• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.430-436
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• 1999

This study investigated the correlations among nutrient intakes, and immune status in Korean young women in relation to body mass index(BMI). Subjects were classified as underweight, normal or overweight, with anthropometric measurements of these three groups significatly different in terms of weight, body fat, waist measurement, hip measurement, waist/hip ratio(WHR), and skindfold thickness(p<0.001). Average vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, calcium and zinc levles were lower than the Korean RDA. Vitamin A levels were found to be significantly correlated with BMI(p<0.05). There was no significant difference in total T and B lymphocytes or IgG, IgG, and IgM levels with respect to BMI, but Natural Killer(NK) cell levels were found significantly increased with increased BMI(p<0.05). BMI was also positively correlated with iron intake and negatively correlated with vitamin A intake in the normal group. Based upon this study, further research on nutritional, immune and trace-mineral status of overweight and underweight young women is required for better health promotion in this female populaton.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.45-50
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• 2012

Dietary intakes and plasma concentrations of retinol and carotenoids were estimated in assessing the vitamin A status of Korean adults living in Seoul and the metropolitan area. Three consecutive 24-h food recalls were collected from 106 healthy subjects (33 males and 73 females) aged 20-59 years. Fasting blood samples of the subjects were obtained and plasma retinol and carotenoids were analyzed. The daily vitamin A intakes ($mean{\pm}SD$) were $887.77{\pm}401.35{\mu}g $ retinol equivalents or $531.84{\pm}226.42{\mu}g$ retinol activity equivalents. There were no significant differences in vitamin A intakes among age groups. The retinol intake of subjects was $175.92{\pm}129.87{\mu}g/day$. The retinol intake of the subjects in their 50's was significantly lower than those in their 20's and 30's (P<0.05). Provitamin A carotenoid intakes were $3,828.37{\pm}2,196.29{\mu}g/day$ ${\beta}$-carotene, $472.57{\pm}316.68{\mu}g/day$ ${\alpha}$-carotene, and $412.83{\pm}306.46{\mu}g/day$ ${\beta}$-cryptoxanthin. Approximately 17% of the subjects consumed vitamin A less than the Korean Estimated Average Requirements for vitamin A. The plasma retinol concentration was $1.22{\pm}0.34{\mu}mol/L$. There was no significant difference in plasma retinol concentrations among age groups. However, the concentrations of ${\beta}$-carotene, lycopene, and lutein of subjects in their 50's were significantly higher than those of in their 20's. Only one subject had a plasma retinol concentration < $0.70{\mu}mol/L$ indicating marginal vitamin A status. Plasma retinol concentration in 30% of the subjects was 0.70- < $1.05{\mu}mol/L$, which is interpreted as the concentration possibly responsive to greater intake of vitamin A. In conclusion, dietary intakes and status of vitamin A were generally adequate in Korean adults examined in this study.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.930-939
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• 1994

Vitamin B-6 nutrition has been shown to be inadequate in many population groups including pregnant and lactating women, and in infants. Vitamin B-6 intake was measured in 98 pregnant mothers and a total of 172 cord blood samples of their and other new born infants were analyzed for erythrocyte alanine aminotransferase(EALAT) activities with or without the addition of pyridoxal-5-phosphate to assess vitamin B-6 status of the infants. The average daily vitamin B-6 intake of the pregnant mothers was 1.79mg$\pm$0.88(81.4% of the Recommended Dietary Allowances ; RDA) and vitamin B-6 to protein intake ration was 0.017mg vitamin B-6/g protein. Thirty-eight percent of the pregnant women consumed diets which provided less than the RDA for vitamin B-6 during pregnancy. Seventy-two percent of the dietary pyridoxine intake was provided by the plant food source whose bioavailability was reported to be lower when compared to that of the animal food. The average activity coefficient(AC) values of the cord blood EALAT was 1.41$\pm$0.11, and 32% of the blood samples had EALATAC values greater than 1.25, suggesting that vitamin B-6 status of the newborns might be less than adequate.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.321-330
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• 1995

Concentrations of total vitamin B-6 in human milk as well as individual, B-6 vitamers have important implications for the nutritional management of breast-fed(BF) infants. Vitamin B-6 status was assessed in 3 groups of infants : two groups preterm (PT) BF infants whose mothers were supplemented with 2 or 27mg pyridoxine(PN)-HCI ; a sub group of formula-fed (FF) PT infants. Mothers and infants were assessed weekly during the 28-day post feeding. Throughout the neonatal period, levels of total vitamin B-6 and percentages of pyridoxal(PL) in breast milk were lower in PT than T mothers, even in mothers supplemented with 27mg PN-HCI. Total vitamin B-6 levels in PT milk paralleled maternal supplementation but percentage distributions of B-6 vitamers did not change. Vitamin B-6 intakes of BF preterm infants paralleled their mothers' level of infants in the 2mg group was suggested by vitamin status parameters. Vitamin B-6 inadequacy of infants correlated with their plasma pyridoxal-5-phosphate(PLP) levels and erythrocyte alanine aminotransferase(E-ALAT) activity; all parameters such as plasma PLP, PL/PLP ratio and stimulation % of E-ALAT were highest for FF PT infants. The positive correlation of vitamin B-6 levels in breast milk gestational age may contraindicate its adequacy for some PT infants.

• Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.103-109
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• 2004

Body antioxidant status is an important factor for the prevention of many chronic diseases in the elderly. This study was done to investigate antioxidant status and its relationship to immune response by measuring plasma cytokine (IL-2 and IL-6) levels in elderly women. Subjects were 76 elderly women aged over 60 years, visiting Jangwhi Social Welfare Center of Seongbook-Gu in Seoul. Subjects were divided into 3 groups according to age (< 65, 65 - 74, > 75). Dietary intakes were assessed by semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaires (SFFQ). Plasma vitamin C level was measured by 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine method and plasma levels of vitamin E, A and ${\beta}$-carotene were measured by HPLC. Plasma levels of IL-2 and IL-6 were determined with a solid phase sandwich enzyme linked-immuno-sorbent assay (ELISA) using commercial kits. The average intakes of antioxidant vitamins were 96.3mg (137.5% of RDA) for vitamin C and 523.3 ${\mu}$gRE (74.8% of RDA) for vitamin A in elderly women. All of the average plasma levels of antioxidant vitamins were within normal range. However the percentage of the elderly women with deficiency plus marginal values were 7.9% in vitamin C, 9.2% in vitamin A and 7.9% in vitamin E. Plasma levels of IL-2 and IL-6 were 27.1${\pm}$7.1pg/ml and 5.9${\pm}$5.3pg/ml in elderly women. Correlation data showed that plasma IL-2 level was negatively correlated with plasma vitamin C level. In addition, IL-6 level was also negatively correlated with plasma vitamin C, A and E levels, respectively. There was a significant positive correlation between erythrocyte thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance(TB-ARS) level and plasma IL-2 or IL-6 levels. In addition, erythrocyte TBARS level showed a significant positive correlation with plasma total antioxidant status (TAS) level and a significant negative correlation with plasma vitamin C level. Overall results might imply that the decreased levels of antioxidant vitamins result in an increase in oxidative stress and thereby increase cytokine production such as IL-2 and IL-6. However further research is required to elucidate these relationships.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.495-502
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• 2013

Recent studies suggest that vitamin D deficiency and cardiometabolic disorders are becoming increasingly more prevalent across multiple populations. However, there is a lack of comprehensive data for Korean adults. We investigated the vitamin D status, the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and its association with metabolic syndrome (MS) risk in Korean adults aged 20 years or older. The study subjects (n = 18,305) were individuals who participated in the Korean National Health Examination and Nutrition Survey (KNHANES) in 2008-2010. Vitamin D status (25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D]) was categorized as < 20, 21-29, and ${\geq}$ 30 ng/mL, which are the cut-off points for deficiency, insufficiency and normal limits. A wide variety of cardiometabolic risk factors were compared according to the vitamin D status. Vitamin D deficiency was found in 53.9% of men and 70.5% of women. Mean BMI, systolic BP, HbA1c and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were highest in the vitamin D deficiency group in both genders. Further, the MS was most prevalent in the vitamin D deficiency group in both genders (12.3%, P = 0.002 in men and 9.2%, P < 0.001 in women). Compared to the vitamin D normal group, the adjusted odds ratio (ORs) (95% confidence interval [95% CI]) for MS in the vitamin D deficiency group were 1.46 (1.05-2.02) in men and 1.60 (1.21-2.11) in women, after adjusting for confounding variables. In conclusion, Vitamin D deficiency is a very common health problem in Korean adults and is independently associated with the increasing risk of MS.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.167-178
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• 2000

The effect of oral vitamin e (800IU/day) and C (500mg/day) supplementation for 10 days and/or smoking cessation for 5 days on oxidative damage to the red blood cells (RBC) of male smokers (22.2$\pm$0.2 years old) was studied. RBC were tested for their ability to protect against smoking-induced oxidative damage by measuring heme proteins (carboxyhemoglobin, hemoglobin, methemoglobin, oxyhemoglobin), hemolysis and thiobarbiturinc acid reactive substances (TBARS). Plasma levels of vitamin c, A, E, $\beta$-catotene, total cholesterol, glutamic pyruvic transaminase(GPT) and glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase(GOT) were also analyzed. In experiment one, a comparison was made of heme proteins and lipid damage to RBC, plasma antioxidant status (indexed by plasma levels of vitamin C, E, A and $\beta$-carotene) between smokers(n=56) and non-smokers (n=16). No differences were found in plasma antioxidant status, heme protein damage and TBARS concentration of RBC. In experiment two, 46 fasting male smokers from experiment one were divided into 4 groups. The groups were smoking with placebo group(SP, n=14), smoking cessation with vitamins supplementatin group (SV, n=13), smoking cessation with placebo group (NSP, n=9) and smoking cessation with vitamins supplementation group (NSV, n=10). After supplementing antioxidant vitamins, significant increases were seen in plasma vitamins supplementation group (NSV, n=10). After supplementing antioxidant vitamins, significant increases were seen plasma vitamin C (p<0.05) and vitamin E levels (p<0.05). The plasma vitamin E level was highest in the NSV group. Vitmain E and C supplementation provided some protection against heme proteins and lipid damage by lowering methemoglobin, hemolysis and TBARS concentration of RBC. Smoking cessation significantly decreased TBARS of RBC and plasma total cholesterol concentration. Supplementing vitamin E and C with smoking cessation considerably lowered plasma total cholesterol. These results point to a special association among smoking, oxidative damage and plasma antioxidant vitamin status. They indicate that increases in plasma antioxidant status can be detected after the supplementation of vitamin C and E and that smoking cessation had an additional effect on plasma vitamin E level. The present data suggest that improved antioxidant status induced by antioxidant supplementation or smoking cessation may help prevent oxidative damage in smokers.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.5763-5765
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• 2012

Background: This study was conducted to determine levels of lipid peroxidation and antioxidant vitamin status in patients with oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer. Methods: The study group consisted of a total number of 80 subjects between the age 40-68 years, 40 with clinically and histopathologically proved cases of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer and 40 normal healthy, age and sex matched volunteers as controls. Levels of lipid peroxidation products as malondialdehyde (MDA) and antioxidant vitamins as vitamin A and vitamin C were estimated and compared between the two groups. Results: There was a statistical significant difference in the mean MDA, plasma vitamin A and vitamin C in the oral and oropharyngeal cancer patients compared with the healthy controls (p<0.0001). Conclusions: Lipid peroxidation (MDA) is higher and plasma antioxidant vitamins like vitamin A and vitamin C were lower in oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer patients than healthy controls.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.258-271
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• 1987

This survey of 527 children, aged 4 to 6 years, focused on family and dietary environment, nutritional status and personality. It was conducted from June to October, 1986. The results showed that 68.0%(breakfast)and 55.4% (evening meal ) of the subjects indicated they had meals with the family everyday. Analysis of the nutritional status children showed all nutrient intake except protein an diron was insufficient compared with RDA. Carbohydrate provided 58.3% of total calorie intake ; protein accounted for 15.7% . fat provided 26.0%. There was a positive relation between income and nutrient intake. Children with employed mothers showed lower nutrient intake than children with unemployed mothers. Food attitude was positively related to nutrient intake, nutrient intake of children with good eating behavior was higher than that of children had poor eating behavior . Activity level had a significant correlation with intake of calories, fat, vitamin A, vitamin B$_1$, and Vitamin B$_2$. Mood was correlated with intake of protein, iron, vitamin A, vitamin B$_2$ and vitamin C.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.527-538
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• 2002

Body antioxidant status is an important factor in the prevention of many chronic diseases caused by oxidative stress, especially in the elderly and is affected by health-related habits, such as smoking, drinking and regular physical activity. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between these health-related habits and plasma antioxidant status in the elderly. Plasma antioxidant status was examined by determining plasma levels of antioxidant vitamins (vitamin C, A, E, $\beta$ -carotene), total antioxidant status (TAS) and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance (TBARS) . The subjects included 225 elderly persons aged over 60 yews (63 males, 162 females) living in the Ulsan area. They were interviewed to collect data on their general characteristics and health behaviors such as smoking, exercise and alcohol consumption by means of questionnaires. Their dietary intakes were obtained by means of semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) The study population was divided into two or three groups according to their smoking, drinking, and exercise status. The ratio of smoker, drinker and exerciser was 16.7%, 31.0% and 44.2% respectively. The dietary antioxidant vitamin intakes were not significantly different among groups of smoking and drinking status, but tended to be higher in non-smokers and non-drinkers than in smokers and drinkers. Plasma vitamin C and $\beta$ -carotene levels were significantly higher in non-smokers, but Plasma vitamin A and TBARS levels were significantly lower in non-smokers than in smokers. Plasma TAS was not significantly different among the smoking groups, but showed a tendency to decrease with an increase in the number of packyear. Plasma vitamin C and $\beta$ -carotene levels of the non-drinkers were higher than those of drinkers and past-drinkers, but plasma vitamin A, C, E, TAS and TBARS showed no difference among the groups of drinker. All vitamin intakes of the exercisers were slightly higher than those of the non-exercisers, but vitamin C intake was significantly higher in female exercisers than in non-exercisers. Plasma $\beta$ -carotene levels were significantly higher in male exercisers and plasma vitamin A, C, E, TAS and TBARS levels tended to be higher in exercisers than in non-exercisers. These results suggested that change to non-smoker, modulation of alcohol consumption and regular exercise could enhance antioxidant defences against reactive oxygen species and might increase the likelihood of a healthier life span.