• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.341-355
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• 2023

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The consumption of dietary supplements has shown an increase among young people in their 20s. We aimed to compare the use of dietary supplements and related factors between Chinese international and Korean college students living in South Korea. SUBJECTS/METHODS: We conducted online surveys of 400 Chinese international students and 452 Korean college students from January to February 2021. We analyzed the factors related to the use of dietary supplements by these students using multi-group structural equation modeling and logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Approximately 65% of the Chinese international students and 93% of the Korean college students consumed dietary supplements at least once in the year preceding the survey. The common types of dietary supplements consumed by both groups of students were vitamin and mineral supplements, Lactobacillus products, and red ginseng products. Structural equation modeling showed that perception of the consumption of dietary supplements by family and friends positively influenced attitude toward dietary supplements. This effect was higher for Korean college students than for Chinese international students (P < 0.01). Attitude toward dietary supplements positively influenced their use, and this effect was higher for Chinese international students than for Korean college students (P < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis showed that the use of dietary supplements by Chinese international students was significantly associated with age, self-reported health status, interest in health, perception of and attitude toward dietary supplements, and length of residence in South Korea. Among Korean college students, it was associated with exercise frequency and attitude toward dietary supplements. CONCLUSION: This study showed significant differences in the use of dietary supplements and related factors between Chinese international and Korean college students. Therefore, nutrition education programs on dietary supplements need to have differentiated content for each group. Such differences also suggest that the industry should consider the relevant characteristics of college students while developing and marketing dietary supplements.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.633-643
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• 2005

The purpose of study was to investigate nutritional supplements intake of elementary school students aged 7 to 12 years in Incheon The subjects were 631 mothers of schoolchildren and cross sectional study was conducted by a self-administered questionnaire. Nutritional supplements were taken by $42.3\%$ of the surveyed elementary school students. Among nutritional supplements they toot vitamin and mineral accounted for $47.3\%$, herbs and chinese medicine $39.3\%$ and dietary supplements $10.7\%.$ Among reasons for taking nutritional supplements, help for growth, health promotion, supply for deficient nutrients and prevention or treatment of disease were in order. As for the reasons for not taking nutritional supplements, most of the subjects answered that meals are enough in getting nutrients for children Mother of elementary school students usually Dew the health claim of the nutritional supplements before taking the Also they usually got the information of the nutritional supplements 1mm doctors or pharmacist and bought the nutritional supplements at drugstores, oriental medicine clinic and on-line shop in order. As for the effect of nutritional supplements, $43.7\%$ of the subjeces answered as 'effective' and $81.7\%$ of the mother of elementary school students who took nutritional supplements answered positively that they would continue to have their children take it Among the reasons they would continue to have their children take it help for growth ranked the first. therefore, these results my provide basic informations on nutritional supplements used by the elementary school students in Incheon.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.644-654
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• 2005

The purpose of this study was to investigate the related factors to nutritional supplements intake of elementary school student aged 7 to 12 years in Incheon area. The subjects were 631 mothers of elementary school students and cross-sectional study was conducted by a self-administered questionnaire. In view of the relation with general circumstances, taking nutritional supplements was shown to be significantly associated with general and socio-demographic factors such as father's job, mothers concern about children's academic record, family's monthly income and food cost, and the experience of other family members' taking nutritional supplement. In view of the relation with anthropometric and health-related factors, taking nutritional supplement was associated with elementary school student' weight obesity index, mothers evaluation of children's height and weight mother's concern about health and growth of children, and ,disease of children. In view of the dietary behavior-related factors, taking nutritional supplements was associated with skipping breakfast, food habits, and mothers beliefs and attitude about nutrition and nutritional supplements. However, it was shown that mothers nutritional knowledge did not affect taking nutritional supplements. Therefore, it may be suggested that general and socio-demographic factors, anthropometric and health-related factors, dietary behavior-related factors, and mother's nutritional beliefs and attitude are important determinants in children's taking nutritional supplements.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.117-125
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• 2010

We surveyed 821 children (ages 12-15 y) in Daejeon city and Cunngcheong province, Korea for their use of vitamin mineral supplements (VMS), either over-the-counter drugs and/or health functional foods (HFF). We also considered the significant variables of VMS use, including demographic characteristics, health-related variables, eating habits and nutritional beliefs of VMS by subjects. The frequency of VMS use was 24.8% and, in comparison to counterparts, it was higher in subjects attending middle school (p<0.001), in those living in a large city (p<0.001), in those with a high monthly family income (p<0.05), and in those with high concerns about school performance by parents (p<0.01). Selfhealth concerns by subjects (p<0.05) and concerns about health of offspring by parents (p<0.01) were higher in users than in nonusers. Eating habits of subjects did not affect the use of VMS. Users had a more positive view concerning the potential health benefits of VMS than did nonusers (p<0.05). Most users took VMS when they were healthy (78.9%) and expected 'disease prevention and health maintenance' (44.6%). However, most users did not feel any special effects from VMS use (58.8%), and they got their information on VMS through family and relatives (53.9%). Users of VMS preferred vitamin C supplements (44.2%) and Ca-supplements (56.9%). Therefore, the results show that VMS use is widely spread among the subjects, and that use of VMS is influenced by multiple variables and subjective criteria. Therefore, practical guidelines on VMS use for children's health and growth should be given through nutritional education.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.332-342
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• 2000

Vitamin mineral supplement usage by self-prescription is popular behavior among adolescents. This study was conducted to investigate the behaviors of vitamin·mineral supplement usage and the relationship between demographic variables and supplement usage by healthy adolescents. Nine hundred seventy two boys and girls, aged 13-18 years, attending general middle or high schools were chosen from various cities and rural communities in Korea. As a result, vitamin·]mineral supplements were taken by 31.3% of subjects. Users tended to take vitamin·mineral supplements more frequently when they were healthy than when they suffered from disease. The taking period of supplements was different according to school type such as middle or high school(p<.05), sex(p<.001) and residence of subjects(p<.01). The main information source of supplements was newspaper/magazine/TV, and it was affected by sex(p<.05) and residence(p<.01). Vitamin·mineral supplements were generally recommended by their mothers instead of health professionals. The commonly cited taking reason of supplements was affected by sex(p<.01)and socioeconomic status of family(p<.05). The frequently responded effect obtained from supplement use was recovery from fatigue and it was different according to sex(p<.01). The major mentioned reason of not taking vitamin·mineral supplements by non-users was 'I eat a balanced diet'. The most frequently consumed supplements were vitamin C, followed by multi-vitamins supplements, and this pattern was different according to school type(p<.001), sex(p<.01) and residence(p<.05). These findings show that the behaviors of vitamin·mineral supplement usage by subjects are not resonable, and their supplement usage tends to be affected by demographic variables. Therefore, nutritional understanding and education that are intended to form the resonable behaviors toward vitamin·mineral supplement usage of adolescents should be provided with considering the relationship between demographic variables and supplement usage.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.569-582
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• 2007

This study was carried out to examine information regarding usage of health improving agents and health status of male workers in the Chonnam Yeosu industrial area. We obtained data by means of a questionnaire from 329 men. Of the subjects 44.7% were in their forties, high school education was 43.0%, married was 83.0% and $1,500{\sim}3,000$ thousand won in monthly income was 35.8%. Average height and weight of the subjects was $171.8{\pm}5.4 cm$ and $70.5{\pm}8.1 kg$. Average BMI was $23.8{\pm}2.2$. Drinking rate of respondents was 85.5%, the drinking rate of daily workers was significantly higher than rotation workers (p < 0.05). Rotation workers exercised more regularly than daily workers (p < 0.001). Subjective symptoms of the subjects always had eye problems (11.7%), shoulder aches (5.8%), ache in one's empty stomach (4.7%) in decreasing order. 21.4% of the subjects had a disease, and liver disease was the highest in the subjects; the second was cardio-vascular disease. Interval of health food intake was highly irregular (62.7% of respondents), and keeping healthy was the main motivation fur the usage of health foods. Health improving agents included oriental medicine, animal protein based restorative foods, nutrition supplements, health supplements, and natural foods. 33.3% of the subjects took health supplements, nutrition supplements (29.1%), oriental medicine (20.6%), natural foods (16.7%) and animal protein based restorative foods (3.9%), in respective order. Health improving agents were consumed higher in liver disease than other diseases. This study suggests that nutritional education and monitoring should be implemented for industrial workers to prevent life-habit diseases and to keep proper self-management of health status under special environments.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.330-337
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• 2012

The aim of this study was to evaluate the status of consumption and consumer satisfaction of dietary fiber supplements. The survey was conducted using a self-recorded questionnaire developed to meet the purpose of this study. The characteristics of the subjects who have taken dietary fiber supplements in the past are as follows: distributions of socioeconomic variables showed that the highest-ranked group(the group that reported the highest consumption of dietary fiber supplements) was professionals with a college degree or higher degree. In addition, the highest-ranked group were the most healthy, nonsmokers and reported drinking habits of '1~2 times/week'. Regarding the health status of those surveyed, digestive disease and constipation were the most common complaints. The majority responded with 'health concerns' to the question that asked the reason for their purchase of the dietary fiber supplements. Three major places respondents could find dietary fiber supplements were 'through the internet', 'the market', 'the pharmacy' in descending order. The compositions of dietary fiber products varied. 'konjac', 'cellulose', 'psyllium husks' were the most popular components consumed by the subjects. The average duration of product consumption was less than one month. In terms of satisfaction levels(satisfaction was ranked from 1 to 5), 'taste' and 'type' scored the highest in satisfaction levels while 'price' ranked the lowest. When subjects were asked about self-awareness regarding the physiological efficacy of dietary fiber supplements, the responses were positive in 'bowel movement' and 'weight loss'. Further research is required to improve the quality of dietary fiber supplements in order to assist consumers in selecting the appropriate products.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.323-330
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• 2008

This study was conducted to investigate the actual conditions of vitamin supplement usage, the importance of their agents for health management, and the distribution of basic data for their correct consumption. For a period of one month 2003, the study was conducted based on questionnaires to the parents of students in both a middle school and a high school, and the personnel of K Company at random. The material used the survey sheets by setting up the previous investigation. The collected data analyzed the frequency and percentage of the following items: General demographic characteristics of consumers; the supplements taking; the reasons for taking them; the kinds of supplements taken; the media used for distributing data on their use; the potential use in the future, etc. According to the survey, the number of people who were taking supplements was higher than the number of people who weren’t taking them. Multi-vitamins were mostly consumed. The rate of supplements consume was high in people of a higher income bracket, had the time to exercise and to enjoy physical recreation. Most of the consumers who were taking the supplements said they did it to maintain their health and to recover from the fatigue. Those who weren’t taking them said they had enough vitamins from eating the appropriate food, and they were also concerned about the effectiveness of taking the supplements. The majority of useful information or advice for purchasing vitamins came from doctors, medical experts, relatives, and various media sources such as TV, newspapers, and magazines.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.99-128
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• 2008

Nearly all Koreans are insured through National Health Insurance(NHI). While NHI coverage is nearly universal, it is not complete. Coverage is largely limited to minimal level of hospital and physician expenses, and copayments are required in each case. As a result, Korea's public insurance system covers roughly 50% of overall individual health expenditures, and the remaining 50% consists of copayments for basic services, spending on services that are either not covered or poorly covered by the public system. In response to these gaps in the public system, 64% of the Korean population has supplemental private health insurance. Expansion of private health insurance raises negative externality issue. Like public financing schemes in other countries, the Korean system imposes cost-sharing on patients as a strategy for controlling utilization. Because most insurance policies reimburse patients for their out-of-pocket payments, supplemental insurance is likely to negate the impact of the policy, raising both total and public sector health spending. So far, most empirical analysis of supplemental health insurance to date has focused on the US Medigap programme. It is found that those with supplements apparently consume more health care. Two reasons for higher health care consumption by those with supplements suggest themselves. One is the moral hazard effect: by eliminating copayments and deductibles, supplements reduce the marginal price of care and induce additional consumption. The other explanation is that supplements are purchased by those who anticipate high health expenditures - adverse effect. The main issue addressed has been the separation of the moral hazard effect from the adverse selection one. The general conclusion is that the evidence on adverse selection based on observable variables is mixed. This article investigates the extent to which private supplementary insurance affect use of health care services by public health insurance enrollees, using Korean administrative data and private supplements related data collected through all relevant private insurance companies. I applied a multivariate two-part model to analyze the effects of various types of supplements on the likelihood and level of public health insurance spending and estimated marginal effects of supplements. Separate models were estimated for inpatients and outpatients in public insurance spending. The first part of the model estimated the likelihood of positive spending using probit regression, and the second part estimated the log of spending for those with positive spending. Use of a detailed information of individuals' public health insurance from administration data and of private insurance status from insurance companies made it possible to control for health status, the types of supplemental insurance owned by theses individuals, and other factors that explain spending variations across supplemental insurance categories in isolating the effects of supplemental insurance. Data from 2004 to 2006 were used, and this study found that private insurance increased the probability of a physician visit by less than 1 percent and a hospital admission by about 1 percent. However, supplemental insurance was not found to be associated with a bigger health care service utilization. Two-part models of health care utilization and expenditures showed that those without supplemental insurance had higher inpatient and outpatient expenditures than those with supplements, even after controlling for observable differences.

• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.24-32
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• 2013

Purpose: This study aimed to clarify the characteristics of musculoskeletal problems in elderly Korean women and their actual and current use of dietary supplements by conducting a descriptive survey. Methods: The 1-month study began on April 3, 2012. A total of 150 elderly women from City D responded to the survey questionnaire used in this study. Results: Among the respondents, 55.3% used dietary supplements, although they had not consulted a physician for a definitive diagnosis of their condition but reported a self-perceived musculoskeletal problem instead. In addition, they engaged in healthy behaviors such as exercising and dietary supplement intake, without receiving any medical treatment. Compared with the nonusers, the dietary supplement users self-perceived a relatively more serious musculoskeletal problem (t =4.566, p<.001). Among the most commonly used supplements, multivitamins ranked first, followed by glucosamine and omega-3. Conclusion: Nurses should thoroughly monitor and maintain a positive attitude toward their patients' use of dietary supplements in order to appropriately educate them about the proper use of supplements.