• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.53-63
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• 2017

Purpose: This study was performed to examine motivational factors affecting sweetness preference in Korean and Japanese children. We identified meaningful variables that could be targeted to nutrition education interventions designed to overcome innate barriers and reduce sweetness preference and sweet food intake in Korean and Japanese children. Methods: Questionnaire surveys and sweetness preference test were conducted to examine variables affecting behavioral intention (BI) regarding sweetness preference. Questionnaire variables were based on the theory of planned behavior. Participants were recruited from one urban school from each country. In total, 166 children (mean age: 8.4 years) and their guardians (n = 166) participated in the study. A trained research assistant provided all children with personal guidance regarding completion of the sweetness preference test and survey questionnaire at school. The data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficients, t tests, repeated measure ANOVA, and stepwise multiple regression analysis (significance level: p < 0.05). Results: Perceived behavioral control (PBC) and parenting practice were significantly associated with BI in both groups. Motivation to comply affected BI only in Japanese children, whereas affective attitude was associated with BI only in Korean children. In predicting sweetness preference, BI was associated only in Japanese children, whereas sweets consumption frequency had a significant effect in Korean children. Conclusion: The study shows similarities and differences in motivational factors, which could be considered when developing nutrition education programs in Korea and Japan. PBC and parenting practice were common factors in predicting BI. In predicting sweetness preference, BI had a significant effect on Japanese children, whereas sweets consumption frequency was the greatest contributor in Korean children.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.761-772
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• 2021

BACKGROUD/OBJECTIVES: Understanding the factors associated with fish consumption is necessary to determine strategies to improve the fish consumption particularly those high in omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LCPUFA). The aim of this study was to analyse the correlation between a mother's perspective on fish and actual fish consumption in their children. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Two hundred thirty-one elementary school children grade 3-6 and their mothers in Surakarta were recruited using multi stage random sampling for this study. Data was collected in July and August 2017. A validated questionnaire consisted of 3 topics including knowledge related to the health benefits and organoleptic properties of fish and cooking technique-related attitudes on fish were used to measure the mother's response to the fish properties. A validated food frequency questionnaire and a food picture book of fish specifically designed for the survey were developed and used to assess fish consumption of the children. A χ² test was used to analyse the correlation between the mothers' perspective on fish and their children's fish consumption. RESULTS: The median fish consumption in children was 65 g/d with fried non-oily or lean fish, e.g., milkfish (locally called Bandeng) and catfish (locally called Lele) were consumed more than oily fish as well as processed fish products. Of all children, 31% met the fish consumption recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency-Food and Drug Administration 2017. There was no relationship between a mother's knowledge related to health benefits, organoleptic properties and cooking technique-related attitude toward fish and her child's fish consumption. CONCLUSIONS: The fish consumption of children is not influenced by their mother's perspective on fish. Nutrition education strategies are warranted to improve fish consumption and maintain the optimal benefits by consuming fish, including fish high in n-3 LCPUFA.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.91-102
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• 2023

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: This study examines life stress, dietary attitudes, and snacking frequency for college students living in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. The purpose of this study is to assist college students feeling stressed by offering desirable dietary attitudes and choices of the appropriate snacks by providing educational materials that offer appropriate nutrition education and nutritional information. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A survey was conducted on a total of 600 college students aged 19-29-year-olds living in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province (234 male students and 366 female students). Collected data were analyzed using SPSS WIN 28.0 program. RESULTS: Life stress among college students did not differ significantly between the genders. Male students were more stressed about lover (P < 0.01), while female students were more stressed about value problems (P < 0.01) and future problems (P < 0.05). Dietary attitude ratings were 3.1 for both male and female students with no significant difference. The overall snacking frequency was 4.1 times/day-4.2 times/day for male students and 4.0 times/day for female students-thus, there was no significant difference. Male students consumed 'beverage' (P < 0.01) more frequently than female students. Life stress and snacking were positively correlated for 'biscuit/cookie,' 'chip,' 'cereal,' 'juice/smoothie,' 'café americano,' 'café latte,' 'tea,' 'jelly,' 'chocolate,' 'rice cake,' 'milk,' 'flavored milk,' and 'ice cream' among male students. Among female students, life stress and snacking were positively correlated with 'cereal,' 'caramel,' and 'soymilk,' and negatively correlated for 'biscuit/cookie' and 'carbonated drink.' CONCLUSIONS: College students should manage their stress by identifying its causes and learning how to deal with stressful situations. Additionally, providing them with proper nutrition education based on the correct nutritional information is essential for promoting good food attitudes and snacking behaviors.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.57-68
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• 2017

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effect of community intervention on reducing salt intake among college students on their knowledge, attitude and practice of low-salt diet. Methods: A community intervention planned to increase college students' knowledge, attitude and practice of low-salt diet. The intervention comprised of 1 lecture on salt and health, 4 campaigns on low-salt diet, and 2 taste testing was carried out from March 24 to May 19, 2015. All the intervention was open to entire university while data was collected from a panel of convenient sample. We used the baseline data of 251 students, 226 students completed post-test. Post-test data on knowledge, attitude, and practice, blood pressure measurement, and urine salt test were collected on May 25 and 26 by trained nursing students and graduates. Baseline data were collected on March 17 and 18. Data were analyzed using IBM-SPSS 21.0 for t-test and ANCOVA. Results: Regarding a general characteristic and health behavior, there was statistically significant difference in living arrangement(p<0.001), amount of monthly allowance(p=0.005) and frequency of eating-out(p<0.001) between the two regions in this study. However, there was no statistically significant difference in gender, major, smoking, drinking and frequency of breakfast. Regarding a characteristic related to low-salt diet, there was statistically significant difference in diastolic blood pressure level(p=0.002), urine test(p=0.001). But there was no statistically significant difference in knowledge, attitude, practice of low-salt diet and systolic blood pressure. There was no statistically significant difference in their knowledge of low-salt diet(F=1.588, p=0.209), attitude(F=2.182, p=0.141), practice(F=3.507, p=0.062) and systolic blood pressure(F=1.723, p=0.191), diastolic blood pressure(F=1.552, p=0.214), urine test after a community intervention. Conclusions: Community intervention that does not have concrete target group doesn't seem to be effective on increasing knowledge, attitude and practice of the entire community, not even in university-a somewhat closed community. It is suggested to apply a target specific intervention in order to have efficient and effective outcome from a intervention.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.427-435
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• 2019

This study was designed to analyze the relationship between food hygiene cognition, food hygiene attitude and personal hygiene control of high school students using a structural equation model. For verification analysis, a total of 1,214 individuals (excluding un-collected and insufficient questionnaires) were analyzed by distributing 30 questionnaires per grade at 16 high schools in Chungcheongnam do from July 16 to October 15, 2015. The factorial capacities showed how well each measurement parameter reflected a potential variable (food hygiene cognition, food hygiene attitude and personal hygiene control) based on a significance of 0.001. This can be interpreted that each individual measurement variable reflects the potential. In addition, correlations among potential variables have all been shown to be static at a significance of 0.01. Evaluation of the pathway factors of the structural model from food hygiene cognition to food hygiene attitude (${\beta}=0.753$) and from food hygiene attitude to personal hygiene control (${\beta}=0.840$) revealed significant static effects. Overall, the results showed that food hygiene cognition affects food hygiene attitude, which subsequently affects personal hygiene control. The results of this study suggest that food hygiene cognition does not directly enhance personal hygiene control, but that it can improve food hygiene attitude, which can in turn increase personal hygiene control.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.299-311
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• 2013

An educational application (App) called 'Children's Food Avatar' was developed in this study by using a food DB of nutrition and functionality from Rural Development Administration (RDA) as a smart-learning mobile device for elementary school students. This App was designed for the development of children's desirable dietary habits through an on-line activity of food choices for a meal from food DB of RDA provided as Green Water Mill guide. A customized avatar system was introduced as an element of fun and interactive animation for children which provides nutritional evaluation of selected foods by changing its appearance, facial look, and speech balloon, and consequently providing chances of correcting their food choices for balanced diet. In addition, nutrition information menu was included in the App to help children understand various nutrients, their function and healthy dietary life. When the App was applied to 54 elementary school students for a week in November, 2012, significant increases in the levels of knowledge, attitude and behavior in their diet were observed compared with those of the control group (p < 0.05, 0.01). Both elementary students and teachers showed high levels of satisfaction ranging from 4.30 to 4.89 for the App, therefore, it could be widely used for the dietary education for elementary school students as a smart-learning device.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.169-178
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• 2011

Fast food is popular among children and adolescents; however, its consumption has often been associated with negative impacts on nutrition and health. This study examined current fast food consumption status among middle school students and explored factors influencing fast food consumption by applying Theory of Planned Behavior. A total of 354 (52.5% boys) students were recruited from a middle school. The subjects completed a pre-tested questionnaire. The average monthly frequency of fast food consumption was 4.05 (4.25 for boys, 3.83 for girls). As expected, fast food consumption was considered to be a special event rather than part of an everyday diet, closely associated with meeting friends or celebrating, most likely with friends, special days. The Theory of Planned Behavior effectively explained fast food consumption behaviors with relatively high $R^2$ around 0.6. Multiple regression analyses showed that fast food consumption behavior was significantly related to behavioral intention (b = 0.61, P < 0.001) and perceived behavioral control (b = 0.19, P < 0.001). Further analysis showed that behavioral intention was significantly related to subjective norm (b = 0.15, P < 0.01) and perceived behavioral control (b = 0.56, P < 0.001). Attitude toward fast food consumption was not significantly associated with behavioral intention. Therefore, effective nutrition education programs on fast food consumption should include components to change the subjective norms of fast food consumption, especially among peers, and perceived behavioral control. Further studies should examine effective ways of changing subjective norms and possible alternatives to fast food consumption for students to alter perceived behavioral control.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.22-39
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• 2017

Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the nutritional status and dietary behavior of Korean and Chinese elementary school children using Nutritional Quotient (NQ). Methods: The survey was conducted by distributing questionnaires to the parents of the child, after selecting four elementary schools located in Pusan city of Korea and three elementary schools located in Luoyang city, Henan Province of China, from Grade 1 to Grade 6 in each school. Results: The NQ scores of Korean children and Chinese children were 64.99 and 66.57, respectively, which did not show a statistically significant difference. Korean children significantly showed higher diversity score (p<0.001) than Chinese, but Chinese children significantly showed higher moderation (p < 0.001), regularity (p < 0.001) and practice score (p < 0.01) than Korean. NQ grades showed a statistically significant difference. According to food security of the household, NQ scores of the Chinese children of secure household were significantly higher than those of food insecurity household (p < 0.01). In particular, it showed a significant difference in the practice (p < 0.001), moderation (p < 0.05) and regularity score (p < 0.05). Korean children's NQ score showed a significant correlation with the score of following the Dietary Guidelines of parents, but Chinese did not show such a correlation. Conclusions: There were differences in children's dietary behaviors and parents' impact to children's dietary attitude between Korean and Chinese. NQ developed for Korean could be successfully applied to Chinese.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.519-533
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• 2007

This study was carried out to investigate the nutrition knowledge, dietary attitudes, and dietary habits of girl's high school students in Kunsan, and to investigate their recognition of food-nutrition labeling. The results are summarized as follows. General nutrition knowledge is relatively low, with an average of 0.57. It was shown that high school female students skipped breakfast rather than lunch or dinner, with a skipping rate of 28.9% for breakfast, 0.7% for lunch, and 8.6% for dinner. Regarding snacks, 35.5% of all the surveyed students had 1 snack per day, with 31.9% having them between lunch and dinner. The most popular snacks include biscuits (22.3%), noodles (18.3%) and bakery (13.3%). The most popular response was that students 'sometimes checked' the food label of processed domestic and imported processed food. The level of satisfaction with food labels is moderate, with an average of 2.96, out of 5. The most satisfactory title about food labels was 'helpful for food selection' with 3.19. On the other hand, the least satisfactory title was 'understands the label' with 2.78. Regarding the identification of the nutrition labeling, the highest response was 'sometimes watched, sometimes not' with 40.5%. Products which were most often checked were milk/milk products (3.44), snacks/bread (3.33), and soft drinks (3.07). Among nutrition labeling items, total calories was the most important, followed by fat, carbohydrate, cholesterol and calcium. The question regarding the knowledge of nutrition labeling rated an average of 0.58 (out of 1). There was a significant positive correlation between the degree of the nutrition label verification and the dietary attitude score, along with the nutrition labeling knowledge and the nutrition knowledge score of the subjects. On the other hand, the degree of the nutrition label verification and the knowledge on nutrition labeling had a significant negative correlation. Hence, it is of the opinion that education on properly reading nutrient information is necessary to enable adolescents to apply that in real life. Furthermore, labeling nutritional information on processed fred through a more comprehensive method is deemed necessary as a supporting measure.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.290-301
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• 2012

This survey of 836 midlife women ($51.0{\pm}4.0$ yrs) was undertaken by exclusively a face to face interview by well-trained interviewers guarantying data collection of higher quality. This survey data was analyzed using the SPSS program. The main purpose of this study was to describe the factors affecting self-rated health status, including dietary habits and physical mental social factors. In the self-rated health status of a 'good' group, age was lower (p < 0.05), monthly income was higher (p < 0.01), dietary habits score (p < 0.001) and appetite (p < 0.001) and the degree of movement (p < 0.001) and life satisfaction (p < 0.001), marital intimacy (p < 0.001) and relationship satisfaction with their children (p < 0.001) were significantly higher than the 'bad' group. The level of depression (p < 0.001) and severe feeling of menopausal symptoms (p < 0.001) were significantly higher in the 'poor' group. The results of correlation analysis demonstrated that educational level (r = 0.069, p < 0.05), income (r = 0.157, p < 0.001), eating habits (r = 0.235, p < 0.001), appetite (r = 0.263, p < 0.001), life satisfaction (r = 0.197, p < 0.001), marital intimacy (r = 0.167, p < 0.001), child relationship satisfaction (r = 0.149, p < 0.001), positive attitude toward menopause (r = 0.070, p < 0.05) showed a positive correlation, but depression (r = -0.122, p < 0.001) and menopausal symptoms (r = -0.292, p < 0.001) showed a negative association with self-rated health status. The predictable factors affecting the self-rated health status of middle-aged women were examined by multiple regression analysis. The 'menopausal symptoms - physical discomfort' was the most important variables followed by the 'appetite', 'eating habits', 'menopause symptoms - sensory problems', 'BMI', 'positive attitude toward menopause' and 'high marital intimacy'. These results showed that the 'appetite' and 'eating habits' are important factors affecting the self-rated health status. Therefore, a program of dietary education must be considered for the effective health education and counseling of middle-aged women.