• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.269-281
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• 2024

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to compare dietary habits and mental health among middle school students in urban and rural areas based on bedtime, and to provide evidence supporting appropriate bedtime for Korean middle school students in relation to their healthy dietary habits and mental well-being. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The study population consisted of 25,681 second-year middle school students who participated in the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Survey in 2020-2022. Participants were asked about their bedtime and wake-up time during the past 7 days and were classified into five categories. The study compared the general characteristics, academic factors, dietary habits, and mental health of urban and rural students based on their bedtime. RESULTS: Bedtime was found to be later in the following order: urban female students, rural female students, urban male students, and rural male students. As bedtime got later, the rates of smoking and alcohol consumption increased. Students who went to bed before 11 p.m. had lower academic performance, while rural male students who went to bed after 2 a.m. had lower academic performance. Later bedtime was associated with increased smartphone usage, skipping breakfast, consuming fast food, and drinking carbonated beverages. Later bedtime was also associated with higher perceived stress levels, particularly among students who went to bed after 2 a.m., higher rates of suicidal ideation, experiencing sadness and despair, as well as the prevalence of clinically significant anxiety disorders. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that middle school students who go to bed too late have higher rates of smoking and alcohol drinking, as well as unhealthy eating habits, stress, suicidal ideation, sadness, and anxiety. Therefore, it is necessary to provide educational and social institutional support to promote adequate sleep for the health of adolescents.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.25-32
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• 2015

The objectives of this study were to investigate the individual characteristics, lifestyle habits, exposure levels, and genetic diversity of xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes involved in toluene metabolism in Korean and foreign workers exposed to toluene at a manufacturing plant. This study was conducted to determine the effects of culture or ethnicity on toluene metabolism. The results showed that blood and urinary toluene concentrations were dependent on the level of exposure to toluene. We analyzed the correlation between toluene metabolism and genetic diversity in glutathione S-transferase (GST) (M1), GSTT1, and cytochrome p-450 (CYP) $2E1^*5$ as well as lifestyle habits (smoking, drinking, and exercise habits). The results revealed significant correlations between toluene metabolism and GSTM1 and GSTT1 genetic diversity, as well as smoking and exercise.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.263-269
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• 2004

This study was conducted with the aim of providing the basic data for an informative and educational program designed to give a guideline how to keep and care the skin healthy and proper. Female freshmen, enrolled in colleges in Jeonbuk provincial area, were surveyed about their status of health and way of skin care and make-up. The results of research were summarized as follows: First, 268 students(65.4%) were 19 years old or younger. Among the respondents, 219 persons(54.4%) lived in small or medium cities and 271(66.1%) showed less than 20 of body mass index($kg/m^{2}$). Second, there were statistically significant correlations between dwelling place, drinking habit(p<0.05), and subjective health status(p<0.05) with health, skin care and make-up habit. Third, drinking, subjective health status appeared to be significant variables affecting facial skin(p<0.05) and health status(p<0.01), respectively. Forth, smoking and regular meal seemed to affect the length of make-up(p<.05) and smoking esd strongly connected with the extent of make-up. The way of thinking about cosmetics were affected by the habits of drinking(p<0.05) and smoking(p<0.01), respectively. Drinking habit was the significant variable of health affecting on the belief in the effect of cosmetics. Fifth, skin health was negatively correlated with drinking and smoking habits and positively with subjective health status, BMI($kg/m^{2}$) and frequency of make-up. Sixth, healthier state of facial skin appeared to be happened with statistical significance(p<0.01) in rural areas than in urban areas and with a person of higher than 20 of BMI($kg/m^{2}$) than of less than 20 from the regression analysis. It has been estimated that there were meaningful correlations between the status of health and make-up among female freshmen. Accordingly, the concept of health reinforcement can be adopted to skin care and skin maintenance, so various and comprehensive approaching methods were required to improve and reinforce the skin management and cosmetic culture.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.249-254
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• 2021

The aim of this study was to raise awareness about smoking and to facilitate the induction of smoking cessation. The participants were 49 patients who showed intention to participate in the test. The participants who had done a questionnaire, were asked to quit smoking for about an hour. After taking the breath deeply, they stopped for 20 seconds and measured breathing slowly. Carbon monoxide in the exhalation was higher when the daily smoking amount was higher and the smoking duration was longer, but not significant. In the case of smoking after meal and smoking in bed in the morning, the carbon monoxide level was significantly higher than that in the case of not smoking. It was significantly associated with skin allergic symptoms. The usual exercise habits, drinking and the respiratory disease were not correlated with carbon monoxide levels.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.415-420
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• 1999

Objectives: We investigated the effects of changes in obesity and life style factors, such as cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking, and exercise, on the changes in blood pressure and serum cholesterol among Korean men. Methods: This study included 7,205 healthy male employees in the steel manufacturing industry. Each subject underwent health examination in 1994 and was re-examined in 1997. The study subjects were classified into four categories, according to changes in body mass index (BMI) (loss; stable; mild gain: severe gain), cigarette smoking (quitter; nor-smoker; smoker continued; smoker started), alcohol drinking (quitter; non-drinker; drinker continued; drinker started) and exercise (more exercise; continuous regular exercise; continuous irregular or no exercise; less exercise), respectively. We evaluated the relationship between the categories of change in those independent variables and the changes in blood pressure and serum cholesterol, adjusted for BMI in 1994 and age by analysis of variance. Results: The change in systolic blood pressure was positively associated with the changes in BMI (p<0.001) and drinking (p=0,001), but negatively with smoking (p=0,004), compared to the first category of each independent variables. The systolic blood pressure was significantly less increased in the continuous smoking group than quitter or hon-smoker. The changes in diastolic blood pressure and serum cholesterol appeared to have statistically significant linear relationships only with the change in BMI. The change in exercise showed a marginal significance with diastolic blood pressure (p=0.088). Conclusions: These prospective data emphasize the importance of obesity as a determinant of the changes in blood pressure and serum cholesterol. In addition, the changes in smoking and drinking habits can affect systolic blood pressure.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.147-154
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• 2023

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the general characteristics of adolescents and their mental health in relation to experiences of heavy drinking. The research utilized raw data from the 18th Youth Health Behavior Online Survey (2022), focusing on 530 participants who reported experiencing heavy drinking in the past 30 days. The study applied weighted composite sample analysis, incorporating frequency, chi-square test, and logistic regression to examine the data. According to the research findings, experiences of heavy drinking showed statistically significant differences across variables such as gender, academic achievement, economic status, sexual experience, and smoking. Additionally, among the mental health characteristics, stress perception, depression, loneliness, suicidal thoughts, suicide planning, and suicide attempts were identified as influencing factors on heavy drinking experiences. These results underscore the need for prevention programs addressing alcohol consumption habits, considering the mental and physical health of adolescents. Developing programs that take into account the relationship between mental health and drinking habits can contribute to forming healthy lifestyle habits during adolescence.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.161-172
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• 2004

The dietary habits of middle-aged obese, overweight and normal subjects were evaluated for the purpose of providing the background information of the degenerative disease control. A survey was conducted with 293 subjects (121 males and 172 females) between the ages 40-64 and they were divided into three groups of normal (BMI 18.5-22.9), overweight (BMI 23-24.9) and obese ($BMI\geq25$) based on the criteria of Korean Obesity Association (2000). The mean age of the subjects was $52.0\pm7.3(male)\;and\;51.9\pm6.9$ (female). Socioeconomic levels of subjects belong to the mid-upper class, since 71.9% of the males and 39.5% of the females received above a college education. More than 40% (44.6%) of males and 22.1% of females were obese, and educational background did not affect the obesity rate in males, whereas in females those who received lower education had a higher rate of obesity (p ＜ 0.001). The subjects had a similar degree of drinking to the national average value. but had a lower degree of smoking. The obese group had the higher rate of drinking (p ＜ 0.01) and smoking (p ＜ 0.01). The annual increase in weight, more than 4 kg, was 8.8% for normal group and 30.9% for obese group. However, there were no differences in the mean annual increase in weight among the three groups. In females there were greater tendencies of weight changes in obese group (p ＜ 0.05). About 44.9% of subjects responded that they were exercising regularly, and the obese group appeared to put into practice less than the other groups and to use more strenuous exercise. There was the greater rate of skipping dinner in the obese female group (p ＜ 0.05). The unbalanced dietary pattern was found more with normal group than the other groups (p ＜ 0.01). The food consumption frequency by food groups was not different among the groups. The obese group consumed less frequently meats, vegetables and fruits and had higher frequency in fish, legumes and their products, instant or fast food. In all subjects the higher rate of obesity was found with males than females and with those of heavier smoking and drinking, and in females the higher rate of obesity was found with lower education levels, skipping meals and having an unbalanced diet. In middle-aged subjects of this study with higher educational and socioeconomic background factors contributing to the effects of obesity may include smoking, drinking, educational background, skipping meals or unbalanced dietary pattern. The predictable characteristics for the development of obesity can be defined as sudden fluctuation of weights, exercise regularity and intakes of vegetables and fruits.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.39 no.8
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• pp.773-785
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• 2006

Vitamin E in the body system plays an important role in preventing chronic diseases by decreasing the oxidative stress by free-radicals. However, there are not enough researches on analyzing the primary factors affecting vitamin E levels in the blood in Korean adults. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to examine blood tocopherol levels and the primary factors affecting the status. A complete lifestyle survey was performed on 314 Korean adult men and surveyed their smoking, drinking and exercising habits. The average plasma level of ${\alpha}-\;and\;{\gamma}-tocopherol$ showed similar mutual relations with plasma total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), or low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels (p<0.001). Plasma ${\alpha}-tocopherol$ level of the subjects did not show any difference as smoking, drinking and exercising habits changed. However, ${\gamma}-tocopherol$ per TG showed much lower figure in smokers than non smokers (p < 0.05). Amongst diet factors, plasma ${\alpha}-tocopherol$ level showed negative correlations with Vitamin E intake, while ${\gamma}-tocopherol$ level showed positive correlations with Vitamin E intake. Erythrocyte superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and plasma tocopherol showed negative correlations, and catalase activity and plasma ${\alpha}-tocopherol$ showed positive correlationship. The level of cell DNA damage of Iymphocyte and plasma ${\alpha}-\;or\;{\gamma}-tocopherol$ showed negative correlations. As a result of this research, the factors that affect Korean adult men's plasma ${\alpha}-tocopherol$ level are plasma TG, LDL-C and cell DNA damage in Iymphocyte, while the factors that affect ${\gamma}-tocopherol$ level are plasma TG, LDL-C and vitamin E intake based on multiple regression analysis. These findings implies that the level of different types of tocopherol depends on slightly different factors. A further research is needed on the factors involved in the differentiation of the types of tocopherol.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.187-199
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• 2015

Objectives : This study was conducted to examine social factors associated with problematic drinking among middle- and older-aged men in South Korea. Methods : The data were collected from the baseline survey of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging, and the sample consisted of 3,631 men between 45 and 64 years of age and 1,173 men aged 65 or older. This study employed variables identifying various socioeconomic features, social ties, and health-related factors. Logistic regressions were used for the data analysis. Results : Middle-aged men having frequent social relationship with close persons were significantly more likely to be problematic drinkers than those having less frequent social relationships with close persons. Lower education, unemployment, smoking, and depression were associated with problematic drinking only among middle-aged men. Conclusions : We suggest that health professionals develop specific intervention strategies that could lead to more moderate alcohol habits and better health in middle aged Korean men who are actively engaged in social networks. In addition, health professionals need to focus more on the unemployed, lower educated, depressed, and smoking groups for early detection of problematic drinking among middle-aged Korean men.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.527-538
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• 2002

Body antioxidant status is an important factor in the prevention of many chronic diseases caused by oxidative stress, especially in the elderly and is affected by health-related habits, such as smoking, drinking and regular physical activity. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between these health-related habits and plasma antioxidant status in the elderly. Plasma antioxidant status was examined by determining plasma levels of antioxidant vitamins (vitamin C, A, E, $\beta$ -carotene), total antioxidant status (TAS) and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance (TBARS) . The subjects included 225 elderly persons aged over 60 yews (63 males, 162 females) living in the Ulsan area. They were interviewed to collect data on their general characteristics and health behaviors such as smoking, exercise and alcohol consumption by means of questionnaires. Their dietary intakes were obtained by means of semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) The study population was divided into two or three groups according to their smoking, drinking, and exercise status. The ratio of smoker, drinker and exerciser was 16.7%, 31.0% and 44.2% respectively. The dietary antioxidant vitamin intakes were not significantly different among groups of smoking and drinking status, but tended to be higher in non-smokers and non-drinkers than in smokers and drinkers. Plasma vitamin C and $\beta$ -carotene levels were significantly higher in non-smokers, but Plasma vitamin A and TBARS levels were significantly lower in non-smokers than in smokers. Plasma TAS was not significantly different among the smoking groups, but showed a tendency to decrease with an increase in the number of packyear. Plasma vitamin C and $\beta$ -carotene levels of the non-drinkers were higher than those of drinkers and past-drinkers, but plasma vitamin A, C, E, TAS and TBARS showed no difference among the groups of drinker. All vitamin intakes of the exercisers were slightly higher than those of the non-exercisers, but vitamin C intake was significantly higher in female exercisers than in non-exercisers. Plasma $\beta$ -carotene levels were significantly higher in male exercisers and plasma vitamin A, C, E, TAS and TBARS levels tended to be higher in exercisers than in non-exercisers. These results suggested that change to non-smoker, modulation of alcohol consumption and regular exercise could enhance antioxidant defences against reactive oxygen species and might increase the likelihood of a healthier life span.