• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.365-371
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• 2013

High intakes of sodium may increase the risk of hypertension or cardiovascular diseases. According to the 2010 Korea National Health and Nutrition Survey, the average intake of sodium was 4,878 mg/day with salt, kimchi, soy sauce, fermented soybean paste and Ramyeon being the five main sources of sodium. In order to identify solutions to reduce the intake of sodium, we investigated the intake patterns and eating behaviors of Ramyeon among 347 college students (male 146, female 201) using survey questionnaires. The average age of study subjects was 23.7 years for males and 20.5 years for females. The average Body Mass Index ($kg/m^2$) was 21.9 for males and 20.1 for females. The average frequency of Ramyeon intake was 2.0 times/week. The main reason for eating Ramyeon was convenience (56%), followed by good taste (27%), low price (11%) and other reasons (9%). The criteria for choosing Ramyeon were taste (72%), convenience (14%), price (7%), nutrition (1%), and the other factors (2%). Males' average intake of Ramyeon soup (61%) was higher than that of the females (36%). The estimated intake of Ramyeon soup by survey showed a positive correlation with the measured intake of Ramyeon soup. Sodium contents of Ramyeon were measured separately for the noodles and the soup, which were 1,185 mg/serving and 1,148 mg/serving each. Therefore, the amount of sodium intake can be reduced if students eat less Ramyeon soup. Also, we observed that dietary behaviors and soup intakes of Ramyeon between the sexes were different. Appropriate nutritional education for proper eating habits may help decrease the intake of sodium.

• Korean journal of food and cookery science
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.477-484
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• 2015

The objective of this study was to investigate the awareness of the meaning of a low-sodium diet as well as the self-reported preference of saltiness and sodium-intake related dietary behaviors for university students in Busan. A survey was conducted with 977 students (male: 512, female: 465). For the self-reported preference of saltiness, 45.8% of the participants reported 'moderate' preference, 35.3% reported 'salty' preference, and 18.8% reported 'unsalty' preference. Males had significantly higher scores than females (p<0.01). Regarding awareness of the meaning of a low-sodium diet, 20.8 % of the students did not recognize the phraseand, males had significantly lower awareness than females (p<0.01). The 'salty' group had a significantly lower rate than others (p<0.01). Males had significant higher sodium-related dietary behaviors scores than females for the following questions 'I often eat dried seafood and salted seafood', 'I usually eat all the broth in soups or stews' (p<0.01), 'I usually eat a lot of kimchi and salt-pickled vegetables', 'I usually eat soy dip or hot pepper dip with sushi and fritters' (p<0.05). Mean scores for sodium-related dietary behaviors by self-reported preference of saltiness were 2.49/5.00 (unsalty), 2.87/5.00 (moderate), and 3.19/5.00 (salty), respectively. There was a statistically significant difference between the groups (p<0.01). The lower the scores for the self-reported preference of saltiness, the lower the scores for sodium intake-related dietary behaviors (p<0.01). The average score for sodium-related dietary behaviors in the group familiar with the meaning of a low-sodium diet was significantly lower than that of the group that 'did not know' (p<0.01).