• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.61 no.12
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• pp.375-380
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• 2018

With the increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity worldwide, early adiposity rebound, which is known to have a strong association with obesity, has recently been a focus of research. Early adiposity rebound is conventionally known to have a close relationship with non-communicable diseases. However, novel insights into early adiposity rebound have implied an acceleration of growth and puberty, which is directly reflected in the trends in the timing of adiposity rebound, in the 21st century compared with in the past. Furthermore, the observation that lean mass changes rather than fat mass changes show a more similar pattern to body mass index trajectories is interesting. In this article, the later outcomes and risk factors of early adiposity rebound are briefly summarized, and the current trends in the timing of adiposity rebound and novel insights into its relationship with body composition are reviewed.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.57-63
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• 2017

A new body adiposity index (BAI) has been proposed that is expected to replace body mass index (BMI). We evaluated the correlations between metabolic syndrome risk factors and BAI, BMI, and other adiposity indices, such as waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), by sex in the Korean population. We also evaluated whether BAI would be useful to diagnose metabolic syndrome. A total of 20,961 Korean adults who underwent health examinations were included in this study. The metabolic syndrome diagnostic criteria used in this study were those set by the American Heart Association/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (AHA/NHLBI). In men (12,719), BMI and WHtR were more strongly correlated to metabolic syndrome risk than BAI, and in women (8,242), WHtR showed the strongest association with metabolic syndrome risk. BAI (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.678) presented lower discriminatory capacity than that of BMI (AUC = 0.836) for diagnosing metabolic syndrome. Moreover, BAI underestimated fat levels in men and women when considering the ability to discriminate overweight and obese individuals. In conclusion, WHtR and BMI in men, and WHtR in women may be better candidates than BAI to evaluate metabolic risk factors in Korean adults.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.31 no.7
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• pp.1130-1138
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• 1998

The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between changes in body temperature, adiposity and sympathoadrenal activity in normal weight female college students, eating an instant-noodle lunch in a laboratory setting at ambient temperatures of 22-24.8$^{\circ}C$. Preprandial epinephrine(EPI) concentration, as an indicator of adrenal activity, was inversely and significantly correlated with body weight, body mass index(BMI), and waist girth. Changes in pre- and postprandial EPI concentrations showed positive correlations with % body fat, fat mass, waist girth, hip girth, and waist/hip girth ratio(WHR). The preprandial norepinephrine (NE) concentration was negatively correlated with recovery time from the peak postprandial core temperature to the meal-start core temperature(RTST). However, the NE concentration, an indicator of sympathetic neural activity, was not related to anthropometric measurements in normal weight young women. In conclusion, adrenal activity was negatively associated with adiposity and central body fat distribution. Sympathetic activity was related to body temperature regulation capacity after a meal, but was not related to adiposity in normal weight young women. (Korean J Nutrition 31(7) 1130-1138, 1998)

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.220-228
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• 2018

Purpose: This study was conducted to measure adiposity and to investigate related factors in preschoolers born prematurely. Methods: A longitudinal follow-up study was conducted with 52 preschoolers at 5 years of corrected age among 343 preterm infants. Their adiposity status was evaluated based on measurements of body mass index, subscapular and triceps skin fold thickness (SFT), waist circumference, waist-to-height ratio, and mid-arm circumference at a home visit. Results: The findings showed that SFT measurements, particularly at the triceps, reflected the degree of adiposity more accurately than other conventional measures. A shorter gestation, older maternal age, and the mother having more years of formal education were associated with higher levels of adiposity in the preschoolers. Conclusion: The adiposity of children born prematurely needs to be thoroughly monitored with additional SFT measurements, considering the risk of accelerated growth patterns overriding regular catch-up growth in children born prematurely.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.206-211
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• 2016

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Obesity, which is a known risk factor for many chronic diseases, has also been associated with vitamin D deficiency. This study explored the relationship between serum 25-hydroxy-vitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations and adiposity measures in a general Korean population using the most recent, nationally representative survey data. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The study sample consisted of 4,771 Korean adults (${\geq}19years$) who participated in the fifth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. Serum 25(OH)D was determined by radioimmunoassay. Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and total body fat content were measured as adiposity measurements. Total body fat content was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. RESULTS: The serum 25(OH)D level was significantly higher in men than in women. Serum 25(OH)D concentration was positively correlated with energy intake, and it was negatively correlated with total body fat content (P < 0.0001) and percentage body fat (P < 0.0001) after adjustment for age in both sexes, while was inversely correlated with BMI only in women. In multivariable regression analysis, serum 25(OH)D was inversely associated with the total body fat content after adjustment for age, BMI, education, region, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and energy intake only in men (P = 0.0047). However, the serum 25(OH)D concentration was not associated with WC or BMI, indicators of adiposity after adjustment for potential risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: Serum 25(OH)D concentration was independently associated with the total body fat content in a general Korean population, but it may be not associated with the indicators for estimating adiposity, such as WC or BMI.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.578-584
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• 2017

Purpose: Excess intake of sodium is a major diet-related risk factor for human diseases including hypertension and cancer as well as obesity and inflammation. However, findings are still controversial, and evidence is lacking in Koreans. Therefore, for better understanding of the role of dietary sodium intake in disease etiology, this study investigated the effects of dietary sodium intake on adiposity, inflammation, and hormones in Koreans. Methods: A total of 80 males and females joined the study. The general characteristics and dietary intake data were investigated by trained interviewers using a questionnaire and 24-h dietary recall, respectively. For the markers of adiposity, body weight, body mass index, percent of body fat, visceral fat area, and waist and hip circumference were measured. For the inflammation and hormone markers, leptin, adiponectin, insulin, tumor necrosis $factor-{\alpha}$, and interleukin-6 were also analyzed. Results: Multivariate linear regression analyses suggested that dietary sodium intake was not associated with adiposity. However, dietary sodium showed a significant association with insulin level: Plasma insulin concentration increased with sodium intake independent of other dietary intake or percent of body fat (${\beta}=0.296$, adjusted $r^2=0.276$, p < 0.01). Other markers for inflammation and hormonal responses were not associated with dietary sodium intake. Conclusion: Findings suggested that dietary sodium intake may be a critical modifying factor in the level of plasma insulin. However, it showed a limited effect on obesity and other inflammation markers and hormone levels. These findings should be confirmed in larger, well-designed investigations.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.62-70
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• 2003

Background: Most of all studies about the relation between the health risk and obesity are based on the European and American data. The purpose of this study is to examine the relation between adiposity and risk factors for cardiovacular disease (CVD) in normal weight individuals. Materials and Methods: Normal weight subjects with a body mass index (BMI) between 18.5 and $23kg/m^2$ (76 subjects) and overweight subjects with a BMI between 23 and $25kg/m^2$ (53 subjects) were retained for this study. Normal weight subjects were divided into three group of each adiposity variable, then three group and the overweight group were evaluated for the presence of CVD risk factors and analyze the correlation coefficients between adiposity variables and risk factors controlled for age in normal weight, overweight groups. Using logistic regression analysis, the odds ratio (OR) for the prevalence of risk factors for each group of adiposity variables and the overweight group was estimated relative to the first group in normal weight subjects. Results: Systolic BP, diastolic BP, LDL cholestrol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides in normal weight subjects were significantly correlated with all adiposity variables (P<0.01). Third group (3.7 for %fat and 4.7 for fat mass)of adiposity variables in the normal weight group and the overweight group (6.6 for %fat and 11.5 for fat mass) tended to have higher ORs compared to first group for risk factor variables. Conclusion: Normal weight subjects with elevated adiposity had higher prevalence of risk factors than normal weights subjects with less adiposity. Measuring of adiposity added additional information of cardiovascular disease risk factors in normal weight subjects.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.451-459
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• 1995

This study was intended to figure out the effects of the amount and the distribution of body fat on the risk fators of adult disease. Sixty-four male college students paticipatied in this study, whose to find out body fat distributions were classified on the basis of Waist/hip ratio(WHR) into three groups-upper body type(UBTM), intermediate body type (IBTM) and lower body type(LBTM). Various risk factors such as adiposity, body fat ammount, serum lipid amount and blood pressure and their intercorrelations were analyzed. The three bodys type groups showed significant differences each other in weight(P<0.001), WHR showed considerable correlations with BMI and the percentage of body fat. The frequency of obesity assessed by BMI$\geq$25 and body fat percentage were the highest in the UBTM of the three groups. Thus, we could conclude that the closer the body fat distribution is to the upper body type, the higher the BMI and body fat percentage. Waist/girth ratio(WTR, P<0.01) and BMI(P<0.05) were positively correlated with serum triglyceride levels, and % of body fat was positively correlated with both serum triglyceride (P<0.01) and serum total cholesterol(P<0.05) levels. WHR (P<0.05), BMI(P<0.01) and % of body fat(P<0.01) also showed positive correlations with systolic blood pressure. From the above results, we could conclude that body fat distribution was a good index reflecting adiposity and body fat amount and that blood and serum amount of triglyceride was highest in the upper body type group showing the highest frequency of obesity.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.74-80
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• 2016

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Cardiovascular diseases is a major cause of death and is responsible for 23.8% of deaths in Korea. Clinical symptoms manifest in adulthood, but susceptibility begins in utero. Elevated homocysteine levels and adiposity might be linked to a greater risk in children as well as adults. We hypothesized that those who have simultaneous risk for folate and adiposity would be affected with elevated homocysteine levels at 3 years of age. SUBJECTS/METHODS: From the ongoing birth cohort at Ewha Womans University Mok-Dong Hospital, we compared adiposity parameters, serum homocysteine, and folate levels in 238 children (118 boys and 120 girls) at three years of age. The relationship between birth outcome, current weight and body mass index (BMI), postnatal growth, and homocysteine level were assessed using correlation and general linear model. Additionally, we assessed the combined effect between blood folate status and adiposity on current homocysteine levels. RESULTS: Birth characteristics were not correlated with homocysteine. Current weight, BMI, upper-arm circumference, skinfold thickness, waist circumference, and hip circumference were positively correlated with homocysteine at three years of age (P < 0.05). Folate level was negatively correlated with homocysteine at three years of age (P < 0.0001). A relative high anthropometric measure which is compatible with adiposity and low folate level was associated with high homocysteine levels. CONCLUSION: We found a combined effect of adiposity and folate levels with homocysteine levels at three years of age. This implicates the beneficial role of folate supplementation in the high-risk population at an early age.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.236-239
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• 2014

The genetic regulation of glucose and insulin levels might be modified by adiposity. With regard to the genetic factors that are altered by adiposity, a large meta-analysis on the interactions between genetic variants and body mass index with regard to fasting glucose and insulin levels was reported by the Meta-Analyses of Glucose- and Insulin-related trait Consortium (MAGIC), based on European ancestry. Because no replication study has been performed in other ethnic groups, we first examined the link between reported single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and fasting glucose and insulin levels in a large Korean cohort (Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study cohort [KoGES], n = 5,814). The MAGIC study reported 7 novel SNPs for fasting glucose levels and 6 novel SNPs for fasting insulin levels. In this study, we attempted to replicate the association of 5 SNPs with fasting glucose levels and 5 SNPs with fasting insulin levels. One SNP (rs2293941) in PDX1 was identified as a significant obesity-modifiable factor in Koreans. Our results indicate that the novel loci that were identified by MAGIC are poorly replicated in other ethnic groups, although we do not know why.