Results: Twelve ecological factors associated with childhood obesity prevention were identified: Intrapersonal factors including emotional overeating; interpersonal factors including permissive parenting style of children's eating behaviors; organizational factors including social workers' less educational opportunities; and community/policy factors including less government financial support. Four ecological strategies for childhood obesity prevention were addressed: Developing obesity prevention programs targeting vulnerable children' lifestyles; promoting parents' active participation in education; building healthy meal service environments through empowering social workers; and building supportive community environment and securing community resources for child obesity prevention. Conclusion: Our findings may be informative in terms of providing a comprehensive understanding of multi-level ecological barriers against vulnerable children' obesity prevention and, moreover, guiding multi-level strategies for preventing childhood obesity targeting children enrolled in community child centers.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.447-454
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• 2006

Objectives : To determine obesity for the screening of individuals at high risk of coronary heart disease in urban areas. Methods : Data were obtained from 4,137 adults between 19 and 85 years of age (2,372 males, 1,765 females), not recognized as taking medicines for cardiovascular diseases, who underwent a health check-up at the health promotion center of university hospitals in cities between Jan. 2003 and Dec. 2004. The variables studied were divided into two broad categories, and their relationships examined. obesity indices and risk factors for coronary heart disease. To reveal the relation between each of the obesity indices and the proportion of individuals at risk of coronary heart disease, the obesity indices were stratified and odds ratios obtained after age adjustment. Results : From a gender comparison of anthropometric measures, men were found to have significantly greater heights, weights, and waist and hip circumferences than women. From a gender comparison by the obesity indices, women were found to have significantly higher BMI, %Fat, waist to hip and waist to stature ratios than men. As obesity indices, the waist to stature ratio and the waist circumference were strongly correlated with coronary risk factors, both in men and women. The age-adjusted odds ratio of coronary risk factors increased significantly with increasing waist circumference, BMI, %fat, waist to hip and waist to stature ratios, and were highest specifically for the waist to stature ratio and the waist circumference. Conclusions : The study results showed that the waist to stature ratio and the waist circumference, as obesity indices, were most closely correlated with coronary risk factors. It is suggested that the waist to stature ratio and, specifically, the waist circumference can be effectively used in the field of health management for screening those with high levels of coronary risk factors.

• Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.117-120
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• 2004

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.