• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.69-77
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• 2002

The purpose of this study was to determine the probability of overweight throughout childhood in relation to the presence of overweight at birch or in early childhood, and presence of overweight in children's parents. Weight and height measures were collected at birth and at ages of 7, 10, 12 years from 655 6th grade primary schoolchildren. Childhood overweight was defined as a body mass index at or above the 85th percentile for age and sex, and overweight in children's parents as a body mass index at or above 27. The prevalence of overweight increased with age of the children. Overweight at birth was not associated with overweight at 12 years of ages. However, overweight at 12 years old was already related to overweight at 7 years old. In comparison to non-overweight peers, overweight children at ages 7(OR = 7.64, 95% CI = 4.32-13.51) and 10 years(OR = 19.69, 95% CI = 11.42-33.94) had a higher rick of becoming overweight at 12 years of age. Among children who was overweight at age 7years, 60.7% remained overweight 5 years later, Yearly increment in BMI of overweight children was larger than that of non-obese children (1.15-1.65kg/m$^2$vs 0.50-0.71kg/m$^2$. As compared with the lower case in mealy increment of BMI, the probability of being overweight at age of 12 years was greater in higher case. BMI values at age 7years were positively correlated with BMI values at age of 10 and 127ear,i, and with annual increments in BMI. But those relationships with birth weight were not observed. Children were at greater risk for overweight if at least ogle parent was overweight. The odds ratio for child overweight associated with maternal overweight was 2.41(95% CI = 1,13-5.IS), and those associated with paternal overweight 1.70(95% CI = 0.92-3.17). And parents' BMIs were positively correlated with children's BMI values and yearly BMI increment. In conclusion, overweight at early childhood and annual inclement in BMI can be important in predicting the prevalence of overweight and the risk that overweight will remain after 7 years of age. The risk of being overweight throughout the childhood increases by the parents'overweight.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.1195-1202
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• 1997

Iodine-rich seaweed soup has been traditionally supplied to postpartum women in Korea. This dietary habit might introduce over-intake of iodine above the recommended requirements, and might provoke postpartum thyroid dysfunction. Although the response to excess iodine intake is highly variable, goiter, hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, and thyroiditis could follow the daily intake of 1,500$\mu\textrm{g}$ of iodine. A few studies are available concerning iodine toxicity in Korea. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between the dietary intake of iodine and thyroid function change as well as the incidence of postpartum thyroiditis. One hundred and thirty-seven postpartum women who had experienced normal deliveries were studied. Dietary intake of iodine and excretion concentration of iodine in breast milk and maternal urine were measured . Serum T$_3$, T$_4$, TSH, anti-thyroglobulin antibody, and anti-microsomal antibody were anlayzed 1 week before delivery and 1, 6, 12, and24 weeks after delivery. Iodine intake was analyzed by one-to-one interviews using 24-hr recall and a food frequncy questionnaire. The result showed that the intake of dietary iodine before delivery and 1 and24 weeks after delivery were 483$\mu\textrm{g}$/day, 3367$\mu\textrm{g}$/day, and 1069$\mu\textrm{g}$/day, respectively. The concentration of iodine in urine at the first week after delivery was 63$\mu\textrm{g}$/dL, and 23.9$\mu\textrm{g}$/dL in breast milk . The levels of serum T$_3$ and T$_4$ before delivery were 2.01ng/mL and 11.49$\mu\textrm{g}$U/dL, respectively, showing that the levels were gradually dropping to normal values after delivery. Positive serum anti-thyroglobulin antibody and anti-microsomal antibody appeared in 3 cases. After a 24 week follow-up period , 6 women(10.3%) experienced cases of postpartum thyroiditis, 5 of which were cases of hyperthyroidism and one of which was a case of hypothyroidism. These figures of postpartum thyroiditis are similar to those of other countries.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.394-407
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• 2011

Better understanding of the complex factors leading to human diseases will be necessary for both long term prevention and for managing short and long-term health problems. The underlying causes, leading to a global health crisis in both acute and chronic diseases, include finite global health care resources for sustained healthy human survival, the population explosion, increased environmental pollution, decreased clean air, water, food distribution, diminishing opportunities for human self-esteem, increased median life span, and the interconnection of infectious and chronic diseases. The transition of our pre-human nutritional requirements for survival to our current culturally-shaped diet has created a biologically-mismatched human dietary experience. While individual genetic, gender, and developmental stage factors contribute to human diseases, various environmental and culturally-determined factors are now contributing to both acute and chronic diseases. The transition from the hunter-gatherer to an agricultural-dependent human being has brought about a global crisis in human health. Initially, early humans ate seasonally-dependent and calorically-restricted foods, during the day, in a "feast or famine" manner. Today, modern humans eat diets of caloric abundance, at all times of the day, with foods of all seasons and from all parts of the world, that have been processed and which have been contaminated by all kinds of factors. No longer can one view, as distinct, infectious agent-related human acute diseases from chronic diseases. Moreover, while dietary and environmental chemicals could, in principle, cause disease pathogenesis by mutagenic and cytotoxic mechanisms, the primary cause is via "epigenetic", or altered gene expression, modifications in the three types of cells (e.g., adult stem; progenitor and terminally-differentiated cells of each organ) during all stages of human development. Even more significantly, alteration in the quantity of adult stem cells during early development by epigenetic chemicals could either increase or decrease the risk to various stem cell-based diseases, such as cancer, later in life. A new concept, the Barker hypothesis, has emerged that indicates pre-natal maternal dietary exposures can now affect diseases later in life. Examples from the studies of the atomic bomb survivors should illustrate this insight.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.105-109
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• 2000

X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA) is a primary inherited B-cell immunodeficiency. The prevalence of neoplastic disease in patients with XLA is approximatedly 0.7%. The most frequent tumor is lymphoreticular malignancy. We report a case of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in a 13-year-old boy with XLA, after probable maternal transmission of hepatitis B virus. The authors consider that the vertical transmission of hepatitis B virus might play an important role in the development of HCC in a child with XLA who could not eliminate hepatitis B virus effectively.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.63 no.8
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• pp.301-309
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• 2020

Human breast milk (HBM) is essential for the infant's growth and development right after birth and is an irreplaceable source of nutrition for early human survival. Various infant formulas have many similarities to HBM in many components, but there is no perfect substitute for HBM. Recently, various breast milk components and their roles have been studied according to the development of various analysis techniques. As is already well known, HBM contains about 87%-88% water, and 124-g/L solid components as macronutrients, including about 7% (60-70 g/L) carbohydrates, 1% (8-10 g/L) protein, and 3.8% (35-40 g/L) fat. The composition may vary depending on the environmental factors, including maternal diet. Colostrum is low in fat but high in protein and relatively rich in immuneprotective components. Although HBM contains enough vitamins to ensure normal growth of the infant, vitamins D and K may be insufficient, and the infant may require their supplementation. Growth factors in HBM also serve as various bioactive proteins and peptides on the intestinal tract, vasculature, nervous system, and endocrine system. In the past, HBM of a healthy mother was thought to be sterile. However, several subsequent studies have confirmed the presence of rich and diverse microbial communities in HBM. Some studies suggested that the genera Staphylococcus and Streptococcus may be universally predominant in HBM, but the origin of microbiota still remains controversial. Lastly, milk is the one of most abundant body fluid of microRNAs, which are known to play a role in various functions, such as immunoprotection and developmental programming, through delivering from HBM and absorption by intestinal epithelial cells. In conclusion, HBM is the most important source of nutrition for infants and includes microbiomes and miRNAs for growth, development, and immunity.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.177-187
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• 1996

We studied the effects of fish oil supplementation with low does on the lipid concentration and fatty acid of plasma and the fatty acid composition of plasma phospholipid and erythrocyte of lactating women. The subjects, 18 lactating women, who were exclusively breast-fed their babies were classifed into a control group and 2 fish oil groups according to dose; the subjects of fish oil groups were supplemented with 1.96g/d or 3.92g/d of fish oil, respectively for 2 weeks from 10 to 12 weeks postpartum. All subjects consumed their usual diet at home. Blood sample were collected at the final day of experiment. The plasma HDL-cholesterol level increased significantly by fish oil supplementation. The concentrations of DHA (docesahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) in the plasma PC(phosphatidylcholine) and PE (phosphatidylethanolamine)of fish oil groups tended to increase, but not significant. However, the concentrations of DHA and EPA of PC and PE in erythrocyte were not affected by fish oil supplementation. These results demonstrate that fish oil supplementation with low dose does not change the concentration of plasma lipid as well as fatty acid composition in plasma PC and PE and red blood cell obviously. However the increase of plasma HDL-cholesterol level, the reduction of atherogenic index(AI) and the tendency of increase of DHA and EPA concentrations in plasma PC and PE indicate that there may be some beneficial effects on maternal lipid metabolism if fish oil intakes were increased.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.311-318
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• 2020

Chronic hepatitis B viral (HBV) infection remains a major health threat, especially in high-prevalence areas. Most infants infected by mother-to-infant HBV transmission become chronic carriers. In Taiwan, many important preventive interventions have been implemented to block the perinatal transmission of HBV in the past 35 years. The first nationwide universal HBV vaccination program was launched in Taiwan in July 1984. The three-dose HBV vaccine completion rate reached 98.1% in 2018. The prevalence of Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) decreased from 9.8% in pre-vaccinated period in 1984 to 0.5% in the vaccinated cohort in 2014. The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma in children aged 6-9 years significantly declined from 0.52 to 0.13 per 100,000 children born before and after 1984, respectively. Furthermore, we have performed a maternal HBV screening program during pregnancy since 1984, with the screening rate peaked at 93% in 2012. The HBsAg- and HBeAg-seropositive rate in pregnant women declined from 13.4% and 6.4% in 1984-1985 to 5.9% and 1.0% in 2016, respectively. To closely control perinatal HBV infection, we have administered hepatitis B immunoglobulin immediately after birth and checked the serum level of HBsAg and anti-HBs in high-risk babies born to HBsAg-seropositive mothers, irrespective of their HBeAg status, since July 2019. We have also adopted short-term antiviral treatments such as tenofovir 300 mg daily in the third trimester for highly viremic mothers and reduced the perinatal infection rates from 10.7 to 1.5%. Through all these efforts, we expect to meet the global goal of eliminating HBV infection by 2030.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.91-95
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• 2005

The familial environment may also play an important role in the epidemiology of HCV infection through vertical and horizontal transmission by infected household members. However, it is still controversial whether familial clustering of HCV occurs. We experienced a case of familial clustering of hepatitis C virus. A 10-year old girl presented with nausea, vomiting and anorexia for a month was diagnosed as hepatitis C. Her mother, grandmother, a maternal aunt and her daughter had contracted with HCV. Her laboratory findings showed AST/ALT 63/122 IU/L, positive anti-HCV Ab and HCV RNA ($3.54{\times}10^5copies/mL$). Pathologic findings of the liver biopsy revealed chronic hepatitis with minimal lobular activity, mild porto-periportal activity and mild portal fibrosis. After treatment with interferon-${\alpha}$ 2b for 6 months, the clinical symptoms and laboratory findings were normalized.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.142-150
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• 2004

To increase both iron and enhancers for iron absorption through diets should be a basic strategy to sufficiently provide increased iron for pregnancy. Previous studies reported that iron intakes of Korean pregnant women were short and their iron status deteriorated as pregnancy progressed. However, there is little data about the bioavailability of dietary iron during pregnancy. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the changes of dietary iron intakes, its bioavailability and iron status during pregnancy longitudinally in Korean women. A total of 151 pregnant women in their first trimester of pregnancy voluntarily participated. Among them, 72 women finished the research protocol during the second trimester and 55 did it during the third trimester. Dietary intakes of total iron, both non-heme and heme iron, as well as enhancers, both MPF (meat, poulty, and fish) and vitamin C, increased significantly as pregnancy progressed. As the results, bioavailability of dietary iron and iron absorbed increased significantly as pregnancy progressed. However, the amount of iron absorbed at each trimester did not meet considerably the iron needed during pregnancy. All five indices examined in the study, Hb level, Hct, serum concentrations of ferritin and sTfR (soluble transferrin receptor), and sTfR: ferritin ratio, showed that iron status of the subjects deteriorated as pregnancy progressed. The rate of anemia of the subjects increased as pregnancy progressed although more than 80% of the subjects took iron supplements after the 20th week of pregnancy. These results imply that it is needed to provide more iron especially, heme iron and dietary enhancers to prevent the deterioration of iron status during pregnancy. Future research on bioavailability of supplemental iron should be performed to determine the iron balance precisely.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.592-597
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• 1999

The purpose of this study were to determine the folate status of pregnant women living in kwangju, Korea and to assess the relationships between folate status and pregnancy outcome. Eighty-one women took part in the study: 26 in their first trimester of pregnancy, 23 in the second, and 32 in the final trimester. The folate intake data both from their diets and supplementasage was obtained using a 24-hour recall method and by measuring the use of supplements. Folate levels of serum and erythrocytes were determined by a microbiological assay using Lactovacillus casei(ATTC 7469) as the test organism. A series of determinations for pregnancy outcome was conducted, including birth weight, length, Apgar score at 5 min after birth, and gestational period. The dietary folate intake in each trimester was 118$\pm$85, 148$\pm$117, and 137$\pm$69ug/d, respectively. All levels were far below the Korean recommended diet allowances(RDA)for folate. Eighty-four percent of the subjects consumed supplemental folate after the 20th week of pregnancy until delivery. the supplemental folate intakes in the second and third trimester were 651$\pm$142 and 688$\pm$150ug/d, respectively. Therefore, the women who took folate supplements consumed more folate than the RDA. Serum folate levels for each trimester were 9.0$\pm$3.8, 11.4$\pm$6.0, and 16.3$\pm$11.0ng/ml respectively, greadually increasing as the pregnancy progressed; the serum folate level in the third trimester was significantly higher(p<0.05) than that in first trimester. The erythrocyte folate concentrations in each trimester were recorded as 369.8$\pm$108.8, 396.2$\pm$107.5, and 420$\pm$7 162.6ng/ml respectively. There was no significant differences among the erythrocyte folate concentrations unlike the serum folate levels. There was no significant difference among the erythrocyte folate concentrations unlike the serum folate levels. There was no signifcant correlation between trimester to be important in maintaining adequate folate status, however these results imply that the serum and erythrocyte folate levels were adequate to support the growth of the fetus.