• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.36-42
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• 2010

A cross-sectional survey was used to investigate the rates of overweight and obesity (BMI$\geq$25), and eating attitudes among college students. Data were collected at a large southeastern university. Adolescents (ages 18-25) self-reported weight and height (to calculate BMI), and, in addition to demographic information, completed the eating attitudes (EAT 26) scale to assess dieting tendencies. Significance of the mean BMI differences between gender and ethnic background were assessed by one-way analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA). Chi-square was used to determine whether the rate of those with BMI$\geq$25 between gender and ethnic background was statistically significant. While 52.7% of the students' BMI were within the normal weight category, 15.2% were underweight, 21.3% were overweight, and 10.8% were obese. The rate of BMI$\geq$25 differed by gender and ethnicity, with males and African Americans having higher rates. About 12 % of the participants reported disturbed eating behavior, which is lower than previously reported. Even so, results support the generally held belief that disturbed eating attitudes and unhealthy dieting are common among college students, especially among females. At the same time, disturbed eating attitudes are not just the domain of young female students; about 10% of college males reported disturbed eating attitudes. Findings of this study call for obesity prevention/intervention and lifestyle modification outreach programs among college students. Weight status and unhealthy eating behaviors of college. students should be a concern to health care professionals. While obese young adults will likely remain obese throughout their adult life, excessive dieting among students, which is linked to eating disorders and other health hazards, does not provide healthy and adequate alternatives for maintaining a normal BMI. Implications for obesity prevention programs are discussed.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.711-719
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was 1) to investigate the food intake, dietary habits and life behavioral characteristics, and 2) to examine the relationship among these factors in a sample of adult Korean women. In October 2010, self-reported questionnaire survey was distributed to 200 women aged 30 to 65 in Gyunggi Province. Overall, 177 women participated and completed the survey. Most participants were married (97.2%) and housewives (83.6%). About 85% of respondents lived with their children. For comprehensive analysis, all respondents were divided into three age groups; 30~39, 40~49, and 50~65. The percent of intake of high protein foods such as meat and fish, eggs, and milk products was higher younger age groups (p<0.05). Moreover, age 30~39 group were more likely to eat potatoes (p<0.05) than age 50~65 group. However, age 50~65 women more frequently consumed seaweed than other age groups (p<0.01). Women who ate breakfast or dinner consumed a significantly higher frequency of vegetables, seaweed, potatoes, and kimchi (p<0.01). Additionally, women who ate breakfast with family more frequently consumed vegetables, fruit and kimchi. Furthermore, older women were likely to have less sleeping time than other groups. In conclusion, there were western dietary patterns among adult women and these dietary patterns were partly related to different life behavior and dietary habits. Considering that negative dietary habits of adult women can influence their family and health for the rest of their life, nutritional education programs based on changes in lifestyle should be developed.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.803-811
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• 2023

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Nutrition knowledge has been reported to have a weak positive effect on healthy eating behavior. This study aimed to determine if there was a difference in nutrition knowledge depending on the choice of science subject in high school and whether that affected the actual eating habits of college students in Japan. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The subjects were 514 college students, the majority first-year students, in 3 cities in Japan. A questionnaire survey was conducted on elective subjects in science in high school, diet (11 items), lifestyle (5 items), and nutrition knowledge (34 questions). The preliminary survey was conducted on 47 students in the fall of 2019, and the full-scale survey was conducted in May-June and October-November 2021 at the end of lectures for the first-year students. RESULTS: The students in the high-score group (24-31 points, n = 180) had a higher intake of vegetables (odds ratio [OR], 1.78; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.12-2.82; P = 0.015) and breakfast (OR, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.03-2.60; P = 0.035), and a reduced intake of fast food (OR, 0.27; 95% CI, 0.14-0.51; P < 0.001) than those in the low-score group (6-19 points, n = 150). Only the biology and chemistry students had significantly higher nutrition scores than the other groups (all: P < 0.001), but no significant difference was found between the other groups. Understanding nutrition learned in elementary and junior high school is appropriate, while molecular structure, recommended amount, and food poisoning were insufficient. CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge of nutrition appears to have a positive effect on the actual eating habits of college students. Although biology and chemistry in high school may help students understand the foundations of good nutrition, specialized food education may be required to make informed dietary choices.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.400-411
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• 2017

This study aimed to maximize the effectiveness of motionbeat rhythm exercise on obese women and its applicability in all fields of sports. In addition, this study aimed to propose a plan to promote continuous exercise for people to incorporate as a means to improve healthy lifestyle. The results showed several effects of EEG on health promoting behaviors. Electroencephalogram (Alpha Power) of the left prefrontal cortex showed to have a significant effect on health promotion activities, with respect to stress management, in the motion beat rhythm exercise group. Considering all research findings, we found that the 8-week motion beat exercise can be used as an appropriate and effective social sport program for overweight women as it brings forth positive changes in the prefrontal cortex that maximizes the pleasantness of and interest in health promotion activities relating to stress management. Moreover, we suggest that it can be a method to create an environment for overweight people to continuously participate in exercises by providing results from fun and relaxingactivities, rather than just creating simple physical effects.

• Design Convergence Study
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.1-20
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• 2017

Cardio-cerebrovascular disease is one of the chronic diseases that often attack people in Korea, and in fact, it ranks second in terms of death rate. This disease can be prevented by improving lifestyle, usual health care is important. But, in Korea most of the prevention or management programs adopt passive methods like using guide books or giving lectures, so it is not very effective in preventing the disease. Presently, the smart health care market is being developed in Korea and overseas. As an example, quantified self is being spread through wearable devices which are intended to measure each individual's health conditions and quantify body data into numbers for bettering habits. Accordingly, this author will explore and discuss wearable health care devices so as to prevent and manage cardio-cerebrovascular disease in a more active way. First, this study has classified wearable health care devices presently commercialized or related with cardio-cerebrovascular disease into wrist, clothes, or attaching types by the way of their attachment and analyzed them. After that, summing that up, this author performed cross-tabulations with other ways of preventing cardio-cerebrovascular disease. This will contribute to improving one's health care behavior about disease more actively and also work as an active interdisciplinary mechanism in research dealing with how to prevent disease afterwards.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.285-295
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to compare the awareness of dietary patterns and health of full-time and employed housewives. The investigation gathered information on general characteristics, dietary lifestyle, nutritional status, and health by questionnaire as well as anthropometric measurements. The subjects included housewives living in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province (86 full-time and 127 working housewives) during November 2009 to January 2010. The average age, height, and weight of the housewives were $45.8{\pm}7.6\;yr$, $161.0{\pm}8.4\;cm$, and $55.7{\pm}6.3\;kg$, respectively. The average monthly income of the households was 3 million to 5 million won (31.4% full-time and 37.0% working housewives), and their average food expense was 200,000 to 500,000 won (46.5% full-time and 48.1% working housewives). More than 90% of the studied homes were nuclear families and the most common number of children was 2 to 3 (79.1% full-time and 76.4% working housewives). The ratio of employed housewives who ate regular meals was 35.4%, but that of the full-time housewives was 48.2% (p<0.05). Of the working housewives, 7.1% never ate breakfast and the primary reason for skipping breakfast was 'busy in the morning' (61.1%). The type of food that the housewives preferred when eating out was Korean food, both for the full-time and employed housewives (76.0%). All the housewives overate calories and the full-time housewives ate more protein, fat, vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B6, niacin, vitamin C, vitamin E, folic acid, and cholesterol than the employed housewives (p<0.05). Both the full-time and employed housewives were more satisfied with supper than with other meals. About 30.6% of the full-time and 33.9% of the working housewives had no interest in health, but answered that regular exercise was very important for health (33.3% full-time and 39.7% working housewives). In conclusion, working housewives have poor dietary habits and nutrient intakes, thus substantial measures to improve these problems are urgently needed.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.298-331
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• 1996

Recent improvements in living standard and development in medical care led to an increased interest in life expectancy and personal health, and also led to a more demand for higher quality of life. Thus, the problem of women's health draw a fresh interest nowadays. Since late-middle aged women experience various physical and socio-psychological changes and tend to have chronic illnesses, these women have to take initiatives for their health control by realizing their own responsibility. The basic elements for a healthy life of these women are understanding of their physical and psychological changes and acceptance of these changes. Health promoting behaviors of an individual or a group are actions toward increasing the level of well-being and self-actualization, and are affected by various variables. In Pender's health promoting model, variables are categorized into cognitive factors(individual perceptions), modifying factors, and variables affecting the likelihood for actions, and the model assumes the health promoting behaviors are affected by cognitive factors which are again affected by demographic factors. Since Pender's model was proposed based on a tool broad conceptual frame, many studies done afterwards have included only a limited number of variables of Pender's model. Furthermore, Pender's model did not precisely explain the possibilities of direct and indirect paths effects. The objectives of this study are to evaluate Pender's model and thus propose a model that explains health promoting behaviors among late-middle aged women in order to facilitate nursing intervention for this group of population. The hypothetical model was developed based on the Pender's health promoting model and the findings from past studies on women's health. Data were collected by self-reported questionnaires from 417 women living in Seoul, between July and November 1994. Questionnaires were developed based on instruments of Walker and others' health promotion lifestyle profile, Wallston and others' multidimensional health locus of control, Maoz's menopausal symptom check list and Speake and others' health self-rating scale. IN addition, items measuring self-efficacy were made by the present author based on past studies. In a pretest, the questionnaire items were reliable with Cronbach's alpha ranging from .786 to .934. The models for health promoting behaviors were tested by using structural equation modelling technique with LISREL 7.20. The results were summarized as follows : 1. The overall fit of the hypothetical model to the data was good (chi-square=4.42, df=5, p=.490, GFI=.995, AGFI=.962, RMSR=.024). 2. Paths of the model were modified by considering both its theoretical implication and statistical significance of the parameter estimates. Compared to the hypothetical model, the revised model has become parsimonious and had a better fit to the data (chi-square =4.55, df=6, p=.602, GFI=.995, AGFI=.967, RMSR=.024). 3. The results of statistical testing were as follows : 1) Family function internal health locus of control, self-efficacy, and education level exerted significant effects on health promoting behaviors(${\gamma}_{43}$=.272, T=3.714; ${\beta}_[41}$=.211, T=2.797; ${\beta}_{42}$=.199, T=2.717; ${\gamma}_{41}$=.136, T=1.986). The effect of economic status, physical menopausal symptoms, and perceived health status on health promoting behavior were insignificant(${\gamma}_{42}$=.095, T=1.456; ${\gamma}_{44}$=.101, T=1.143; ${\gamma}_{43}$=.082, T=.967). 2) Family function had a significance direct effect on internal health locus of control (${\gamma}_{13}$=.307, T=3.784). The direct effect of education level on internal health locus of control was insignificant(${\gamma}_{11}$=-.006, T=-.081). 3) The directs effects of family functions & internal health locus of control on self-efficacy were significant(${\gamma}_{23}$=.208, T=2.607; ${\beta}_{21}$=.191, T=2.2693). But education level and economic status did not exert a significant effect on self-efficacy(${\gamma}_{21}$=.137, T=1.814; ${\beta}_{22}$=.137, T=1.814; ${\gamma}_{22}$=.112, T=1.499). 4) Education level had a direct and positive effect on perceived health status, but physical menopausal symptoms had a negative effect on perceived health status and these effects were all significant(${\gamma}_{31}$=.171, T=2.496; ${\gamma}_{34}$=.524, T=-7.120). Internal health locus and self-efficacy had an insignificant direct effect on perceived health status(${\beta}_{31}$=.028, T=.363; ${\beta}_{32}$=.041, T=.557). 5) All predictive variables of health promoting behaviors explained 51.8% of the total variance in the model. The above findings show that health promoting behaviors are explained by personal, environmental and perceptual factors : family function, internal health locus of control, self-efficacy, and education level had stronger effects on health promoting behaviors than predictors in the model. A significant effect of family function on health promoting behaviors reflects an important role of the Korean late-middle aged women in family relationships. Therefore, health professionals first need to have a proper evaluation of family function in order to reflect the family function style into nursing interventions and development of strategies. These interventions and strategies will enhance internal health locus of control and self-efficacy for promoting health behaviors. Possible strategies include management of health promoting programs, use of a health information booklets, and individual health counseling, which will enhance internal health locus of control and self-efficacy of the late-middle aged women by making them aware of health responsibilities and value for oneself. In this study, an insignificant effect of physical menopausal symptoms and perceived health status on health promoting behaviors implies that they are not motive factors for health promoting behaviors. Further analytic researches are required to clarify the influence of physical menopausal symptoms and perceived health status on health promoting behaviors with-middle aged women.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.235-242
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• 2006

Objectives: We wanted to determine the distribution of the clustering of the metabolic risk factors and we wanted to evaluate the related factors in young schoolchildren. Methods: A cross-sectional study of metabolic syndrome was conducted in an elementary school in Seoul, Korea. We evaluated fasting glucose, triglyceride, HDL cholesterol, blood pressures and the body mass index, and we used parent-reported questionnaires to assess the potential risk factors in 261 children (136 boys, 125 girls). We defined the metabolic risk factors as obesity or at risk for obesity ($\geqq$ 85th percentile for age and gender), a systolic or diastolic blood pressure at $\geqq90th$ percentile for age and gender, fasting glucose at $\geqq110mg/dl$, triglyceride at $\geqq110mg/dl$ and HDL cholesterol at $\leqq40mg/dl$. Results: There were 15.7% of the subjects who showed clustering of two or more metabolic risk factors, 2.3% of the subjects who showed clustering for three or more risk factors, and 0.8% of the subjects who showed clustering for four or more risk factors. A multivariate analysis revealed that a father smoking more than 20 cigarettes per day, a mother with a body mass index of = $25kg/m^2$, and the child eating precooked or frozen food more than once per day were associated with clustering of two or more components, with the odds ratios of 3.61 (95% CI=1.24-10.48), 5.50 (95% CI=1.39-21.73) and 8.04 (95% CI=1.67-38.81), respectively. Conclusions: This study shows that clustering of the metabolic risk factors is present in young schoolchildren in Korea, with the clustering being associated with parental smoking and obesity as well as the child's eating behavior. These results suggest that evaluation of metabolic risk factors and intervention for lifestyle factors may be needed in both young Korean children and their parents.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.683-701
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• 2023

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to analyze the status of dietary behavior and nutrition intakes according to the gender and the level of physical activity of adolescents. Methods: Data from 659 adolescents aged 13 to 18 years who participated in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2017-2018) were analyzed. Collected data were analyzed using complex sampling data analysis with SPSS v. 27.0. Results: The adolescents were categorized into three groups based on their physical activity as follows: The first group with high physical activity (8.9%), a second group with normal physical activity (29.7%), and a third group without physical activity (61.4%). Boys showed significantly higher physical activity than the girls. Adolescents with high physical activity had a significantly lower body mass index than adolescents without physical activity, but their meal regularity, subjective health status, and recognition of body image were significantly higher. In terms of biochemical factors, adolescents with high physical activity had lower triglycerides and cholesterol than adolescents without physical activity, while hemoglobin and hematocrit were significantly higher. In addition, the intakes of energy, carbohydrates, proteins, fat, vitamin B₁, niacin, calcium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, iron increased significantly as adolescents' physical activity increased. Conclusion: The physical activity of adolescents had a positive effect on dietary behavior, lifestyle, and nutritional factors. Therefore, it is necessary to increase participation in physical classes in schools and develop various programs considering the level of physical activity among adolescents.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.87-102
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to identify conceptual constructs of well-being consciousness and appearance management behaviors, and to examine the effects of these two variables on attitudes toward Korean herbal cosmetics for Korean and Japanese consumers. A survey was carried out among female consumers between the ages of 20 and 50, and a total of 500 responses were analyzed by descriptive analysis, reliability test, t-test, and confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling and multi group analysis. The results of this study were as follows: 1) The result of CFA and the reliability test on well-being consciousness and appearance management of Korean and Japanese respondents clearly showed factorial structures on each of the variant assessments. 2) In regards to the well-being consciousness, Korean and Japanese respondents highly tended to perceive well-being as a benefit to the physical health and an eco-friendly lifestyle respectively. In the area of appearance management, Korean and Japanese respondents had similar patterns that showed high scores of skin care and weight control. Both Korean and Japanese consumers showed favorable attitudes toward Korean herbal cosmetic products. 3) The consumers' well-being consciousness revealed to have positive influences on appearance management behavior. Both well-being consciousness and appearance management positively influenced attitudes toward Korean herbal cosmetics. 4) As a result of MGA, the well-being consciousness had more positive impacts on Korean respondents' attitudes toward Korean herbal cosmetics than the appearance management variable when compared to the Japanese respondents. On the other hand, appearance management had more positive impacts on Japanese respondents' attitudes to-ward Korean herbal cosmetics than well-being consciousness when compared to the Korean respondents. These results suggest that differentiated marketing strategies for Korean herbal cosmetics are crucial when targeting Korean and Japanese consumers.