• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.23-36
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• 2021

Objectives: This study sought to assess the prevalence and duration of weight-control or health functional food use, associated weight-control behavior, perception, and knowledge among university students. Methods: The subjects were 442 university students in Cheonju, Korea, and data was collected by a self-administered questionnaire. Both χ2 and t-tests were conducted for categorical and mean comparisons. Results: An estimated 62.7% (female 69.0%, male 54.8%) had ever attempted weight-control. Among these, an estimated 59.2% of females and 38.9% of males had used weight-control or health functional foods with significant gender difference. The weight-control foods commonly used included chicken breast, protein powder, low-fat milk and soymilk, and meal replacement drinks, while garcinia cambogia extract and green tea extract were frequently used as health functional foods. One of 10 (10.3%) consumers of weight-control foods reported ≥ 7 months use, with less frequent long-term consumption of health functional foods (4.2%). The average degree of satisfaction was 3.24 ± 0.92 for weight-control foods and 2.72 ± 0.97 for health functional foods on a 5-point scale, meaning 'slightly satisfied' and 'slightly dissatisfied', respectively. Females or students with an experience of weight-control reported poorer perceptions of their health and body image as well as a higher need for weight control. Besides, both male and female subjects felt a high need for correct information regarding weight-control methods. Conclusions: Our results provide a better understanding of the characteristics associated with the use of weight-control or health functional foods among university students and will be useful in developing a nutrition education program by incorporating correct body image, knowledge, and practical yet desirable practices for weight control.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.31-41
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• 1988

The purpose of the present study was to test the behavior of dietary life, the preception of body image and the attitude of body weight control of the subjects, and to imagine difference of value evaluation about thirteen foods. the subjects were 570 high school students who were living in Seoul. The results can be summarized as follows: 1. In selecting actual and ideal body sizes from a series of five outline drawings of female figures that ranged form 20% underweight to 20% overweight, 64% of the subjects selected overweight drawing s as their actual sizes, and 85.1% of the subjects selected underweight ones as the ideal sizes. 59.3% of the subjects had a desire to lose weight, 20.8% to gain weight. Those who think they are thinner than standard body weight were more satisfied with their body sizes than those who think they are fatter than that. Most subjects (79.8%) were concerned about their weight control, and the majority of them (36.1%) began to take concerns about it in their high school days, through the conversation with their friends about their body sizes. 2. In this study, thirteen foods were chosen as samples; rice, bread, salad, milk, cola, cider, juice, duck-bok-ki, chocolate, batterfriend foods, chinese noodles, cookies, fruits. Most of them evaluated foods on the basis of the taste. They valued fruits over any other foods as least fattened food, while they thought of such foods as rice, cola, cider, ice-cream, chocolate, batter-fried food, chinese noodles as fattened foods.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.81-93
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• 2022

Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the experience and perception among adult women regarding weight control and the consumption of weight-control foods or health functional foods based on their body mass index (BMI). Methods: The subjects were 634 adult women from the Chungcheong province, Korea, and data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire from July 2021 through September 2021. The subjects were divided into four groups based on their BMI status: underweight (< 18.5 kg/m², 7.6%), normal weight (18.5 ~ 22.9 kg/m², 53.3%), overweight (23 ~ 24.9 kg/m², 19.7%), and obese (≥ 25 kg/m², 19.4%). Results: Over the past 3 years, almost two-thirds (68.6%) of the adult women had tried weight control measures, despite the fact that a significant proportion of them were normal or underweight. More importantly, 57.6% of subjects reported the consumption of weight-control foods, with a lower proportion in the underweight (35.4%) group compared to the normal (56.2%), overweight (62.4%), and obese (65.0%) groups. The food items used for weight control were mostly salads, chicken breasts, low fat (soy) milk, slimming tea, protein shakes, low-calorie cereals, and energy/protein bars among others. In addition, one-third (31.1%) of the subjects reported the use of health functional foods containing ingredients for fat reduction. A significantly higher proportion of these was from the overweight (36.0%) and obese (38.2%) groups compared to the underweight (20.8%) and normal weight (28.1%) groups. Products containing Garcinia cambogia extract, green tea, or Cissus extract, were popular among users. Subjects who were obese had a poorer perception of their health and body. Most subjects felt the need for correct information regarding weight control, but this number was significantly more in the higher BMI groups. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the use of weight-control foods or health functional foods is popular among adult women, especially those who are obese. Thus, nutrition education courses covering facts about weight control and practice need to be developed and provided based on the BMI status of subjects.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.176-188
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• 2008

In this study, we compared demographic anthropometric characteristic, health-related lifestyle and diet behavior among weight control behaviors of 1187 (555 male, 632 female) aged $40{\sim}69yrs$ in Ganghwa country. All the data were analyzed by chi-square test, trend test, student t-test using SPSS 12.0 version at p < 0.05. 'Attempting weight control (loss)' was more in women than that was found in men (36.6% vs 20.7%), and women attempting weight loss most were 40-50 yrs. The reasons of weight loss were 'health problem' and 'health promotion'. Physical activity and diet restriction were commonly employed as weight control methods. Both genders attempting weight loss had a higher education level, BMI, percentage of body fat, waist circumference and physical activity than those not attempting weight control (p < 0.05). In dietary habits like 'meal regularity', 'slow eating' and 'over eating', women attempting weight loss were superior than those who not attempting weight control group (p < 0.05). Eating pattern changes like 'decrease of fats and fatty foods intake', 'vegetable oil usage', 'increase of fruit and vegetables intake', 'decrease of sugar and salt intake' showed significant differences (p < 0.001) between the attempted weight control groups and nonattempted weight control groups. Salt taste was a preference in male non-attempted weight control group, while sour, hot and spicy taste were preference in female attempted weight control group (p < 0.05). Preference for processed foods, fried foods and snack were significant differences (p < 0.05) in women attempted weight control group. Those attempting weight loss tried to improve their eating patterns. However, those attempting weight loss were poorer than the others in health-related lifestyle and eating habit. Therefore, it is necessary to make an effort that improve healthrelated lifestyle and diet behavior in middle aged group.

• Archives of Obesity and Metabolism
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.59-65
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• 2022

Obesity is a serious health concern, which has been linked to an increased risk for cardiovascular diseases and some cancers. The traditional obesity control program is expensive. Moreover, it is difficult to maintain a healthy body weight as well as reduce body fat. The long-term use of effective and tolerable medication is carefully recommended to control body weight. In addition to obesity control medications, health functional foods, related to body weight control, have become popular in the commercial market. Known mechanisms include lipolysis, appetite control, inflammation reduction, and lean body mass maintenance. Previous clinical trials have documented the efficacy of some health functional foods; however, there are limitations. Studies on the potential roles and efficacy of some health functional foods, including caffeine, green tea, protein supplement, probiotics, and arginine, were reviewed. More large-scale and randomized placebo-controlled trials should be conducted eventually.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.546-553
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• 1999

This study was undertaken to develop and evaluate a nutrition education program with internet for students. A survey was conducted to find out needs for nutrition education program with 430 college or high school student in October, 1997. Eighty four point eight percent of female and 36.0% of male students had a plan to reduce their weight in a near future. Forty four point four percent of subjects obtained information about weight control from mass media, 28.6% of subjects obtained from their neighbor's recommendation. The information wanted to know were high-calorie foods, answered by 42.1% of females, and calorie expenditure of exercise, answered by 31.9% of males. The obese group showed higher preferrence to sweet foods, salty foods, hot foods, convenience foods, processed foods, animal foods, fried and oily foods, and eating-out than normal group(p<0.05). The obese group also showed a tendency of bad food habits, low intake of seaweeds, high intakes of animal fat, cholesterol-rich foods and salty foods. Amount of food intakes was inappropriate in obese group. An internet program for nutrition education was developed using the results of the survey and juvenile nutrition programs. The program consisted of 6 steps ; step 1 was to check one's physical status, step 2 was explanation about good food habits, step 3 was about food management, step 4 was methods of exercise for health, step 5 included how to maintain ideal weight, and step 6 was related-internet site. Pre-education test and post-education test was conducted to evaluate the nutrition education through internet. The score of nutrition knowledge increased from $74.2{\pm}7.4$ to $77.2{\pm}9.6.$ The score of food attitude did not change. The subjects wanted more information about nutrition from internet. Therefore, internet program of nutrition education with specific and interesting topics should be developed more.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.243-254
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to investigate the general characteristics, body shape, and perceptions of weight control in individuals consuming functional health foods and weight-control foods. The survey was conducted between April 15 and June 17, 2010 among 199 (57 males and 142 females; age range, 25-45 years) in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do, who experienced eating functional health foods or weight control foods during the past year (June 2009 to June 2010). The subjects were divided into a weight-control food group (89 adults) and a functional health food group (110 adults). The subjects were comprised of a high proportion of aged (average age, $34.2{\pm}5.9$ years), graduates (71.9%), and married (65.8%) individuals. In the weight control food group, gender, age, and educational background were similar and the ratios of service/technical employees, college students, and normal-weight individuals [body mass index (BMI), < 23] were high. BMI was significantly different by gender (p < 0.001), age (p < 0.01), marital status (p < 0.001), and job type (p < 0.001). Self-perceived health status showed a higher response for "in good health" in the 35-44 year old group than that in the 25-34 year old group (p < 0.05). Male group satisfaction for body shape was significantly higher than that in the female group. The main reason for going on a diet was significantly different by gender (p < 0.05) and BMI (p < 0.01). The main motives for dieting were "because I am not at an ideal weight" and "because of the social atmosphere and the attention of others " in men, but "can't wear the clothes I want" in women (p < 0.01). The most preferable product type related to the two groups was significantly different by job (p < 0.001) and BMI (p < 0.05). However, no significant differences were observed for questions about body shape perception and weight control. Consumers who had different general characteristics and used diet products perceived body shape and weight control differently. Additionally, no meaningful differences were observed when the results were categorized by product type, except job and BMI, but the distribution of consumer characteristics showed different tendencies. These results can be utilized as basic data for developing new diet products to help people control their weight more scientifically and appropriately in the future.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.55-66
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• 2009

This study was aimed to examine nutrition knowledge, dietary attitudes, and eating habits of elementary school students and to examine if their characteristics differ by gender. Subjects were 5th and 6th graders of an elementary school (n = 317) in Seoul, and the survey was done during July 2007. Mean height, weight, BMI of subjects was 148.1 cm. 41.7 kg, 19.0, and 14.3% of subjects were categorized as the overweight/obese group. Anthropometric data were not significantly different by gender. Mean score of nutrition knowledge was 14.9 out of 20 showing moderate knowledge levels, and girls scored higher on nutrition knowledge than boys (p < 0.05). Subjects showed knowledge deficit in areas such as nutrients, food groups and specific weight control information. The percentages of correct answers regarding meals for brain function were significantly higher in girls than in boys (p < 0.05). They got nutrition information mainly from mass media and family/relatives. The mean score of dietary attitudes was 41.2 (possible score: 10-50) indicating somewhat positive attitudes, and the score of eating behaviors was 34.8 (possible score: 15-45). Subjects showed problems in eating habits such as having unbalanced diets and snack foods. 82.6% of subjects had unbalanced meals, and these percentages were higher in girls (87.2%) than in boys (78.1%, p < 0.05). Vegetables and fish/shellfish were the most disliked foods. Specific eating behaviors, such as eating slowly, eating grains and having processed foods less frequently, were better in girls than in boys (p < 0.05). Results also showed that majority of subjects need to improve specific behaviors including having diverse foods, eating meals slowly, having meals at regular times, having adequate foods in each food groups, and eating sweets or salty foods less frequently. Only 52.7% of subjects perceived their body images as normal, and 56.4% had experience of weight control. Reasons for weight control were different by gender (p < 0.05). Based on these findings, nutrition education for school children should focus on modifying eating habits or eating behaviors, by suggesting practically applicable methods and providing nutrition information that is interesting and suitable to school-aged children.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.10-15
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• 2012

A 12-week repeated-dose oral toxicity study of water-soluble Orostachys japonicus extract (WOJ) was performed in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats of both genders. Each group of ten rats was orally administered in doses of either 0 or 250 mg/day over a 12-week period. As a result, no WOJ-related changes were observed in terms of survival rate, clinical signs, body weight, or food intake. In addition, no difference in organ weight between the control and treated groups was detected. Furthermore, serum biochemistry parameters revealed some changes within normal ranges although significant decreases in total-bilirubin in the females. In spite of some alterations in serum biochemistry, the clinical signs, body weight changes from food intake, and autoptical remarks indicated that WOJ was not toxic. This study suggests that repeated treatment of O. japonicus very low toxicity and the NOAEL (no observed adverse effect dose) of WOJ exceeds 250 mg/kg in the SD rats.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.210-217
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• 2006

This study was performed to investigate effects of the experimental mixture containing soybean peptides, L-carnitine and Garcinia Cambogia extract on body weight and lipid metabolism in rats. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (n=40) of eight weeks old were raised for four weeks with high fat diet (40% fat as calorie) to induce obesity. After induction of obesity, rats were feed control (C) diet, containing either 0.16% (+1D), 1.6% (+10D), 8% (+50D) of experimental mixture for eight weeks. Plasma aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity and total protein and albumin concentration were not different among groups. The Body weight gain was significantly lower in experimental mixture diet group compared to control group. Weights of perirenal fat pad and epididymal fat pad in the +50D group were significantly lower than those in the +1D and +10D groups. Plasma total lipid and liver total cholesterol levels in the experimental groups were significantly lower than those in the control group. Fecal total lipid and total cholesterol excretions were highest in +50D group. These results suggest that the experimental mixture containing peptides, L-carnitine and Garsinia Canbogia extract is effective for reducing the body weight and adipose tissue weight which may be due to the modulation of lipid metabolism and the increased fecal excretion of lipid.