• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.68-77
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• 2012

Flavan-3-ols are a subclass of flavonoids found in a variety of foods including teas. The effects of flavan-3-ols on the risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS) have been investigated, generally focusing on tea catechins or individual flavan-3-ol rich foods, but there is little information on dietary flavan-3-ols intake and risk of MetS in population-based studies. In this cross-sectional study, we examined the association between dietary flavan-3-ols intake and the risk of MetS in Korean adults. Subjects comprised 1,827 men and 2,918 women aged 20-69 years whose data was included in the 2008 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. This survey was conducted between January 2008 and December 2008. Total flavan-3-ols intakes were calculated from 24-hour dietary recalls using a flavonoids database. Thirty percent of the male subjects and 24% of the female subjects were reported as having MetS. In the female subjects, flavan3-ols intake was inversely associated with the risk of MetS after adjusting for potential confounders (5th vs. 1st quintile, OR=0.64, 95% CI=0.45-0.91, P for trend=0.384). The main food source of flavan-3-ols was green tea followed by apples and grapes. Among MetS components, flavan-3-ols intake was inversely associated with the risk of high blood pressure after adjusting for potential confounders (5th vs. 1st quintile, OR=0.64, 95% CI=0.45-0.90, P for trend=0.005). No significant association between flavan-3-ols intake and risk of MetS was found in the male subjects. After stratified analysis by obesity (BMI ${\geq}$ 25 or BMI < 25), however, flavan3-ols intake was inversely related to the risk of hypertension in non-obese men. These results suggest that dietary flavan-3-ols intake may have beneficial effects on MetS risk by reducing the risk of hypertension. The effects of flavan-3-ols intake dependent on obesity need further investigation.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.435-447
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• 2021

Purpose: Body adiposity is negatively correlated with hepatic iron status, and Korean pine nut oil (PNO) has been reported to reduce adiposity. Therefore, we aimed to study the effects of PNO on adiposity, hepatic mineral status, and the expression of genes and proteins involved in iron absorption. Methods: Five-week-old male C57BL/6 mice were fed a control diet containing 10% kcal from PNO (PC) or soybean oil (SBO; SC), or a high-fat diet (HFD) containing 35% kcal from lard and 10% kcal from PNO (PHFD) or SBO (SHFD). Hepatic iron, copper, and zinc content; and expression of genes and proteins related to iron absorption were measured. Results: HFD-fed mice had a higher white fat mass (2-fold; p < 0.001), lower hepatic iron content (25% lower; p < 0.001), and lower hepatic Hamp (p = 0.028) and duodenal Dcytb mRNA levels (p = 0.037) compared to the control diet-fed mice. Hepatic iron status was negatively correlated with body weight (r = -0.607, p < 0.001) and white fat mass (r = -0.745, p < 0.001). Although the PHFD group gained less body weight (18% less; p < 0.05) and white fat mass (18% less; p < 0.05) than the SHFD group, the hepatic iron status impaired by the HFD feeding did not improve. The expression of hepatic and duodenal ferroportin protein was not affected by the fat amount or the oil type. PNO-fed mice had significantly lower Slc11a2 (p = 0.022) and Slc40a1 expression (p = 0.027) compared to SBO-fed mice. However, the PC group had a higher Heph expression than the SC group (p < 0.05). The hepatic copper and zinc content did not differ between the four diet groups, but hepatic copper content adjusted by body weight was significantly lower in the HFD-fed mice compared to the control diet-fed mice. Conclusion: HFD-induced obesity decreased hepatic iron storage by affecting the regulation of genes related to iron absorption; however, the 18% less white fat mass in the PHFD group was not enough to improve the iron status compared to the SHFD group. The hepatic copper and zinc status was not altered by the fat amount or the oil type.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.516-523
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of exercise and/or L-arginine on abdominal fat, IGF-1 on GH/IGF-1 axis, fibrinogen, and PAI-1 in aged and obese rats. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with a D-galactose aging inducing agent (50 mg/kg) given intraperitoneally for 12 weeks. Thirty-two male Sprague-Dawley rats were treated and divided into four groups: aging-high fat diet group (AG+HF), AG+HF with L-arginine intake group (AG+LA), AG+HF with exercise group (AG+EX), and AG+EX with L-arginine intake group (AG+LA+EX). The experimental rats underwent treadmill training (60 min/day, 6 days/week at 0% gradient) for 12 weeks. L-arginine was given orally (150 mg/kg/day) for 12 weeks. After the experiment, blood was collected from the left ventricle and abdominal fat was extracted. The results showed that GH was significantly increased in AG+EX and AG+AL+EX. IGF-1 was significantly increased in both the AG+AL+EX and AG+EX group ($p$<0.05), while fibrinogen and PAI-1 were not significantly different among the groups. Abdominal fat was significantly decreased in the AG+LA, AG+EX, and AG+LA+EX groups ($p$<0.05) compared with the AG+HF group. In conclusion, this study suggests that exercise alone or L-arginine alone or a combination not only increases the GH and IGF-1 concentration, but also decreases the abdominal fat mass.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.895-908
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to examine female baby boomers' dietary habits and their attitudes together with their needs for future perspectives of dietary life. Our aim is to use these findings as a basic data when forecasting for food-related industries or policy making. A survey is being carried out for a total of 358 female baby boomers and analyzed by SPSS 12.0. The following is a summary of this study. The average age is 52.6 years old, most of them graduated from highschool (63.1%) and had a nuclear type of family (76.1%). Only 39.0% is composed of housewives, others had either full-time or part-time jobs. Self-assessment of stress is not so high and only 8.1% are dissatisfied with their lives. 38.2% are either overweight or obese in terms of BMI, and most of them are non-smokers (97.2%) or non-drinkers (63.0%). Their mean dietary habit scores are $70.6{\pm}11.8$, and the scores show significant relations with their education levels (p<0.01), monthly income (p<0.01), life satisfaction rates (p<0.001), stress levels (p<0.001), smoking habits (p<0.05), drinking habits (p<0.05), regular exercises (p<0.001) and regular health check-ups (p<0.05). The rate of skipping breakfast, lunch and dinner are 18.2%, 1.1%, 5.2% respectively. The main reason for skipping breakfast is the 'lack of time'. With regards to the frequency of grocery shopping, almost half of the subjects (55.7%) said '1~2 times per week' and bought mainly raw food sources such as vegetables, fruits, and meats. The majority of the subjects (91.3%) report that they cooked meals at homes, and took about 1 hour of time. The subjects also point out that cooking was a bothering task, and only 46.4% would prepare meals at home, while others would rather eat out or eat convenience foods. The main reasons for not wanting meal services in the elderly welfare facility are because they didn't want to live such places (48.4%) and the meals are tasteless (31.3%). As for delivery meal services, 60.1% are aware of it, and 39.9% would consider using it in the future. Factors to be considered when using the delivery meal service are sanitation (43.7%), nutrition (28.7%), taste (18.4%), price (6.3%), and brand name (2.9%). This study is expected to be used as useful information when developing food-related strategies for baby boomers in the future.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.73-87
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• 2011

Objectives: This study is to investigate life style and weight control based on the body mass index, and tongue diagnosis in adolescent girls. Help controling unnecessary weight and establishing proper understanding of desirable body images and healthy life for adolescents are expected. Methods: The questionnaire surveys and physical examinations were conducted to examine the life style, weight-control behaviors, and the health status of 173 adolescent girls in Jeonju. Among the students surveyed, 162 answered seriously and were accepted as subjects for the study. Results: 1. The mean height was 160.4 cm and weight was 54.21 kg. The mean BMI of the girls was 21.1 kg/m2, which is normal. The percentages of the normal weight group (71.6%), overweight group (16.7%), obesity group (9.9%), underweight group (1.9%) were shown respectively. 2. The oriental medicine doctor examined the tongue diagnosis. The thin and white tongue fur was the most common (20.7%). This diagnosis showed no statistical significance to BMI. 3. The ideal height for the girls was 165 cm, and the ideal weight was 49 kg. 4. A considerable number of girls (50.6%) thought that a thin body figure was the most beautiful body shape for the women. 5. Even though the percentages of an actual overweight or obese group were 26.6%, 42.0% of the girls thought that they were plump. 6. 94.83% of the normal weight group concerned about the weight regulation. 7. Many girls were dissatisfied with their own body shape, and 86.9% of girls regarded being in a shape was important. 70.69% of the normal weight group answered that they were under stress of their body shapes. Conclusions: The findings of this study demonstrate that there are serious misconceptions on body shapes of the adolescent girls, and mostly, unnecessary and inadequate weight control behaviors were done. Therefore, establishing adequately education on their desirable body images and healthy life is needed for the adolescent girls. In this study, there is no significant relationship between BMI and tongue diagnosis. For the number of subjects is not enough, further study on the relationship between the two is expected.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.333-339
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• 2015

The study was intended to investigate the factors affecting dental caries in adults. To that end, adults aged 19 years and older among 10,113 subjects who completed the health-related questionnaire, medical examination and nutrition surveys in the first year (2013) of the 6th Korea National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey, and 4,843 subjects categorized as patients with permanent teeth caries were included in the final analysis. The prevalence of dental caries in line with socio-economic aspects was found to be higher in men than in women. In view of education, the prevalence of dental caries was high in high school graduates, middle school graduates, college graduates and other advanced degree holders in the order named. Low monthly income earners showed the highest prevalence of dental caries. As for health-related lifestyles, the prevalence of dental caries was higher in smokers than in non-smokers. Obese subjects showed a little higher prevalence of dental caries compared to people of normal weight. Also, the prevalence was higher in those who failed to get oral examination than otherwise. Frequent daily toothbrushing and use of dental floss and interdental brush significantly decreased the prevalence of dental caries. In the logistic regression analysis with the presence or absence of dental caries employed as a dependent variable, gender, age, income level, smoking, oral examination and use of dental floss were found to serve as independent variables affecting dental caries. Therefore, Korean adults' socio-economic factors and lifestyles were proved to affect dental caries, which warrants some dental health programs and action plans designed to help lead healthy lifestyles whilst preventing dental caries and improving dental health in adults.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.277-285
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• 2019

An inverse correlation between obesity and arterial stiffness has been reported, but there are no consistent results in elderly subjects. This study examined the relationship between the arterial stiffness measured by the CAVI (cardio-ankle vascular index) and BMI (body mass index) in healthy elderly people. This study included 629 healthy elderly people aged 65 and over who underwent health examinations at a general hospital in Gyeonggi from July 2018 to June 2019. Metabolic syndrome was diagnosed using the criteria of the Adult Treatment Panel (ATP) III of the US National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP). Among the criteria of NCEP-ATP III, the waist circumference and obesity criteria were based on the WHO criteria. All subjects underwent a biochemical blood test and an assessment of the CAVI. In both men and women, the CAVI was lower in the obese group than in the normal weight group. Gender (P=0.047), age (P<0.001), BMI (P<0.001), and waist circumference (P=0.008) were factors affecting the CAVI. Gender, high blood pressure, and hyperglycemia were independent positive predictors of the CAVI levels, while obesity was a negative predictor. Therefore, the CAVI and BMI showed an inverse correlation. In conclusion, there was an inverse correlation between the CAVI and BMI in the elderly, and obesity was a negative predictor of the CAVI.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.71 no.2
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• pp.114-119
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• 2011

Background: There is very limited data present on smoking cessation rates in outpatient departments of pulmonology. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a brief smoking cessation intervention program in an outpatient department of pulmonology and identify predictors of smoking cessation failure. Methods: After a brief recommendation of smoking cessation from pulmonologists, smokers willing to quit smoking were given individual counseling and supplement drugs. Fifty smokers were included in this study and baseline characteristics, smoking history and success rate were reviewed at 3 months. Results: The mean age of the patients was $58.3{\pm}14.6$ years and the total group of patients included 3 women. The rate of smoking cessation success was 74% at 3 months, and there were no differences in age, spirometric indexes and associated diseases between the smoking cessation success and failure group. The rate of supplement drug usage was not different in both groups either. However, body weight, mean number of cigarette usage per day and nicotine dependence scores in the failure group were significantly higher than in the success group. In multivariate analysis, body weight and mean number of cigarette usage per day were significant. Two smokers with a depressive disorder failed the smoking cessation. Conclusion: A smoking cessation intervention program in the outpatient department of pulmonology showed a favorable success rate. More intensive interventions are needed to unfavorable groups which include the obese and heavy smokers.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.101-106
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• 2005

Objectives : We conducted this study to examine the association between serum GGT levels within the normal range and the risk factors of cardiovascular diseases Methods : We examined the cross-sectional association between serum GGT and the systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, triglyceride, high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLcholesterol), and uric acid among 975 subjects that participated in the health examination of a university hospital located in Daegu city. All the patients' GGT levels were within the normal range. Results : After adjustment were made for age, body mass index (BMI), smoking status, drinking frequency, exercise frequency and coffee intake, the serum GGT level was positively associated with fasting blood glucose (p<0.01), total cholesterol (p<0.01), and triglyceride (p<0.01) in men, and it was positively associated with fasting blood glucose (p<0.01), total cholesterol (p<0.05), triglyceride (p<0.01), and uric acid (p<0.01) in women. The associations were not significantly different depending on the status of alcohol drinking or obesity, except for the associations of serum GGT with diastolic blood pressure (P for interaction=0.04) and uric acid (P for interaction=0.04) between the lean and obese subjects. Conclusions : Serum GGT levels within the normal range were positively associated with fasting blood glucose, triglyceride and uric acid in most subgroups irrespective of the drinking or obesity status. These results suggest that GGT has important clinical implications as being more than just a marker of alcohol consumption and hepatobiliary disease.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.29-49
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• 2000

Objectives: To estimate the prevalence rate of hypertension, the changes of health behavior, and compliance for the drug treatment after diagnosed as hypertension. Methods: 7,030 persons who live in Cheonan City of Chungnam Province were selected by the cluster sampling method, and 5,372 persons were surveyed by questionnaire and health examination. This data is analyzed by Chi-square test on each variable. Results: 49.8%- of men and 38.8%- of women had been diagnosed as hypertension, and the prevalence rate of hypertension was significantly increased with aging in both gender. The prevalence rate tended to decrease in highly educated women group. Unemployed persons or obese persons showed relatively higher prevalence rate. The prevalence rate of hypertension increased in groups with higher total cholesterol levels over 240 mg/dl, and groups with glucose level over 200 mg/dl. 53.1%- of male patients and 66.6%- of female patients showed compliance for antihypertensive treatment. Compliance for treatment was higher in aged group or lower educated group in both gender. Among men, proportion of compliant subjects was higher in unemployed group(49.3%-), and lower in labor or primary industry than the others but among women, there was not any significant difference. And men with compliance for treatment had higher monthly income than the others, but women did not show any. Conclusion : This population had a high prevalence rate of hypertension which may lead to cardiovascular disease. Therefore health education programs and distribution of information must be emphasized in order to increase compliance to treatment and encourage the change of health behavior to promote health.