• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.335-344
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• 2018

This study aimed to develop and evaluate a sugars intake reduction program (SIRP) that was designed to increase the knowledge, attitude, and skills of Korean children aged 5 years regarding sugars intake reduction. A total of 101 children aged 5~6 years from 6 preschools participated in SIRP. SIRP consisted of 4 sessions including 10 activities (e.g., story-telling, arts, experiment, checking nutrition facts, pledge), delivered to children at preschools by nutritionists over a one-month period. Three letters were sent to parents throughout the program to inform them of the children's activities at the preschools and to provide additional information on reducing children's sugars intake. A total of 90 children completed the program; 83 parents of these children completed the SIRP evaluation survey. The children's sugars intake reduction score was significantly increased after attending SIRP. Teachers (n=6) who participated in this program agreed to improve their students' attitudes on reducing sugars intake and to decrease students' behaviors related to sugars intake. Parents agreed to improve their children's attitude on reducing sugars intake and to decrease children's behaviors related to sugars intake. The outcome showed SIRP improved participants' attitudes towards sugars reduction and increased the skills to reduce the sugars intake of children aged 5~6 years. Future studies should examine whether SIRP reduces actual sugars intake among children.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.532-542
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• 2018

This study investigated the current status and needs of nutrition education to help reduce children's sugars intake, according to the annual budget of the Center for Children's Foodservice Management (CCFM). Through an online survey conducted in October 2015, the 115 CCFMs participated in this survey and they were divided into the following three groups according to the annual project budget: 1~2 million won (${\leq}2M$; n=25), 3~4 million won (3~4 M; n=60), and 5 million and over won (${\geq}5M$; n=30). A total of 8.0% of the ${\leq}2M$ group respondents provided nutrition education on the sugars intake to young children as a main topic, which was significantly lower than those of the 3~4 M(16.7%) and ${\geq}5M$ (16.7%) groups (p<0.05). The most common reasons given for not delivering nutrition education on sugars were "insufficient nutrition education information and materials" for the ${\leq}2M$ (47.1%), and "more urgent nutrition education topics than that" for the 3~4 M (66.7%) and ${\geq}5M$ (50.0%). The percentage of nutrition education on children's sugars intake provided to their parents was low, showing about 8% in the ${\leq}2M$ group, 28.3% in the 3~4 M group and 23.3% in the ${\geq}5M$ group (p<0.05). However, more than 90% of the respondents answered providing nutrition education on sugars intake reduction to children was needed regardless of the annual project budget. The results indicate a great need for the development and dissemination of standardized educational programs about children's sugars intake in order to provide a leveled education program regardless of the project budget, and to solve the difficulties of development and operation of nutrition educational programs due to a lack of budget and human resources of CCFMs with less annual project budget to manage the projects.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.818-827
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• 2016

This study was conducted to develop and validate the Sugar Intake Reduction Test (SIRT) for young children, and included eating behaviors, attitude, and nutritional knowledge about sugars. A draft version of the SIRT was developed after literature review. The final draft of the SIRT was established after two pilot tests of 5 year old children and an expert group's review, and is comprised of a one on one test between an investigator and a child using picture tools. It contained of 20 questions which included 3 components: eating behaviors (5 items), preference for sugar sweetened food (10 items), and nutritional knowledge about sugars (5 items). The final SIRT was conducted on 181 children 5 (n=100) to 6 (n=81) years old, to examine its item and test adequacies. The passing rate of most items significantly increased with increasing age, and most of the item discrimination also differed significantly between the below and upper score groups. The content validity was given a high score by professionals (mean score 3.9 out of 4). Reliability of all the items in the SIRT was high (Cronbach's ${\alpha}=0.82$). Moreover, the total component and the sub-component scores of the SIRT correlated significantly. Our results indicate that the SIRT is a valid tool to measure sugar intake reduction in young children aged 5~6 years.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.539-551
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• 2017

This study investigated the current status and needs for nutrition education to help reduce children's sugars intake at the Center for Children's Foodservice Management (CCFM, n=115), and Child Care Facilities (CCF, n=646) through an online survey conducted from October $5^{th}$ to $30^{th}$ 2015. A total of 14.8% of CCFM respondents and 31.9% of CCF respondents provided nutrition education on sugars intake to young children as a main topic (p<0.001). A higher percentage (CCFM 47.8%: CCF 42.4%) delivered nutrition education on sugars intake to young children as a sub-component (p<0.001). Over 90% of the CCFM and CCF participants agreed on the necessity of providing nutrition education on sugars intake to children. The most common reasons given for delivering nutrition education on children's sugar intake were "there are many more urgent nutrition education topics" for CCFM, and "insufficient nutrition education information and materials" for CCF. The percentage of nutrition education on children's sugar intake provided to the children's parents was low showing about 20% in the both groups. The percentage of CCFM participants providing nutrition, education on children's sugar intake to the teachers in CCF was also low, showing about 14.8%; however, 68.0% of the CCF participants wanted to received teacher's education on guiding children's sugar intake. Regarding ideas about a nutrition education program on children's sugar intake for young children, most respondents in both groups answered "sugar intake and dental cavities or obesity" for appropriate education contents, "story telling or puppet show" for appropriate education methods, and "dietitian from CCFM and class teacher together" for appropriate educator. For appropriate education time, there was a significantl difference between the CCFM responses (average 2.7 times) and the CCF responses (average 4 times). Based on the above results, we found that implementing nutrition education on children's sugar intake at the CCFM and CCF, was low; however, awareness of the need for nutrition education on children's sugar intake and the program development and supply was very high. Also, the opinions of CCFM and CCF participants about a nutrition education program on children's sugar intake for young children can provide foundation data to develop and implement the CCFM-based nutrition education program.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.433-444
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• 2018

Purpose: This study examined the status and needs of school-based nutritional education programs for reducing sugars intake in elementary schools. Methods: A total of 230 elementary nutrition teachers participated in this study through an online survey in July 2017. Results: Approximately one-third of the schools conducted nutrition education on reducing sugars intake as a main topic. The most frequent educated grade and education period were $4^{th}$ and $3^{rd}$ grade, and once a year. Most of the nutrition teachers answered that nutrition education related to reducing sugars intake for children was necessary. The nutrition teachers answered that first graders were the recipients in most need of nutrition education for reducing sugars but, realistically, third graders were the most suitable for nutrition education. The appropriate education topics were limited to the lower grades, such as sugars consumption related health problems, foods containing high sugars, and behaviors to reduce sugars intake; however, a wider variety of topics were selected for the upper grades. The experiment was considered to be an effective educational method for both the lower and upper grades. The most appropriate nutrition education media appeared to be a mock-up in the lower grades, and an experiment kit in the upper grades. Games and videos were highly considered to be effective media to educate students in reducing sugars consumption by voluntary participation in free time in the classroom in both the lower and upper grades. Conclusion: Nutrition education programs focusing on sugars intake reduction were conducted in some elementary schools, but the training time was short and the types of activities were limited. The perception and demand for nutrition education was very high. Therefore, the development and dissemination of elementary school-based nutritional education programs for sugars intake reduction is urgently needed. Moreover, to develop an effective nutrition education program, the education environment and demand in the field should be fully considered.