• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.49-58
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• 1977

Nutrition counselors in Korea often encounter difficulty in their attempt to change village women's attitudes regarding food taboos which are counter to good eating habits. There are a great many food superstitions which are not due to religious influence, but seem to be related to shape and composition of food. Many expectant mothers superstitiously avoid eating certain foods for fear that they may cause mental or physical abnormality in their babies. As was shown in a previous survey (Mo, 1966)of villages in all provinces except Jeju Island, such superstitions were common among pregnant and lactating mothers. Many food taboos and superstitions based on non-scientific and irrational ideas do exist even in modern society, and are a major obstacle to nutritionally adequate food consumption. A study of food taboos among women of Jeju Island was undertaken from November to December of 1976, these results to be compared as well with those of the previous study. There were 73 items found to be prohibited during pregnancy. Of these, 48.7% were of the deaf group, 17.4% fish, 5.5% eggs, 4.7% cereal, and only 2.2% fruit. Of 252% women respondents, 111 (45% ) abstained from eating chicken, duck, and shark because of the belief that they would cause their babies to be born with gooseflesh or shark skin. Many of them avoided rabbit meat for fear that their babies might be born with harelip. It was also feared that a baby would become disfigured if his mother ate duck, goat, dog meat, chicken or duck eggs, or soup made of bones. A common superstition was that highly spiced or salty foods would cause the fetus to be hairless. Squid and octopus were believed to cause babies to have weak bones, or none at all. Most of these food taboos were associated with fears concerning Physical structure and appearance of unborn babies. Other taboos were associated with fear of undesirable behavioral characteristics. For example, some mothers thought that a baby would pinch or bite the mother's breast during the weaning period, if crab meat were eaten during pregnancy. Unevenly sliced rice cake, loach, snake meat and eel were also believed to cause a baby to be ill-tempered. The findings of this study are remarkably similar to those of the previous study conducted by the authour in 1966. Most of the same food taboos, based on non-scientific and irrational reasons, were found on Jeju Island as on the peninsula, and thor were similarly wide-spread. The results of correlational analysis show that the most significant factors related to prevalence of food taboos, are level of education and religious background. Number of food taboos is correlated with level of education. Also, food taboos are least freqent among the Christian woman. Proper nutrition education should he undertaken in order to encourage intake of protein-rich food, particularly during pregnancy when nutritional needs of mother and fetus are great.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.496-504
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• 1997

The purpose of this study was to investigate the dietary intake, obesity index and psychosocial factors influencing obesity among 200 high school girls in Seoul. The Social Cognitive Theory provided the Conceptual basis for this study. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to examine factors related to obesity, including self-efficacy for controlling overeating, social support for eating behavior, perception of body image and weight control, nutrition knowledge, and attitudes toward obesity. The data were analyzed using t-test and multiple logistic regression. The results of this study are as follows : 1) The mean age of the girls was 16.4 years, and the rate of overweight and obesity(measured by obesity index) was 27.0$\%$. 2) The mean energy intake of subjects was 1832.3$\pm$384.0kcal. The energy derived from carbohydrates, proteins and fats was 62.7$\%$, 13.8$\%$, and 23.5$\%$, respectively. There was no significant difference between the obese and the comparison group in energy intake. 3) The result of multivariate analysis indicated that obesity had a significant relation to the perception of ideal body image, social support for eating behavior, and self-efficacy for controlling overeating(p〈0.01). As subjects preferred thinner body images(OR=0.39) and received less social support(OR=0.93), the odds of being classified as obese increased. The odds of being obese were also associated with self-efficacy, however, the relation was not strong(OR=1.04). 4) Specific social support was related to obesity among adolescent girls. As subjects received more support from family member, the odds of being obese decreased. The emotional support as well as family member's positive nutrition behavior plays a significant role. In addition, instrumental support from friends was associated with obesity. With repect to self-efficacy, the odds of being obese were increased as subjects felt less confident in controlling overeating when tempting food was placed in front of them or after an argument. In contrast, the obese group felt more confident in controlling overeating for the rest of the specific situations examined. These findings suggest that educational interventions for weight control should incorporate strategies to help participants realize their degree of obesity, to reduce the discrepancy between current and ideal body image, to elicit and maintain social support from friends and family, and to increase the self-efficacy for changing eating behaviors. (Korean J Community Nutrition 2(4) : 496-504, 1997)

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.344-351
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• 2007

The purposes of this study were to analyze the consumer inclination to convenience towards HMR in order to verify the structural correlation of the actual state of consumption, and to analyze consequently, the direct or indirect effects among 'frequency of using,' 'preference', 'satisfaction', and 'intention to repurchase'. The subjects were adults in their twenties or older who had used HMRs and lived in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province in Korea. Random sampling of 550 subjects, who were distributed a questionnaire from March 12 to 30, 2005. A total of 451 questionnaires were returned (the return rates were 82%). The main results of this study were as follows : Regarding the types of HMR, 'Ready to eat' had higher preference (3.31), satisfaction (3.33) and 'intention to purchase it again' (3.38) than those of 'Ready to heat' and 'Ready to end-cook.' Consumer inclination to convenience towards HMR was analyzed in order to verify the structural correlation of the actual state of consumption, and consequently, the direct or indirect effects among 'frequency of using,' 'preference', 'satisfaction', and 'intention to repurchase' were analyzed. The gross effect of 'frequency of using' on 'intention to repurchase' was 0.435, the gross effect of preference on 'intention to purchase it again' was 0.659, and the gross effect of satisfaction on 'intention to purchase it again' was 0.772 for 'Ready to eat.' The gross effect of 'frequency of using' on 'intention to repurchase' was 0.448, the gross effect of preference on 'intention to repurchase' was 0.556, and the gross effect of satisfaction on 'intention to repurchase' was 0.654 for 'Ready to heat.' The gross effect of 'frequency of using' on 'intention to repurchase' was 0.432, the gross effect of preference on 'intention to repurchase' was 0.494, and the gross effect of satisfaction on 'intention to repurchase' was 0.608 for 'Ready to end-cook.' To summerize the above results, there was a difference of the structural correlation among component concepts of the actual state of consuming according to the criteria of HMR. Thus, it implied that differentiated sales strategies were needed according to the criteria of HMR.

• Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.85-92
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• 2005

The purpose of the study was to get some information about the educational program for consumers in the community. For this, the author investigated the ability to identify the imported foods and the educational contents to be taught. The subjects for this study were 183 housewives living in Cheongju city, and the research was conducted from March 1 to March 15, 2003. A survey questionnaire was distributed, asking general matters regarding the subject, attitude when purchasing foods, the ability to identify the imported foods, educational contents to be taught, and the identification ability between the domestic and the imported foods. The data was analyzed for percentage, mean, standard deviations using SAS program, and was also examined with Chi-square or ANOVA. $92.3\%$ of housewives checked the label to distinguish between the domestic food and the imported one, among which $99.5\%$ preferred to buy the domestic brand. For major reasons of this preference, $46.3\%$ of them reported that the imported foods had many harmful substances. $66.1\%$ of the subjects, however, replied that they did not have the ability to discern the differences between the two. The identification information was received from 'TV or radio program', which $61.7\%$ of the subjects reported as such. $61.5\%$ of the subjects were inclined to receive education about the imported foods. For the educational contents, $75.4\%$ wanted to learn 'the method to identify the imported foods'. According to the identification test on the imported foods, they got 13.6 points on the average out of 40 points, which was quite low. The highest correct answer was for pteridium aquilinum ($63.7\%$), sesame ($49.2\%$), and yellow croaker ($45.6\%$), while the highest incorrect answer was for red pepper powder ($40.4\%$), chestnut ($40.6\%$), and dried pepper ($32.2\%$). The results suggested that most of the respondents had negative attitudes towards the imported agricultural products, but their identification ability was quite poor. Therefore, it is necessary to provide education and publicity work in relation to the identification methods for the imported foods so that consumers may have less risk from the imported agricultural products.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.184-191
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• 2006

This study investigated parents' attitude about children's unbalanced diet. The subjects were 1,309 parents that their children attended at kindergarten or child care center in Kyoung-Ki province. The order of dislikes in 'vegetables and fruits' was as follows: all kinds of vegetables (56.6%), beans (17.6%), fruits (5.2%). In 'meat, fish, poultry', the order of dislikes was meats (38.2%), fishes (21.8%), milk (16.4%), eggs (10.0%). In 'cerelas', the order of dislikes was rice (31.0%), rice cakes (14.3%), noodles (11.9%). The several rationalizations for dislikes are 'taste' (19.1 %), 'food habit from younger age' (18.4%), 'lack of chances for trying new food' (16.0%) etc. To compared children's rationalizations for dislikes to their age group, the percentage of 'lack of chances for trying new food', 'strange food shape', 'lack of nutrition education' was significantly higher in 'below 5 years old' (<5) group than other groups (<6, <7) and 'sweety food' was significantly higher in 'below 7 years old' (<7) group than other groups (<6, <7)(p <0.05). In parents' attitude about children's unbalanced dietary habit, subjects answered that they try to make children understand to eat dislike food (73.9%), develop new recipe for children (14.0%), neglect children's food habit (6.2%). To compared parents' attitude for children's unbalanced diet by parents age, the percentage of 'try to make children understand to eat dislike food' was significantly higher in 'below 30 years old' (<30) group than other groups ($30{\sim}35,\;35{\sim}39,\;{\geq}40$) and 'developing new recipe' was significantly higher in 'over 40 years old' (${\geq}40$) group than other groups ($<30,\;30{\sim}35,\;35{\sim}39$)(p < 0.05). To compared parents' attitude for children's unbalanced diet by parents' occupation, the percentage of 'neglecting' was higher in employed group and 'developing new recipe' was higher in unemployed group than the other group. According to the results of the survey, it is necessary to make new educational materials for employed parents and young children and develop new recipes to use various kind of foods instead of forcing unpleasant foods on the children for the sake of unbalanced diet.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.40 no.9
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• pp.1244-1255
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to compare the perception of meals and nutrition knowledge among high school students in Seoul. A survey was carried out on 548 male/female students in general and vocational high schools. The general high school students showed higher frequency of breakfast than the vocational high school students (p<0.001). As for the reasons for eating alone, the general high school students showed high frequency of 'busy', whereas the vocational high school students revealed high frequency of 'irregular meal times' (p<0.001). Concerning the habit of eating alone, 'irregular meal times (25.0%)', 'unbalanced diet (22.4%)', and 'instant food (16.6%)' were observed in that order (p<0.01). The percentage of high school students who regarded family meals as meals eaten with every member of their family was 70.6% (p<0.05). The percentage of general high school students who ate family meals was 61.8% and that of vocational high school students was 50.0% (p<0.01). When agreement with attitudes, environment, and participation in family meals was evaluated using a Likert scale (strongly agree 5 points, strongly disagree 1 point), the general high school students showed a higher level of agreement than the vocational high school students, and the results showed a significantly higher level of agreement as the frequency of family meals increased. Likewise, the groups who scored a higher level of nutrition knowledge had positive attitudes, environment, and participation in family meals with significant differences.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.835-848
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to find efficient and customized tools for delivering the benefit of health functional foods (HFFs). Delivery tools which could influence the impact of advertising were images, explanations of ingredients, diagrams of health benefit, patents, and comments from authority. Six advertisements were developed using these tools: "A": relevant image + explanation of ingredients + scientific diagram of efficacy; "B": relevant image + explanation of ingredients; "C": relevant image; "D": irrelevant image; "E": irrelevant image + explanation of ingredient + patent; "F": irrelevant image + explanation of ingredient + comments from authority. To analyze the consumer perceptions on HFFs and advertisement effects, 300 respondents were requested to answer a questionnaire comprising of the following questions: 5 questions of attitudes (necessity of HFFs, trust in HFFs, gathering information, watching advertisements and trust in advertisement claims) and 6 questions on the 6 developed advertisements (attention, understanding, sufficiency of information, sympathy, trust, and purchase). Scoring was done as per the 5 Likert scale. There was a higher proportion of females and the elderly, as compared to males and youngsters. The overall consumer attitudes were positive. Explanation of ingredients, scientific diagram of health benefit, patents and expert comments were helpful factors in increasing the advertisement evaluation by consumer, but the images were not. Advertisement evaluation of consumer did not differ with gender and age. However, differences were observed between some of the consumer attitudes (necessity of HFFs, trust in HFFs, gathering information and trust in advertisements claim) and advertisement evaluations (attention, understanding, sympathy and purchase). Our results indicate that for consumers utilizing the HFFs, advertisements with concrete tools such as diagrams, patent, and expert comments are more helpful. However, for consumers who do not have interest in HFFs, the scientific information was irrelevant. We believe that to maximize the effect of health information in advertisements, consumers should be segmented, and customized tools for each segment needs to be developed.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.1-15
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• 2007

This study was conducted to analyze recognition, applicability, class satisfaction, and needs as well as students' attitudes for eating behavior by 1st and 3rd graders of a mixed middle school located in Gyeonggi area in relation to food and nutrition section of the Technology and Home Economics curriculum and thereby provide basic data for development of strategies of educational effect maximization of food and nutrition in the curriculum. 522 questionnaire were collected and statistically processed. Findings from this study are as follows. Both 1st and 3rd graders were found to exhibit relatively low preference for technology and home economics curriculum. While 1st graders were more interested in the subject than 3rd graders, the frequency of practical use of the food and nutrition section in every day life was higher in 3rd graders than that in 1st graders. For food and nutrition section of the subject, preference level of the 1st graders was higher than 3rd graders. The 1st graders were higher than 3rd graders in the needs for food and nutrition section as well as in usefulness in every day life of the unit. The applicability in every day life of the unit was found to be generally higher, with 1st graders having a higher level of applicability than 3rd graders (p<0.001). Class satisfaction of the unit was higher in 1st graders than 3rd graders, with the most satisfactory unit being 'basics and practice of cooking' both for 1st and 3rd graders. Needs for food and nutrition unit were higher in 1st graders than 3rd graders, with the unit highly needed being 'basics and practice of cooking' both for 1st and 3rd graders. Regarding interrelation of the degree of preference, need, applicability and class satisfaction, as the preference was high on food and nutrition, the degree of need, applicability, and class satisfaction was high. As respondents recognized food nutrition section necessary, they were more satisfied and showed high applicability for the section. Therefore, contents of food and nutrition section should be improved with re-organization of educational and subject contents so that they will be best fit for students by grade, to increase preference, applicability and necessity in every life. In addition, to maximize the applicability of the subject in everyday life, sufficient class-time should be assigned for the purpose of experiment- and practice-based education, and a wide range of teaching strategies are needed to increase students' interest in the subject.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.271-281
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• 2001

This study was performed to compare the anthropometric and the food and nutrient intake of the adolescents between urban areas and islands in south Kyungnam and to identify their nutritional problems. A questionnaire survey was distributed among 383 middle school students for the food and nutrient consumption and other nutritional attitudes including socioecomonic status. The height and weight of the students were measured as well. Socioeconomic status, such as income, educational level, and jobs of the urban students parents was better than that of the island students. There was no significant difference in height between the students of both areas, but the body weight of the urban male students was far heavier than that of the other group. It is very interesting to note that the energy intake of the urban male students was much lower than that of the island male students. The students of the two areas consumed more protein, Vit B$_1$, Vit B$_2$, niacin and Vit C than the recommended daily allowances(RDA) but the intake of Ca, Fe, Vit A was less. As to the sources of animal fat, the urban males consumed much more. Regarding the taste preference, the study shows that urban male students are more likely to choose sweet, salty and soft tastes than island male students. In the case of female students, although island students prefer a rather hot taste, urban students are more likely to prefer sweet and soft tastes. The favorite foods of urban students are meat products, fastfoods, chocolate, cheese and milkshakes, while foods like cooked rice with assorted vegetable are the favorite of the island students. In general, the preference degree for meat products and fruits rates higher than for vegetables. Conclusively the urban students had a tendency of being obese and the intake of all nutrients by the urban adolescents was much lower than that of the islanders. In this study, the cause can be found in significant differences in consuming animal fat, of taste preference and of choosing favorite food. Accordingly a nutritional intervention or educational program is required to adjust the imbalanced intake of some nutrients for the adolescents in this province.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.233-246
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• 2014

This study investigates the level of satisfaction with quality attributes of meal services for low-income children in Wonju, Korea. Based on interviews with 287 subjects (users of meal boxes: 17.4%, card users: 82.6%; boys: 48.4%, girls: 51.6%; elementary school students: 44.4%, middle school students: 33.0%, high school students: 22.6%; two parents household: 29.8%, single- or no- parent household: 70.2%) through consent from their guardians, some key characteristics of the subjects and the relationships between their characteristics and the level of their satisfaction with meal services were examined. According to the results, the level of satisfaction ranged from 54.7% to 66.0% (those respondents indicating "very good" and "good") indicated that the meals were generally acceptable. The highest level of satisfaction was for sanitation (66.0%), followed by taste (64.0%), ease of choosing preferred menu items (61.9%), a proper temperature (61.9%), a sufficient amount (60.8%), diversity (56.3%), the comfortableness of the dining area (54.7%), and sufficient nutrition (41.0%). For these eight quality aspects of meal services, users of meal boxes were more likely to be satisfied with the comfortableness of the dining area, whereas card users, with the taste and temperature of the food. The type of meal service, the attitudes toward talking to friends about supporting meals, and subjectively perceived health status had significant effects on the level of satisfaction with meal services.