• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.87-93
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• 2024

Background: In recent years, studies have shown conflicting results regarding the benefits of dietary supplements in reducing healthcare expenditures. This study aimed to address this inconsistency by examining the association between supplement consumption and health expenditures using nationally representative data from the Korea Health Panel Survey (2019-2020). Methods: A 1:1 matched case-control dataset was established using propensity score matching technique based on supplement consumption. Then, total annual healthcare expenditures were compared between the two groups. In addition, a multivariate regression analysis (Proc Surveyreg) was performed to determine the association between the supplement consumption and medical costs. Results: The supplement user group spent about 1.72 million Korean won, while the non-user group spent about 1.43 million Korean won on medical services (p=0.0186). The results of multivariate regression showed that the costs were approximately 26.15% higher in the user group than in the non-user group (p=0.0004). Conclusion: Contrary to the previous studies that have shown the benefits of supplement use in reducing healthcare costs, this study showed that those who consistently consumed supplements spent more on medical services. This can be interpreted in the same context as previous studies suggesting that dietary supplement intake is a healthy behavior for managing one's health. However, we caution against drawing firm conclusions due to data limitations. Further analysis using patient-level epidemiologic data is needed.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.410-417
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• 2010

Various functional foods, marketing health and functional effects, have been distributed in the market. These products, being in forms of foods, tablets, and capsules, are likely to be mistaken as drugs. In addition, non-experts may sell these as foods, or use these for therapy. Efforts for creating health food regulations or building regulatory system for improving the current status of functional foods have been made, but these have not been communicated to consumers yet. As a result, problems of circulating functional foods for therapy or adding illegal medical to such products have persisted, which has become worse by internet media. The cause of this problem can be categorized into (1) product itself and (2) its use, but in either case, one possible cause is lack of communications with consumers. Potential problems that can be caused by functional foods include illegal substances, hazardous substances, allergic reactions, considerations when administered to patients, drug interactions, ingredients with purity or concentrations too low to be detected, products with metabolic activations, health risks from over- or under-dose of vitamin and minerals, and products with alkaloids. (Journal of Health Science, 56, Supplement (2010)). The reason why side effects related to functional foods have been increasing is that under-qualified functional food companies are exaggerating the functionality for marketing purposes. KFDA has been informing consumers, through its web pages, to address the above mentioned issues related to functional foods, but there still is room for improvement, to promote proper use of functional foods and avoid drug interactions. Specifically, to address these issues, institutionalizing to collect information on approved products and their side effects, settling reevaluation systems, and standardizing preclinical tests and clinical tests are becoming urgent. Also to provide crucial information, unified database systems, seamlessly aggregating heterogeneous data in different domains, with user interfaces enabling effective one-stop search, are crucial.

• 식품문화 한맛한얼
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.154-156
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• 2012

편리함을 가장 큰 무기로 내세워 바쁜 현대인을 유혹하는 가공식품. 소비자들의 요구와 나날이 발전하는 식품공학의 지원사격 덕분에 '건강' 혹은 '웰빙'을 강조한 소위 기능성 가공식품들도 다양하게 선보이고 있다. 그러나 제대로 고르지 않으면 요란한 '웰빙' 문구 뒤에 숨겨진 식품첨가물의 덫을 피하기 어려운 것이 현실이다. 가공식품의 홍수 속에서 살아가는 현대인을 위해 좀 더 똑똑하게 가공식품의 선택 방법을 알아보자.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Food Hygiene and Safety Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.33-37
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• 2003

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Food Hygiene and Safety Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.103-114
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• 2004

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Food Hygiene and Safety Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.3-32
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• 2004

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.105-112
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• 2023

Lycopene, a carotenoid hydrocarbon is known to have effects on reducing cardiovascular risk factors, blood lipids, and blood pressure. Thus, a lot of supplementary foods with lycopene in several dosage forms like soft capsule filled with liquid and hard capsule filled with powder are available in a market. Recently, however, our research group found that the lycopene assay in Supplementary Food Code of South Korea is only valid for oily lycopene preparation. Thus, here, we developed a simple method to determine lycopene in solid preparations for Supplementary Food Code of South Korea using saponification and liquid chromatography with an absorbance detector. The method was validated following Ministry of Food and Drug Safety guidelines. All validation parameters observed in this study were within acceptable criteria of the guidelines (selectivity, linearity of r² ≥ 0.991, lower limit of quantification of 0.0149 mg/mL, accuracy as recovery (R) between 92.70 and 97.18 %, repeatability as relative standard deviation (RSD) values of R between 0.85 and 1.59 %, and reproducibility as the RSD value of interlaboratory R of 3.70 %). Additionally, the practical sample applicability of the validated method was confirmed by accuracy between 98.81 and 101.59 % observed from its lycopene certified reference material (CRM) analyses. Therefore, the present method could contribute to fortify the supplementary food safety management system in South Korea.

• Food Industry And Nutrition
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2013

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.55-62
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• 2014

This study aims to suggest a management system consisting of functional ingredients by establishing guidelines for the analysis of functional animal products in Korea. Further, the guidelines can be used for validity tests of functional animal products. In addition, we can standardize the management system for details, and frame new laws for functional animal products. We researched the current studies on the analysis and assessment of functional foods, and established standard methods of analysis. We devised new analysis and assessment techniques to determine the efficacy and safety of functional ingredients for the legislation and management of functional animal products. This study may contribute to not only the safety and quality of functional animal products but also to enhancing the nation's health and the national image as being health-oriented, through improvements in the productivity and quality of functional animal products.

• The Microorganisms and Industry
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.53-56
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• 1993

식물 발효식품은 발효대상이 되는 식물의 기능성에 발효미생물의 기능성, 또는 기타 발효산물의 기능성이 가미된 것으로 그 범위는 대단히 넓다. 그러나, 국내에 소개된 것은 복합야채를 착즙하여 mixed culture한 제품, 알로에즙을 이용한 발효제품, 각종 과육 및 야채의 혼합발효제품 등 10여가지 품목이 유통될 뿐이다. 이러한 시점에서 식물발효식품의 역사, 식물엑기스 발효식품의 영양학적 중요성, 각종 식물엑기스의 유용성분 및 앞으로의 가능성을 예측해 보고자 한다.