Food neophobia, unwillingness to try novel foods, is a personality trait that can influence children's food preferences and consequently their food acceptance and consumption. The purpose of this study was to determine whether children with food neophobia have poor dietary and growth outcomes compared to non-neophobic children. Subjects were 332 primary school children from 6 randomly selected schools in the district of Hulu Selangor, Selangor. Parents and children were interviewed to obtain demographic, socio-economic, food neophobia and dietary intake information. The children were also measured for weights and heights. One-way ANOVA and Chi-square procedures were utilized for statistical data analysis. Children with food neophobia had higher intakes of energy and most nutrients than average and neophilic children. However, only the mean intakes of protein (p < 0.05) , fat (p < 0.05), vitamin A (p < 0.01) and iron (p < 0.01) were significantly higher in neophobic than average or neophilic children. Compared to neophilic and average groups, a higher percentage of neophobic children met 2/3 of the RNIs for energy $(85.2\%)$, protein $(98.4\%)$ and vitamin A $(72.1\%)$. Mean percentage of carbohydrate energy was lowest$(54.8\pm6.6\%)$ while fat energy $(31.8\pm6.2\%)$ was highest among neophobic children. Neophobic group had the lowest percentage of children $(49.2\%)$ with carbohydrate energy > $55\%$ but highest percentage $(50.8\%)$ with fat energy > $30\%$. For the three study groups, the mean number of servings for all food groups, except grain and cereal, did not meet the Food Pyramid recommendations. Neophobic children consumed significantly more numbers of servings from the meat group than average and neophilic groups (p < 0.01). All study groups had relatively low mean dietary diversity scores but neophobic children had the lowest score $(0.67\pm0.73)$ compared to the average $(0.97\pm0.72)$ and neophilic $(1.98\pm0.81)$ groups. Significant difference in mean dietary diversity scores were only observed between neophobic and neophilic children (p<0.05). Higher percentages of neo-phobic children had low weight-for-height and were at-risk of overweight(p < 0.05). Nutrition practitioners need to understand children's food preferences in their efforts to promote healthful diets for children. To improve children's eating behaviors, parents may need the guidance and support from nutritionists and dietitians that are specific to their needs and their child's situation.

This study was conducted by surveying 616 male workers living in Ulsan City regarding their health status based on lifestyles such as alcohol consumption, smoking and exercising as well as physical measurements and biochemical tests. The average height, weight and BMI(body mass index, $kg/m^2$) of the subjects was 170.9cm, 70.2kg and 24.2, respectively. The rate of drinking was $80.9\%$ and the rate of smoking was $53.4\%$. Seventy four percent of subjects responded that they exercise regularly. The results of the blood biochemical tests revealed that the average hemoglobin concentration was 14.7g/dl, and the levels of GPT(glutamic pyruvic transaminase) and GOT (glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase) were 32.74unit/l, 26.99 unit/l, respectively. The average hemoglobin concentration for the subjects aged in the 50s was 14.39g/dl, which was significantly lower than those in the 20s(14.81g/dl), 30s(14.69g/dl) and 40s(14.73g/dl). The blood glucose level and the cholesterol level also increased with age. Also investigated was the blood pressure of the subjects increased with age,. and there was a significant increase(p < 0.05) for the subjects in the 50s compared to those in the 20s. The frequency of alcoholic beverages was significantly correlated with systolic/ diastolic blood pressure(p < 0.05) and $\gamma-GTP(gamma\;glutamyl\; transpeptidase)$(p<0.01). The duration of smoking showed a negative correlation(p < 0.05) with the hemoglobin and positive correlations with diastolic blood pressure, cholesterol and $\gamma-GTP(p<0.01)$. The study shows that blood pressure, blood glucose level, cholesterol level, GOT, GPT and $\gamma­GTP$ level, increase with age, which indicates higher possibility of degenerative diseases, calling for nutritional education in terms of advisable lifestyles regarding eating habits, alcohol consumption, smoking and regular exercise.

This study was conducted to evaluate the health status of staff by medical examination data according to the work classification as professional, office worker and laborer in K University in Seoul, Korea. Two thousand four hundred and eighty-four staff (men : 1154, female: 1330) from the university were studied for this report. The anthropometric (height, weight and BMI) and blood pressure (systolic, diastolic) and biochemical parameters (hemoglobin, glucose, cholesterol, AST, ALT) were measured. All groups were calculated using GLM multivariate analysis for three groups after adjustment for age. The average BMI was significantly higher in laborers than professionals and officers after adjustment for age. In blood pressure, especially in SBP, the significant difference was found in females according to the job classification. Blood glucose levels of female laborers were significantly higher than those of officers and professionals. The level of blood total cholesterol of male professionals was significantly higher than those of laborers. The level of blood total cholesterol of female laborers was significantly higher than officers or professionals. Importantly, significant differences were found in BMI, SBP, blood glucose level and cholesterol level of female staff after adjustment for age. These results showed that there were differences in health subjects of staff according to the work classification. This study would provide basic data to prepare the program of health promotion for the college staff according to work classification. Further research is required to discover factors influencing health promotion of staff in colleges.

Food handling practices playa key role in the prevalence of food-borne illness. Despite the fact that pregnant women are high risk groups for food-borne disease, little is known about their actual food handling practices at home. The objective of this study was to investigate behaviors regarding food-related hygienic practices of pregnant women. The questionnaire included questions in five major areas : personal hygiene ; adequate cooking ; avoiding cross contamination ; keeping food at safe temperatures ; and avoiding food from unsafe sources. Analysis of 488 questionnaires showed the respondents were unaware of the importance of safe food handling practices. Especially, pregnant women in our study should be encouraged to be careful about either risk of adequate cooking $(2.08\pm0.66)$ and keeping foods at safe temperatures $(2.69\pm0.63)$. Residency and number of children were consistent independent predictors of food handling behaviors. Previous food safety education also was found to have significant effect on food handling practices. TV news and newspapers were considered the most usable sources of food safety information by respondents. The behaviors identified in this study represent ones of particular importance for high-risk populations, like pregnant women. These population characteristics identified in this study could be incorporated in development of food safety educational programs for pregnant women being vulnerable on food-borne illness. Our results could have implications for the design of effective food safety educational efforts. This study indicates the need for continued and improved food safety education and for enforcing systematic food safety education for pregnant women.

This exploratory study investigated the software programs utilized by clinical dietitians and their perceptions on the use of information technology. The study focused on the use of specialized software for dietetics, general software for any office use and the Internet. A self-administered survey was used to collect data from clinical dietitians identified in the Kentucky Dietetic Association Directory 2003-2004. The survey was conducted in March through April, 2004. A total of 22 responses were collected, which yielded a response rate of $68\%$. Findings suggest that computer use has become a routine for optimal clinical practice ; major specialized software programs are used for nutrition assessment, nutrition analysis and menu development. Use of specialized software appears to be unassociated with dietitians' age and years of experience ; however, the associations are indicated between use of specialized software and education level as well as their specialty ; word processing and spreadsheet are the major general software used. Internet is used mainly for information search and communication. Respondents perceived that overall work efficiency and productivity significantly increased with computer use. The complexity of software is the major barrier encountered so training is the most needed support by the department. Strategic promotion on the use of specialized software should be targeted to the management team of the hospitals/facilities.

This study was done to analyze the contents of food and nutrition information in daily newspapers. Articles in four newspapers(Chosun, Donga, Hankook, Joongang Ilbo) published during November 2003 to April 2004 were monitored. In analysis, 216 articles were used. Classifying the articles by topics, cuisine/cooking $(19.4\%)$ and food/ nutrition related to diseases $(18.1\%)$ were most common. Articles regarding food sanitation or safety, obesity and diet accounted for $12.5\%$, respectively. Other topics in articles included food culture$(11.1\%)$, balanced meals/eating habits $(10.6\%)$ and functional foods $(7.9\%)$. About $77\%$ of articles were written for unspecified persons. Regarding the types of articles, news articles made up $44\%$ of monitored articles, followed by feature articles $(14.8\%)$, advertisement by articles $(12.9\%)$, serials by professionals $(11.6\%)$, and information of daily life $(8.8\%)$. Nineteen percent of articles did not have specific sources, while $20.8\%$ were based on interviews with professionals. Other sources of articles included research reports $(14.8\%)$, field reports $(12.1\%)$ and literature $(8.8\%)$. Contents analysis showed that four-fifth of articles were evaluated as 'contents and titles are consistent', 'not difficult to understand', 'contents are not exaggerated', and 'information is not overgeneralized'. Seventy-one percent of articles were evaluated positively on increasing awareness regarding food/nutrition, while $56.5\%$ were evaluated as providing practical information. The major problems in articles were 'intentional or indirect advertisements of specific items/companies' ($74.6\%$ of articles applicable), 'lacking in scientific basis/explanation' $(65.3\%)$, 'presenting unbalanced information due to focusing on specific area' $(46.7\%)$, 'unclearness of contents' $(38.4\%)$, and 'lacking in explanation of technical terms' $(35.2\%)$. To provide reliable information, stating the sources of articles clearly and supplementing the articles with scientific basis and balanced information on specific topics are needed. It is also necessary to explain the contents and technical terms clearly and to reduce the contents of intentional, indirect advertisement in nutrition-related articles.

The present investigation was undertaken in vivo to determine whether the functional alterations of hepatic mitochondria induced by ethanol might be prevented by taurine. We examined the effects of supplementation of taurine on hepatic mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation in the chronic ethanol-administered rats. Isolated hepatic mitochondria from three groups of rats were functionally tested by an analysis of $\beta-hydroxbutyrate-supported$ respiration and the coupling of this process to ATP synthesis in the presence of ADP. The three groups were control group(CO), ethanol(60g/L) administered group (AL), and ethanol (60g/L) + taurine (5g/L) supplemented group (AT). Ethanol and/or taurine were given in drinking water for 10 weeks. The mitochondria from AL group had lower state 4 respiratory rate, respiratory control (RC) ratio and ADP : O(P/O) ratio than those from CO and AT group. It showed that the ethanol administered rats were less coupled and thus less efficient with respect to mitochondrial ATP synthesis than both control rats and ethanol + taurine supplemented rats. It suggests that taurine supplementation might improve the impaired oxidative phosphorylation efficiency in mitochondrial dysfunction that is recognized as a cause of liver diseases in chronic ethanol consumption.