• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.329-341
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to examine vegetable & fruit (V/F) intakes, beliefs and self-efficacy regarding V/F consumption, nutrition knowledge and eating behavior of elementary students. A survey was conducted to the 4th graders (n = 234) at two elementary schools in Guri, Kyunggi-do. About one-fourth of subjects were overweight or obese. Subjects had 4.2 servings of V/F a day, consuming 340.2 g of V/F. Girls consumed significantly more amounts of vegetables than boys (p < 0.05). Girls were more favorable regarding V/F consumption (p < 0.01), and believed more strongly on advantages of having V/F such as “good for skin” constipation prevention (p < 0.001) and cancer prevention (p < 0.05). Boys felt more strongly in disadvantages or barriers of eating V/F, including mother's cooking time constraints (p < 0.01), lack of past experience of eating V/F, and family members' disliking of V/F (p < 0.05). Girls felt more confident in eating V/F (p < 0.05) than boys; they also felt more confident in specific items of "eating fruits/salads instead of cookies/chips for snack" and "eating fruit juice/vegetable juice instead of soda"(p < 0.01). Subjects showed low level of nutrition knowledge, especially in items such as balanced meals, recommended servings of V/F and vitamin deficiency. Compared to boys, girls had more desirable eating behavior such as eating adequate amount of meals (p < 0.001), having a variety of foods, eating fruits daily, and having fatty foods less frequently (p < 0.05). Intakes of Ca and K were quite below the recommended level, while the intakes of protein, Na and vitamin A intake were much above the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) for 9-11 old children. Nutrient intakes expressed as %DRI was higher in girls for vitamin A (p < 0.01), energy and riboflavin (p < 0.05). High V/F consumption group (${\geq}5$ servings of V/F a day) compared to the counterparts showed higher self-efficacy and had better eating behaviors. Nutrition education for children should focus on increasing consumption of V/F, by helping them to increase self-efficacy for eating V/F and to recognize the benefits and reduce the barriers of eating V/F, especially in boys. It is also needed to provide nutrition information for balanced meals or increasing V/F consumption, and help the children to adopt desirable eating behavior.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.266-276
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to implement and evaluate the nutrition education program for elementary school children Subjects were 5th graders (n = 142) of an elementary school in Seoul, and 138 children completed four sessions of nutrition education during March-April, 2008. One group pretest-posttest design was used to evaluate the program effectiveness. Anthropometric measurements and measurements on nutrition knowledge, eating attitudes and eating behavior were done before and after education. Data were analyzed using paired t-test, t-test and ${\chi}^2-test$. After completing nutrition education, body mass index (from 19.3 to 18.9), fat mass (from 10.9 kg to 10.1 kg), percent body fat (from 25% to 23.3%) of subjects decreased significantly (p < 0.001). Percentages of overweight or obese children were 24.6% at pretest and decreased to 20.3% at posttest, although it did not reach statistical significance. Total score of nutrition knowledge increased significantly from 11.9 (59.5/100) at pretest to 14.7 (73.5/100) at posttest (p < 0.001). After nutrition education, percentages of correct answers increased significantly in 10 knowledge items out of 20 items. These included items such as desirable weight control, energy requirements for boys, food groups, snack, and function of fat and balanced meals (p < 0.001). Total score of eating attitudes increased significantly from 35.1 to 36.9 (p < 0.001). Attitude of applying nutrition knowledge to daily life (p < 0.001), interest toward nutrition and health (p < 0.001), attitude of moderating food intake (p < 0.01), and attitude toward eating habit and future health (p < 0.05) were significantly different between pretest and posttest. Total score of eating behaviors increased significantly from 46.7 (possible score: 20-60) to 49.5 by nutrition education (p < 0.001). Improvement in eight eating behaviors were noticed after nutrition education. These included eating meals slowly, eat protein foods (p < 0.001), eating breakfast, eating meals regularly, eating meals with diverse foods, having dairy foods, eating foods using plant oils (p < 0.01), and having grains (p < 0.05). Subjects evaluated quite positively in attractiveness of program, understanding of program contents, helpfulness of program in improving nutrition knowledge and meal management. Study results show that the nutrition education program was effective in improving nutrition knowledge, eating attitudes and changing eating behaviors of children. This program can be used in nutrition education of children at school or at public health centers.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.604-612
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• 2021

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: We aimed to investigate the association of waist circumference (WC) with body composition among individuals with a normal body mass index (BMI) to distinguish muscle and fat mass, as both affect health differently. SUBJECTS/METHODS: We analyzed dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry data (derived from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Survey, which includes information on fat and lean mass) of 7,493 adults with a normal BMI. Subjects were categorized into four groups of increasing WC. The fourth group was defined as being centrally obese. Each number of subjects are as follows: 1,870, 695, 231, and 39 among men and 3,054, 1,100, 406, and 98 among women. We conducted a sex-stratified linear regression analysis of body composition according to WC group after adjustments for covariates. RESULTS: We observed a positive association of body fat with increasing WC in both men and women (all P for trend: < 0.001). The adjusted mean values for percent body fat with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) according to the four WC groups in ascending order were 17.8 (17.5-18.3), 21.0 (20.6-21.5), 22.1 (21.5-22.8), and 25.1 (24.2-26.1) in men and 29.7 (29.4-30.0), 32.0 (31.6-32.3), 32.9 (32.4-33.4), and 34.7 (33.2-36.1) in women. However, there was an inverted J-shaped association between muscle mass and WC. The fourth group had a higher percent body fat and lower muscle mass than other groups. The adjusted mean values for appendicular skeletal muscle mass index (kg/m²) with 95% CIs according to the four WC groups in ascending order were 7.55 (7.51-7.59), 7.62 (7.56-7.68), 7.65 (7.56-7.74), and 7.22 (7.04-7.41) in men and 5.83 (5.80-5.85), 5.96 (5.92-6.00), 6.03 (5.96-6.10), and 5.88 (5.73-6.03). CONCLUSIONS: There was a positive association between body fat and WC among individuals with normal BMI; conversely there was an inverted J-shaped association between lean body mass and WC. Our findings support the WC measurement should be included in obesity evaluations for adults with a normal BMI.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.40 no.7
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• pp.630-638
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• 2007

This study was performed to examine the combined effects of L-carnitine and isoflavone supplementation on weight reduction and body fat distribution in overweight women. Overweight/obese women (body mass index > $23kg/m^2$) who were not diagnosed any type of diseases were included in this study and sixty subjects ($41.1{\pm}1.5$ years, $25.9{\pm}0.3kg/m^2)$ were randomly assigned to a placebo (n=30) or a supplement group (n=30, L-carnitine 300 mg+isoflavone 40 mg/day). We measured anthropometric parameters, abdominal fat distribution by computerizd tomography and blood components before and after the 12 week intervention period. After the 12 weeks of supplementation, subjects in L-carnitine and isoflavone supplement group showed a significant reduction of body weight (p < 0.001), body fat % (p < 0.05), and waist to hip ratio (p < 0.01) whereas placebo group did not show any changes. In a CT-scanned results, total fat area at L4 level was significantly reduced by 8.1% (p < 0.01) with the reduction of visceral fat area (-11.1%, p < 0.001) and subcutaneous fat area (-7.0%, p < 0.05) in the supplement group. The supplementation of L-carnitine and isoflavone showed the significant improvement of HDL-C (p < 0.01) and apoB (p < 0.05) concentrations, however, change values in those markers were not significant compared with those of the placebo group. In addition, a significant increase of adiponectin level (p<0.001) was observed in the supplement group after the intervention. The result of present study demonstrated that supplementation of 300 mg L-carnitine and 40 mg isoflavone per day fur 12 weeks can give beneficial effects on weight reduction and visceral fat accumulation. These potential antiobesity supplement can produce more favorable effects when combined with lifestyle modification.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.297-305
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• 2019

This study was conducted to compare the factors affecting quality of life according to the perception of subjective body image in adult women as a secondary study of the 7th 1st year Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data. The subjects were 3,392 adult women and their general characteristics, physical factors and psychological factors were analyzed. Data were analyzed using the IBM SPSS 25.0 program after generating weighted composite sample plans and the significance level was set at 0.05. Factors influencing the quality of life of subjects who perceived their subjective body image as thin were education level, birth experience, depression, and subjective health and their explanatory power was 43.1%. Factors influencing the quality of life for those who perceived their bodies as moderate were education level, depression, and subjective health, and their explanatory power was 26.5%. Factors that affected quality of life for those who perceive their bodies as obese were age, weight change for one year, weight control for one year, presence of high blood pressure, BMI, and subjective health, and their explanatory power was 40.9%. The results of this study indicate it is necessary consider the factors influencing each subjective perception to improve individual quality of life.

• Exercise Science
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.111-120
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• 2012

The purpose of the study was to assess the effects of different cardiorespiratory fitness response to exercise training on cardiovascular disease and adipocytokine release and gene expression in abdominal obesity women. forty eight middle-age women were divided to a exercise-responder (n=34) group (ERG) and a exercise-nonresponder (n=14) group (ENRG) based on cardiorespiratory fitness after exercise training (12weeks, 1200 kcal/week, moderate-vigorous intensity, walking and jogging). Cardiorespiratory fitness was measured using maximal oxygen uptake with metabolic gas analysis and body composition was determined by bioelectrical impedance. We measured lipid and glucose profiles, blood adipocytokines and adipocytokine genes expression in adipose tissue. Waist girth (p=0.040), and %body fat (p=0.031) were significantly decreased in ERG than ENRG. Triglyceride (p=0.023) and systolic blood pressure (0.046) were significantly decreased in ERG than ENRG. Blood leptin (p=0.022) was significantly decrease in ERG than ENRG but leptin gene expression was decreased both groups (p<0.001). These results show that exercise-responder group improved cardiovascular disease risk factors and adipocytokine more than exercise-nonresponder group after exercise training. Moreover, exercise-nonresponders group show that obese indices and blood leptin and leptin gene expression in adipose tissue were decreased despite the failure to improve fitness. Therefore, regular exercise training seems to give health benefits although the failure to improve fitness.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.285-297
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• 2022

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Korean pine nut oil (PNO) has been reported to suppress appetite by increasing satiety hormone release. However, previous studies have rendered inconsistent results and there is lack of information on whether dietary Korean PNO affects the expression of satiety hormone receptors and hypothalamic neuropeptides. Therefore, our study sought to evaluate the chronic effects of Korean PNO on the long-term regulation of energy balance. MATERIALS/METHODS: Five-week-old male C57BL/6 mice were fed with control diets containing 10% kcal fat from Korean PNO or soybean oil (SBO) (PC or SC) or high-fat diets (HFDs) containing 35% kcal fat from lard and 10% kcal fat from Korean PNO or SBO (PHFD or SHFD) for 12 weeks. The expression of gastrointestinal satiety hormone receptors, hypothalamic neuropeptides, and genes related to intestinal lipid absorption and adipose lipid metabolism was then measured. RESULTS: There was no difference in the daily food intake between PNO- and SBO-fed mice; however, the PC and PHFD groups accumulated 30% and 18% less fat compared to SC and SHFD, respectively. Korean PNO-fed mice exhibited higher messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of Ghsr (ghrelin receptor) and Agrp (agouti-related peptide) (P < 0.05), which are expressed when energy consumption is low to induce appetite as well as the appetitesuppressing neuropeptides Pomc and Cartpt (P = 0.079 and 0.056, respectively). Korean PNO downregulated jejunal Cd36 and epididymal Lpl mRNA expressions, which could suppress intestinal fatty acid absorption and fat storage in white adipose tissue. Consistent with these findings, Korean PNO-fed mice had higher levels of fecal non-esterified fatty acid excretion. Korean PNO also tended to downregulate jejunal Apoa4 and upregulate epididymal Adrb3 mRNA levels, suggesting that PNO may decrease chylomicron synthesis and induce lipolysis. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, Korean PNO attenuated body fat accumulation, and appeared to prevent HFD-induced dysregulation of the hypothalamic appetite-suppressing pathway.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.103-111
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• 2016

Objectives The waist circumference has been known as an obesity index reflecting the visceral fat. This study was conducted to investigate the obesity index of what can be predicted visceral fat obesity. Methods 121 test subjects who have $BMI{\geq}30$ or BMI 27~29.9 with having more than one high blood pressure, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia were gathered in the Gachon University Korean medical hospital. The relationship between obesity index, the abdominal fat area, and the metabolic syndrome component analyzed using Pearson correlation analysis. The obesity indices, that are largely used in clinics such as waist circumference (WC), HC (hip circumference), body mass index (BMI), waist-hip ratio (WHR) and waist-height ratio (WHtR). Total fat area (TFA), visceral fat area (VFA), subcutaneous area (SFA) and visceral fat/subcutaneous fat ratio (VSR) that was measured from CT. Results 1. Total fat area (TFA) was positively correlated WC, BMI, HC. 2. The subcutaneous fat area (SFA) was positively correlated HC, WC, BMI. 3. The visceral fat area (VFA) did not show a strong correlation with obesity indicators. Conclusions It was found indices of obesity and visceral fat area is a high correlation. BMI, WC was the obesity index showed a high correlation as the SFA, TFA.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.108-120
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• 2016

Objectives The purpose of this study is to investigate Korean clinical studies on treatment of childhood obesity and to propose for better treatment options for childhood obesity. Methods Based on RISS, KISS, OASIS, KMbase with the keyword 'childhood obesity', 'child obesity', 'obese child', 'overweight child', total of 21 randomized controlled trials (RCTs), 11 single clinical studies, 3 chart reviews and 3 case reports have been found, and were analyzed. Results and Conclusion 1. Some study subjects were classified based on their sex - only men or women in a group or sometimes both. Another way of classify the study subjects were based on their age - preschooler, primary school students, middle school students, and high school students. The diagnostic criteria of the subjects were BMI (body mass index), Body fat percentage, Obesity index, Weight and unknown criteria. 2. The treatments used in 38 studies were exercise alone, education alone, both exercise and education or herbal therapy. The 7 studies that used herbal therapy as part of their study intervention had a study group with herbal intervention only and the other 2 study group with herbal treatment in addition to exercise and education. 3. 9 studies included herb medicines, electroacupuncture, auricular acupuncture, cupping, aroma massage, infrared light, and abdomen pad. Herb medications used in 5 studies included Chegameuiin-tang 2 kinds, Sobieum, Biman-tnag, and I-razin. 4. The methods of assessment used in 38 studies were classified by 7 categories and anthropometry parameters which is the basic methods are used in all studies 5. Almost studies (29 studies in all 38 studies) were using anthropometric parameters results on significantly effectiveness of childhood obesity. 6. More studies are needed to prove true effectives from various treatments, especially herbal therapy for childhood obesity.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.39-44
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• 2014

Bisphenol A (BPA) is widely used in the production of polycarbonate plastics, epoxy resins, and food and beverage containers. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between urinary concentrations of BPA and waist circumference in Korean adults. A total of 1,030 Korean adults (mean age, $44.3{\pm}14.6$ years) were enrolled in the study on the integrated exposure to hazardous materials for safety control, conducted by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety from 2010 to 2012. Abdominal obesity was defined as having a waist circumference of at least 90 cm and 85 cm for men and women, respectively. The participants were divided into 4 groups according to the urinary BPA concentration quartile. Waist circumference was significantly higher among subjects with a urinary BPA concentration in the highest quartile relative to those in the lowest quartile (p = 0.0071). Linear regression analysis revealed a significant positive association between urinary BPA concentrations and body mass index, body fat, after adjusting for potential confounders. Moreover, subjects with urinary BPA concentrations in the fourth quartile were more likely to be obese compared to those with urinary BPA concentrations in the first quartile (odds ratio, 1.938; 95% CI: 1.314~2.857; p for trend = 0.0106). These findings provide evidence for a positive association between urinary BPA concentration and waist circumference in Korean adults.