• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.382-395
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• 2021

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Excess intake of dietary sodium, either directly or indirectly, increases the risk of several diseases, including cardio-cerebral vascular diseases such as stroke and hypertension. Excessive sodium intake and increased prevalence of hypertension have emerged as major issues worldwide. Therefore, the present study evaluated the recent trends in dietary sodium intake and the food sources of sodium intake in the Korean population using the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES, 2013-2017) data. SUBJECTS/METHODS: This study used the one-day 24-h recall dietary intake survey data from the 2013-2017 KNHANES to determine the average daily sodium intake by sex and age and the main dishes and food groups contributing to the dietary sodium intake. RESULTS: The mean sodium intake range was 3,477.2-3,889.6 mg/day during 2013-2017. The major food groups contributing to sodium intake were seasonings (1,597.5-1,870.5 mg/day), vegetables (680.4-756.7 mg/day), and cereal and grains (573.2-609.4 mg/day). Noodles and dumplings (536.7-573.2 mg/day), kimchi (487.3-539.6 mg/day), and soups (367.6-428.9 mg/day) were the top three dish groups that contributed to the sodium intake. In these dishes, the major sources of sodium intake were ramyeon (age groups 10-18 and 19-29 yrs), baechukimchi (age groups 40-49 and 50-59 yrs) and doenjang-kuk (age groups 60-69 and ≥ 70 yrs), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, reducing the consumption of soups and kimchi is an effective way to reduce sodium intake. Personalized nutrition education on dietary sodium intake management is required because of the different food sources contributing to the sodium intake according to the subjects' age.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.103-121
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• 2023

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected the entire world population in many ways. This study aimed to analyze the patterns of changes in eating, food purchasing and preparation, physical activity, and subjective health after COVID-19 outbreak by various sociodemographic factors and to understand the factors associated with changes in subjective health. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A cross-sectional survey using a representative sample from Seoul was used for the analysis. The data collection was conducted from September to October 2020. A total of 3,833 citizens aged more than 18 years old participated in the Seoul Food Survey. Descriptive statistics and generalized ordinal logistic regression models were used to understand the changes in health behaviors, health indicators, and subjective general health by various socioeconomic status. RESULTS: It was shown that the changes in household income, food expenditure, food consumption and physical activities differed significantly by age, education, occupation, income, weight, and food security status. Low-income and food-insecure households were affected more severely by the pandemic. Older age, household food insecurity, income reduction, increased home cooking and frequency of having instant foods, decreased physical activity and weight gain were significant factors explaining worse perceived health during the COVID-19 pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that focusing on older populations and low-income families with food insecurity should be prioritized during infectious disease outbreaks. In addition, the role of physical activities and instant food consumption in explaining perceived health should be investigated further in this prolonged battle with the pandemic situation.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.945-958
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• 2023

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Food literacy (FL) is a crucial skill for selecting sustainable and healthy food options, necessitating the identification of vulnerable groups in the community using valid measurement tools. Identifying weak domains in FL is essential for enhancing the overall FL. This study examined the FL levels of Seoul citizens based on their sociodemographic characteristics and assessed the relationship between FL, food intake, and weight status. SUBJECTS/METHODS: This study utilized the data from the Seoul Food Survey, a cross-sectional study employing representative samples of Seoul citizens. Data collection occurred from September to October 2021, with 4,039 citizens aged 18 yrs and above participating in face-to-face surveys. Thirty-three FL items were assessed, comprising 14 items in the nutrition and safety (NS) domain, eight items in the cultural and relational (CR) domain, and 11 items in the socio-ecological (SE) domain. In addition, data on food intake sufficiency and obesity status were collected. The descriptive statistics, t-tests, analysis of variance, and logistic regression analysis were used for analysis. RESULTS: Men, students, young adults, older citizens, and people experiencing food insecurity had the lowest scores for all the FL domains. The highest quartile group of NS scores had a higher probability of consuming adequate servings of vegetables and fruits, with significant linear trends observed (P for trend < 0.05). In all three FL domains, the odds ratio for obesity was significantly lower in the groups with high FL scores (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: A close relationship was observed between low FL, obesity, and food intake, even after controlling for other covariates. Vulnerable groups with low FL were also identified. Therefore, it is essential to develop programs to improve FL and the health and well-being of these groups.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.63-72
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• 1993

The purpose of this study was to investigate nutritional knowledge, nutrition attitude and food preference among middle school students and to evaluate the effect of nutrition deucation in middle school. The survey was conducted from June 15, to June 25, 1993 by questionnaires which was composed of ntrition knowledge test, nutrition attitude test and food preference test. The subjects of this study were composed of 106 male and 105 female students of middle school. The results obtained were summarized as follows: Nutrition knowledge score Nutrition Knowledge score Nutrition knowledge score of female group was significantly higher than that of male group at P<0.001 Nutrition Attitude Score Nutrition Attituds Score of female group was significantly higher than that of male group at P<0.001 Correlations between nutrition knowledge and nutrition attitude scores in both group were significant Food Preferences Preferences for pork cutlet, hot dog, chicken, beef, kim chi, cooked rice, ptoato were high in both groups.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.259-269
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• 2003

The purpose of this study was to develop a nutrition education website for children, especially those around the 4th-6th grade levels. Among the already existing websites providing nutritional information for children, 7 websites with comparable amounts of information were evaluated in terms of their topics, credibility, content, ease of use, and aesthetics. In addition, a survey was conducted to assess the need for nutrition information among 305 elementary students. The food pyramid was the topic offered most often on those websites. Information on nutrients, digestion, food safety, nutrition labeling, and healthy eating habits were available on the websites. Some of those websites also provided games or quizzes to attract the children's interest. However, seine of the websites did not give any information on the person responsible for providing the information, which is most important in determining the credibility of the website. Other problems were that some information was too difficult for children, and some of the websites did not provide a way to search for information. According to the survey results, the topics that children wanted to know about were‘desirable weight’,‘cooking’,‘correct food choice’,‘weight control method’,‘calories consumed during exercise’, but, they did not have a high interest in‘asking questions’‘books with nutrition messages’,‘under weight’,‘negative effect of weight control’and‘helping hungry children’. Based on these results, we developed a new nutrition education web-site, ifood’(http: //1 ifood.or.kr). We focused on helping children develop healthy eating habits by providing information which is easy and practical for children. However, we neither included the program to assess their dietary intake, nor provided entertaining background sounds, which children like. Also, the game section is composed mainly of quizzes. Therefore, we need to further develop exciting games to teach nutrition to children. In the near future, the newly developed website should be evaluated by children regarding understandability and coverage of the contents as well as usability and design, and then revised to improve the educational effect.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.300-306
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• 2009

The goal of this research is to investigate the present situation for front of pack labeling in Korea and the perception of consumers for the new system of labeling, front of pack labeling, based on the consumer survey. We investigated the number of processed foods with front of pack labeling in one retailer in Youngin-si. And we also surveyed 1,019 participants nationwide whose ages were from 20 to 49; the knowledge of nutrition labeling, the knowledge of 'front of pack labeling', and the opinion about the labeling system. The data were analyzed using SAS statistics program. The results were as follows: 13.4% of processed foods had front of pack labeling, and 16.8% of the consumers always checked the nutrition labeling, while 32.7% of the consumers seldom checked it. In addition, 44.3% of the consumers think that 'front of pack labeling' is necessary, and 58.3% of the consumers think it is important to show the percentage of daily value as a way of 'front of pack labeling'. However, 32% of the consumer think the possibility of 'front of pack labeling' is slim. Meanwhile, 58.3% of the consumers think that it is important to have the color difference according to contents. The number of favorite nutrients in the front of pack was four or five. It seems that the recognition of current nutrition labeling has the influence on the willingness of using the future 'front of pack labeling'. Along with our study, the policy for 'front of pack labeling' has to be updated and improved constantly since 'front of pack labeling' helps consumer understand nutrition facts.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.242-251
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• 2020

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to examine disparities in food and nutrient intakes based on family types identified among 1,856 participants who were the Korean elderly people in the 6th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHNES) excluding those who were currently practicing the diet therapy. SUBJECTS/METHODS: We separated the subjects into two groups: living alone (LA, n = 638) and living with a spouse (LS, n = 1,218). We also examined the disparities of dietary quantity and quality of those two groups using complex sampling design general linear regression analyses (CS GLM). RESULTS: In the LA group, there was a higher percentage of females and average age in LA group was higher than the participants in the LS group. Household income and education level were significantly lower in LA compared to those of LS. The frequencies of skipping meals were higher in LA. LA's food and nutrient intakes showed lower consumption of vegetables, fruits, seaweeds, and of most nutrients. Even after adjusting for the confounding factors, the consumption of vegetables, seaweeds, carbohydrates, potassium, riboflavin, and vitamin C showed lower in LA than LS. Moreover, LA's nutrient intake ratios compared to the KDRIs were lower which turned out to be similar to their nutrient intakes. CONCLUSIONS: These results show that dietary behavior and food intake of the elderly are associated with family types. Frequently skipping meals and less dietary variety are more common with elderly persons who were living alone. Therefore, it is necessary to integrate the supplementary food programs and nutrition education programs for the elderly living alone.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.507-516
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• 2017

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: This study aimed at evaluating the dietary intakes of Korean adolescents affected by food insecurity, in comparison with those who were food secure. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The study used one day 24-hour dietary recall data from the $6^{th}$ Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The study subjects consisted of 1,453 adolescents of whom 695 were middle school-aged and 758 were high school-aged. Food security status was assessed using the 18-item questionnaire. Nutrient intake was evaluated in terms of nutrient density, insufficient intake, and excessive intake for selected nutrients, in addition to meeting the appropriate range for total energy intake and energy intakes from carbohydrate, sugar, protein, fat, and saturated fatty acids. Food intake was evaluated in terms of food group servings and dietary diversity score (DDS). RESULTS: The percentages of food insecurity were 11.1% for middle school-aged adolescents and 16.8% for high school-aged adolescents. Food insecure middle school-aged adolescents had higher intake of carbohydrate (P = 0.006) but lower intake of fat (P = 0.010) and saturated fatty acids (P = 0.005) than their food secure counterparts although the intake of both groups was in the recommended ranges. Nutrient intake among high school-aged adolescents was generally similar regardless of food security status. Both food secure and insecure adolescents showed insufficient intake of vitamin A, vitamin C, and calcium, and excessive sodium intake. They additionally had low prevalence of meeting appropriate intake ranges for energy, carbohydrate, and sugar. Food intake in terms of food group servings and DDS was also similar regardless of food security status among both age groups, with low intakes of foods from fruit and dairy groups. CONCLUSIONS: Except for a few nutrients among the middle school-aged adolescents, dietary intakes among Korean adolescents did not differ by food security status in this study.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.142-153
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• 2013

The purpose of the study was to examine nutritional management and nutritional care demands of home-visit care service and the nutritional status of serviced elderly. The survey was carried out from $5^{th}$ to $21^{st}$ of January, 2011 among 37 In-Home Service institutions. The number of elderly surveyed by 143 care helpers was 281. Analysis was performed for 203 subjects (male: 44, female: 159). The age distribution was from 50 to 99 years. The grading by long-term care insuranceshowed 18,2% on level 1 and 2, and 81.8% on level 3. For the disease treatment, the proportion of implementing diet treatment turned out to be very low. The proportion of subjects living with their children was 45.3%, and living alone was 29.1%. The proportion of home-visit care among types of In-Home Service was 70%. Subjects who needed additional necessary diet management service turned out to be 40.9%. Diet management was the most necessary services from all levels. MNA (specifiy MNA) scores were significantly (p < 0.001) associated with BMI, mid-arm circumference (MAC), calf circumference (CC), intake problems, and weight loss during the last 3 months. For studied elderly, 45.3% were malnourished, and 46.8% were at the risk of malnutrition by MNA score. Based on the result of this survey, the nutritional care was not systematic on the In-Home Service. Prevention and management of the disease was much better than the treatment to improve the quality of life. We conclude that nutrition management is necessary for the elderly. To improve nutritional status of elderly in home care services, systematic nutrition management should be implemented.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.155-166
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• 2021

Objectives: Driven by a growth of single-person households and individualized lifestyles, solo dining in restaurants is an increasingly recognizable trend. However, a research gap exists in the comparison of solo and group diners' menu-decision making processes. Based on the self-control dilemma and the temporal construal theory as a theoretical framework, this study compared the ordering intentions of solo vs. group diners with healthy vs. indulgent (less healthy) entrées. The mediating role of consumption orientation and the moderating role of amount of menu nutrition information were further explored to understand the mechanism and a boundary condition. Methods: A scenario-based online survey was developed using a 2 (dining social context: solo vs. with others) × 3 (amount of menu nutrition information: no nutrition information vs. calories vs. calories/fat/sodium), between-subjects, experimental design. Consumers' level of nutrition involvement was controlled. A nationwide survey data (n = 224) were collected from a crowdsourcing platform in the U.S. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance, independent t-test, univariate analysis of covariance, and moderated mediation analyses. Results: Findings reveal that solo (vs. group) diners have less (vs. more) intentions to order indulgent menu items due to a more utilitarian (vs. more hedonic) consumption orientation in restaurant dining. Findings also show that solo (vs. group) diners have more (vs. less) intentions to order healthy menu items when the restaurant menu presented nutrition information including calories, fat, and sodium. Conclusions: The findings contribute to the literature of foodservice management, healthy eating, and consumer behavior by revealing a mechanism and an external stimuli of solo vs. group diners' healthy menu-decision making process in restaurants. Furthermore, the findings provide restauranteurs and health professionals with insights into the positive and negative impacts of menu nutrition labelling on consumers' menu-decisions.