• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.367-381
• /
• 2021

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to establish a mother and child cohort in the Chinese population, and investigate human breastmilk (HBM) composition and its relationship with maternal body mass index (BMI) and infant growth during the first 3 mon of life. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A total of 101 Chinese mother and infant pairs were included in this prospective cohort. Alterations in the milk macronutrients of Chinese mothers at 1 mon (T1), 2 mon (T2), and 3 mon (T3) lactation were analyzed. HBM fatty acid (FA) profiles were measured by gas chromatography (GC), and HBM proteomic profiling was achieved by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS). RESULTS: During the first 3 mon of lactation (P < 0.05), significant decreases were determined in the levels of total energy, fat, protein, and osteopontin (OPN), as well as ratios of long-chain saturated FA (including C16:0, C22:0 and C24:0), monounsaturated FA (including C16:1), and n-6 poly unsaturated FA (PUFA) (including C20:3n-6 and C20:4n-6, and n-6/n-3). Conversely, butyrate, C6:0 and n-3 PUFA C18:3n-3 (α-linolenic acid, ALA) were significantly increased during the first 3 mon (P < 0.05). HBM proteomic analyses distinguished compositional protein differences over time (P = 0.001). Personalized motherinfant analyses demonstrated that HBM from high BMI mothers presented increased total energy, fat, protein and OPN, and increased content of n-6 PUFA (including C18:3n-6, C20:3n-6 and n-6/n-3 ratio) as compared with low BMI mothers (P < 0.05). Furthermore, BMI of the mothers positively correlated with the head circumference (HC) of infants as well as the specific n-6 PUFA C20:3n-6 over the 3 time points examined. Infant HC was negatively associated with C18:0. CONCLUSION: This study provides additional evidence to the Chinese HBM database, and further knowledge of FA function. It also helps to establish future maternal strategies that support the healthy growth and development of Chinese infants.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.682-697
• /
• 2023

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Tibetan tea is a kind of dark tea, due to the inherent complexity of natural products, the chemical composition and beneficial effects of Tibetan tea are not fully understood. The objective of this study was to unravel the composition of Tibetan tea using knowledge-guided multilayer network (KGMN) techniques and explore its potential antioxidant and hypolipidemic mechanisms in mice. MATERIALS/METHODS: The C57BL/6J mice were continuously gavaged with Tibetan tea extract (T group), green tea extract (G group) and ddH2O (H group) for 15 days. The activity of total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in mice was detected. Transcriptome sequencing technology was used to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the antioxidant and lipid-lowering effects of Tibetan tea in mice. Furthermore, the expression levels of liver antioxidant and lipid metabolism related genes in various groups were detected by the real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) method. RESULTS: The results showed that a total of 42 flavonoids are provisionally annotated in Tibetan tea using KGMN strategies. Tibetan tea significantly reduced body weight gain and increased T-AOC and SOD activities in mice compared with the H group. Based on the results of transcriptome and qPCR, it was confirmed that Tibetan tea could play a key role in antioxidant and lipid lowering by regulating oxidative stress and lipid metabolism related pathways such as insulin resistance, P53 signaling pathway, insulin signaling pathway, fatty acid elongation and fatty acid metabolism. CONCLUSIONS: This study was the first to use computational tools to deeply explore the composition of Tibetan tea and revealed its potential antioxidant and hypolipidemic mechanisms, and it provides new insights into the composition and bioactivity of Tibetan tea.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.616-630
• /
• 2023

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Indole-3-propionic acid (IPA) is a tryptophan-derived microbial metabolite that has been associated with protective effects against inflammatory and metabolic diseases. However, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the effects of IPA under physiological conditions and at the intestinal level. MATERIALS/METHODS: Human intestinal epithelial Caco-2 cells were treated for 2, 24, and/or 72 h with IPA or its precursors - indole, tryptophan, and propionate - at 1, 10, 100, 250, or 500 μM to assess cell viability, integrity, differentiation, and proliferation. RESULTS: IPA induced cell proliferation and this effect was associated with a higher expression of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 2 (ERK2) and a lower expression of c-Jun. Although indole and propionate also induced cell proliferation, this involved ERK2 and c-Jun independent mechanisms. On the other hand, both tryptophan and propionate increased cell integrity and reduced the expression of claudin-1, whereas propionate decreased cell differentiation. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, these findings suggested that IPA and its precursors distinctly contribute to the proliferation, differentiation, and barrier function properties of human intestinal epithelial cells. Moreover, the pro-proliferative effect of IPA in intestinal epithelial cells was not explained by its precursors and is rather related to its whole chemical structure. Maintaining IPA at physiological levels, e.g., through IPA-producing commensal bacteria, may be important to preserve the integrity of the intestinal barrier and play an integral role in maintaining metabolic homeostasis.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.38 no.7
• /
• pp.862-869
• /
• 2009

This research was performed to acquire fundamental data to be used in developing school foodservice monitoring programs by investigating the actual operational conditions and views of dietitians and students' parents on foodservice monitoring. A questionnaire was provided to the parents and the dietitians of 100 school foodservice establishments in Ulsan area for one month (June, 2007). The questionnaires of 51 foodservice establishments from dietitians and parents were collected (response rate 51%). The collected data from the questionnaires were statistically analyzed using the SAS package program. In terms of the study subjects, 98.0% of the school foodservices were direct managed. The knowledge of HACCP of the students' parents included 'know well' (52.6%), 'know a little bit' (8.8%), and 'do not know' (38.6%). 90.2% of the subjects were monitoring school foodservice regularly. The performance rates of school foodservice monitoring by the students' parents were in the order of: inspecting food materials (95.4%), food preparation (92.7%), and cleaning and facilities sanitation (88.1%). Of the students' parent respondents, 64.1% received preliminary monitoring education regularly, in the order of inspecting food materials (70.9%), food preparation (67.5%), and cleaning and facilities sanitation (60.9%); menu planning (45.5%) was the most highly required item for preliminary education. The understanding degree, in terms of the foodservice preliminary education, was 3.10 points, and the effects evaluation scores of the preliminary education by the dietitians was 3.18 points out of 5 points. The evaluation results for both the importance and performance about the foodservice monitoring items, as evaluated by the students' parents, indicating that importance was higher than performance in 7 of the foodservice monitoring items. The highest item for both importance and performance was 'food preparation'. There were no differences between the importance and performance of the foodservice monitoring items, regardless of whether or not the students' parents had preliminary education, suggesting that the preliminary education of the students' parents was not effective so far. In conclusion, in order to maximize the effectiveness of students' parent foodservice monitoring programs, it is necessary that students' parents participate voluntarily and perform foodservice monitoring regularly. Also, the preliminary education should be offered prior to performing monitoring, considering the demands and the characteristic of the students' parents.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.38 no.1
• /
• pp.52-61
• /
• 2009

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent of excessive sugar, sodium, cholesterol, and saturated fat consumptions by elementary school students through processed food's intake. A survey study was conducted with 384 fourth and sixth grade students and their mothers from two schools in Seoul and Gyeonggi province. The data were analyzed for the frequency analysis, chi-square test and Pearson correlation using the SPSS/Windows (ver. 15.0). Results showed that students consumed high amounts of sugars through processed milk and carbonated beverages, and yogurt. Additionally, they had high sodium and saturated fat levels in their diet through Ramen. There was significant correlation (p<0.01) between mothers' purchasing and students' intake of processed food. Overall, both students and mothers had some knowledge on the impact of sodium on human health. About 50 percent of the respondents did not have accurate information about cholesterol, saturated fat, and trans fat. More than 50 percent of students and mothers had no nutritional education on the risk of excessive intake of sugar, sodium, cholesterol, saturated fat, and trans fat. Top twenty percent of the students had 39.7 g of sugar, 940.1 mg of sodium, 17.8 mg of cholesterol, and 11.2 g of saturated fat through processed foods per day on the average. These results suggest that execution of nutritional education about processed food is needed for high risk group of elementary school students and their mothers. Moreover, government must enact the regulation and policy for the food industry to reduce the risky nutrients from children's favorite processed food.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.404-413
• /
• 2013

This study was conducted to assess the dietary habits and behaviors of college students in the Northern Gyeonggi-do Region(Republic of Korea). To accomplish this, a survey was conducted to investigate the preference, intake frequency and menus of breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks by male and female students. Most male and female students had irregular breakfasts with the main reasons for skipping a meal 'not enough time' (47.3, 45.5%) and 'irritating' (19.0, 21.9%), respectively. The principal breakfast menu for both was 'rice and side dishes'. The lunch time for male and female students was regular, and the lunch cost made up most of their spending money. The snack time of male and female students was mostly 'between lunch and dinner'. The snack menus of male and female students were 'cookies' (25.8, 19.0%), 'drinks' (18.0, 14.4%), and 'breads' (16.9, 13.2%), respectively. For male students, the reasons of snack intake were 'hunger' (46.1%), 'boredom' (15.7%), and 'habitual' (9.0%). For female students, the reasons were 'hunger' (28.2%), 'habitual' (22.4%), 'boredom' (15.5%). Half of the college students had regular delivery foods for reasons of 'hygiene', 'taste', and 'nutrition' in the order and in consideration of being the elderly. The facility foodservice was also used half of the college students for the reasons of being 'economic' (30.9, 22.6%), and 'liberated from preparing meals' (21.4, 23.8%), respectively. Both male and female students were found to have less knowledge of the facility foodservice in the elderly. Based on these results, greater efforts should be made to provide meaningful information regarding the dietary habits and behaviors of college students, especially, when elderly.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.44 no.7
• /
• pp.1007-1015
• /
• 2015

This study investigated the correlation between smartphone addiction and eating behaviors of 288 elementary school students (fifth and sixth grades) in the Ansan area. Addiction and normal groups consisted of 29 (10.1%) and 259 students (89.9%). Average usage time of the smartphone addiction group was higher than that of the normal group (P<0.001). Percentages of using a smartphone when eating meals as well as skipping meals due to using a smartphone were also higher in the addiction group than the normal group (P<0.01). Degree of reduction of physical activity and sleep disorders due to using a smartphone were higher in the addiction group than the normal group (P<0.001). However, nutritional knowledge related to protein and dietary life scored lower in the addiction group than the normal group (P<0.05). Correlation between smartphone usage time and eating behaviors was as follows: smartphone usage time on weekdays increased with elevated usage time on weekends in the addiction group (+0.742) (P<0.001) and the normal group (+0.762) (P<0.001). Frequency of snack intake in the addiction group increased with elevated usage time on weekdays (+0.460) (P<0.05). Sleeping time of the normal group decreased with elevated usage time on weekdays (-0.150) (P<0.05), and good eating behaviors decreased with elevated usage time the on weekend (-0.143) (P<0.05). Consequently, smartphone addiction in elementary school students showed negative eating behaviors. Therefore, effective nutritional education programs and national support policy are required to solve problems of unhealthy eating behaviors from smartphone usage in elementary school students.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
• /
• v.6 no.4
• /
• pp.421-432
• /
• 1991

This study was conducted to investigate the intake of a kind of Gom-Tang (Beef soup made with internal organs and bone), which is the Korean traditional food, and factors affecting the eating behavior of customers. Two hundred male customers of a H Korean Restaurant specialized in Gom-Tang, which is a well-known restaurant in Seoul, were surveyed from June 26 to 29, 1990. The results were shown as follows. (1) ${\ulcorner}$Frequency of intake${\lrcorner}$ and ${\ulcorner}$preference${\lrcorner}$ were very high. Those who took a kind of Gom-Tang ${\ulcorner}$more than once a week${\lrcorner}$ were 66.5% of the subjects. Those who evaluated ${\ulcorner}$good${\lrcorner}$ for the taste and flavor were 86.5% and 59.0% of the subjects, respectively. (2) The reasons why they chose a kind of Gom-Tang from among many Korean traditional foods were ${\ulcorner}$preference${\lrcorner}$ and ${\ulcorner}$phygiological condition${\lrcorner}$ in ${\ulcorner}$high frequency of intake${\lrcorner}$ group. ${\ulcorner}$Phygiological condition${\lrcorner}$ was more critical factor than ${\ulcorner}$preference${\lrcorner}$ in ${\ulcorner}$low frequency of intake${\lrcorner}$ group. (3) The effect of the intake of a kind of Gom-Tang on health was evaluated as ${\ulcorner}$healthy${\lrcorner}$ (80.5%). ${\ulcorner}$No effect${\lrcorner}$ and ${\ulcorner}$harmful${\lrcorner}$ were 30.5% and 6.5%, respectively. (4) ${\ulcorner}$High frequency of intake${\lrcorner}$ group, mainly more than 50 years of age, had a high ${\ulcorner}$preference${\lrcorner}$ and ${\ulcorner}$food knowledge${\lrcorner}$ as well as positive ${\ulcorner}$eating behavior${\lrcorner}$ and ${\ulcorner}$healthy state${\lrcorner}$, ${\ulcorner}$Middle frequency of intake${\lrcorner}$ group, mainly the forties, had a high ${\ulcorner}$preference${\lrcorner}$, but had less positive ${\ulcorner}$eating behavior${\lrcorner}$ than ${\ulcorner}$high frequency of intake${\lrcorner}$ group. ${\ulcorner}$Low frequency of intake${\lrcorner}$ group, mainly the twenties and thirties, had a medial ${\ulcorner}$preference${\lrcorner}$. They took a kind of Gom-Tang for reasons of ${\ulcorner}$on the recommendation of friends${\lrcorner}$ better than ${\ulcorner}$preference${\lrcorner}$. Foregoing results showed that ${\ulcorner}$a kind of Gom-Tang${\lrcorner}$ was a typical food recognized as ${\ulcorner}$healthy${\lrcorner}$ as well as ${\ulcorner}$delicious${\lrcorner}$. This may suggest that ${\ulcorner}$a kind of Gom-Tang${\lrcorner}$ is a candidate for the effective food on nutritional education.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.120-135
• /
• 2014

This research aimed to investigate the effect of business management of Korean restaurants on business performance and to propose an alternative. For this investigation, a survey was carried out targeting Korean restaurant managers in the capital area, and with 360 copies as sample, factor analysis, difference test, and multiple regression analysis were conducted. As a result of analysis, among the factors of business management of Korean restaurants, only information management and fund management appeared to have effects on both financial performance and nonfinancial performance. This means, in case of Korean restaurants, business performance can be improved by understanding every environment about food service management and customer demands, by investing fund in the right place, and by managing inefficient expenses. Therefore, it is most important for a Korean restaurant manager to cultivate knowledge in management and to put effort into cost-reduction of all employees.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.496-507
• /
• 2013

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perception and willingness to purchase of nanotechnology-based foods to find out the strategy for risk communication and social acceptance. The data were collected from 253 college students in Yeungnam region through a self-administered questionnaire. Frequency, Cronbach's ${\alpha}$, t test, one-way ANOVA, Duncan's multiple range test, Pearson's correlation coefficient analysis, and multiple regression analysis were conducted by SPSS Windows V.20.0. The level of concern about nanotechnology was relatively low, and the level of the perception about necessity for the development of nanotechnology-based foods was average. In addition, the respondents showed somewhat positive thoughts for the development of nanotechnology-based foods with beneficial effect, but they were worried about the risk for it. Percentage of correct answers on knowledge of nanotechnology and nanotechnology-based foods was not high, and the level of willingness to purchase them was average. According to the result of multiple regression analysis, factors affecting the willingness to purchase of nanotechnology-based foods were concern about health, perception about importance of food safety, perception about necessity for the development of nanotechnology-based foods, and perception about the development of nanotechnology-based foods with beneficial effect. On the basis of these results, it is necessary for consumers to offer the exact and reliable information on nanotechnology-based foods.