• 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.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.78-82
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• 2010

This study investigated the effects of water-soluble calcium supplements manufactured with eggshells and oyster shells on growing rats. The aim was to review the potential use of food wastes as materials for water-soluble calcium supplements as compared to water-soluble calcium supplements made from imported seaweed powder. When experimental animals were administered three types of water-soluble calcium supplements orally for six weeks, the serum calcium level of the seaweed calcium supplement group were significantly higher than that of eggshell or oyster shell-derived calcium, but blood alkali phosphatase activity, osteocalcin and urine crosslink levels were not different in the three types of calcium supplements. Bone mineral density and bone mineral content in spine, femur and tibia also were not significantly different among the groups. However, when considering body weight of each group, bone mineral density and bone mineral content of the femur were significantly higher in the oyster shell calcium supplement group. These results suggest that at least on a short-term basis, the effect of calcium supplements prepared from eggshell and oyster shell are similar to the effects of seaweed calcium supplements.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.369-377
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• 2006

Data from the 2001 Korea Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a nationally representative, cross-sectional survey, were analyzed to assess prevalence of health intended food use overall and in relation to socio-demographic and lifestyle characteristics. Health intended food were classified into four broadly defined categories: vitamin and mineral supplements, health aid food, animal protein based restorative food and medicinal plants. Thirty three percent of adults aged 20 years or older reported taking health intended food in the past year : twenty four percent took vitamin or mineral supplements and medicinal plants were taken by 17 % of adults, health aid food by 15% and animal protein based restorative food by 6%. In multivariate logistic regression, female gender, older age, more education, regular exercise and non smoking were associated with greater use of vitamin or mineral supplements. Dietary quality was significantly associated with use of vitamin or mineral supplements or health aid food but not with use of medicinal plants or animal protein based restorative foods. Obese persons were less likely to take vitamin or mineral supplements. These findings suggest that epidemiologic studies of diet, demographic or lifestyle and health take health intended food use into account because of high prevalence of use of the food by the population and differential use of the food by socio-demographic and lifestyle characteristics.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.78-84
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• 2018

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Folic acid supplementation before pregnancy is known to reduce the risk of neural tube defects. The purposes of this study were to investigate the awareness, knowledge, and use of folic acid supplements along with their associated factors among non-pregnant Korean women of childbearing age. SUBJECTS/METHODS: From August 2012 to March 2013, 704 women aged 19-45 years completed a self-administered questionnaire regarding their awareness, knowledge, and use of folic acid as well as questions to identify risk of inadequate folate intake. RESULTS: Approximately 67% of women reported that they had heard of folic acid, and 23.7% had knowledge of both the role of folic acid in preventing birth defects and appropriate time for taking folic acid supplements to prevent birth defects. However, only 9.4% of women took folic acid supplements at the time of the survey. Women aged 19-24 years, unmarried women, and women who had never been pregnant were less likely to be aware and knowledgeable of folic acid or take folic acid supplements. In addition, women at high risk of inadequate folate intake were less likely to take folic acid supplements. In a multivariate analysis, women aged 19-24 years, women with a high school diploma or lower education level, and unmarried women were less likely to be aware and have knowledge of folic acid. The percentage of women taking folic acid supplements was significantly higher among knowledgeable women than among unknowledgeable women. CONCLUSIONS: These results support our hypothesis that women with knowledge of folic acid are more likely to take folic acid supplements. Therefore, educational programs or campaigns to improve knowledge regarding the importance of folic acid and to promote consumption of folic acid supplements as well as folate-rich foods are needed to target young, less educated, and unmarried women.

• 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.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.58-83
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• 2022

We developed analytical methods using high performance chromatography (HPLC) and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for the simultaneous determination of 80 unapproved compounds in dietary supplements. The target compounds for analysis were unapproved ingredients (e.g., pharmaceuticals) that have potential adverse effects on consumers owing to accidental misuse, overuse, and interaction with other medication in dietary supplement. Two analytical methods were tested to identify the optimal validation results according to AOAC guideline. As a result, limit of quantification (LOQ) was 0.14-0.5 ㎍ mL^-1; linearity (r²) was ≥ 0.99; accuracy (expressed as recovery) was 78.9-114%; precision (relative standard deviation) was ≤ 4.28% in the HPLC method. In the LC-MS/MS method, LOQ was 0.01-2 ng mL^-1, linearity (r²) was ≥0.98, accuracy was 71.7-119%; precision was ≤ 12.5%. The developed methods were applied to 51 dietary supplements collected from 2019 to 2021 through MFDS alert system. Based on our previous monitoring study, major compounds were icariin, sibutramine, yohimbine, sildenafil, tadalafil, sennosides (A, B), cascarosides (A, B, C, D), and phenolphthalein. In this study, we re-analyzed samples of detected compounds, and evaluated the statistical difference using Bland-Altman analysis to compare two analytical approaches between HPLC and LC-MS/MS. These results showed a good agreement between two methods that can be used to monitor the unapproved ingredients in dietary supplements. The developed two methods are complementarily suitable for monitoring the adulteration of 80 unapproved compounds in dietary supplements.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.347-355
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• 2017

Objectives: Although dietary supplements use in Korea has been rapidly increasing and women are more likely to take dietary supplements more than men, only a few studies have been conducted to investigate factors contributing to gender differences in dietary supplement use in the Korean population. The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of dietary supplement use and also identify gender-specific key factors that contribute to it using the data of the 4th KNHANES. Methods: Subjects were divided into user and non-user groups according to the answer given to the question that asked whether they had used any dietary supplement for more than 2 weeks on a regular basis during the previous year. Factors related to dietary supplement use were examined by general characteristics, health behavior and eating behavior. Results: Prevalence of dietary supplement use was 13.6% for men and 20.6% for women. Users were more likely to be middle-aged, have higher income and education, have a spouse, or reside in dong areas in both men and women. Regarding health behaviors, men with desirable lifestyle behavior were more likely to take dietary supplements, while men who smoked were less likely to take dietary supplements. Regarding disease history, both men and women with a current disease had higher odds of taking supplements. With regard to dietary behavior, frequent eating out and nutrition attitude were associated with higher odds of taking supplements in both men and in women. Conclusions: Health or dietary behavior related factors that were associated with taking supplements differed by gender. These findings can be useful for planning gender-specific dietary education and health programs.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.205-213
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• 2001

A survey was conducted to investigate the intake pattern of health supplements and health foods by using questionnaire. The data were collected from 395 adults over middle age and analyzed with SAS program. The natural foods were most frequently taken among health supplements and health foods for health. There was no difference in pattern of health supplements or health foods intake between male and female. The item taken over 20% of subjects was health drinks, green tea, ginseng product, dietary fiber drink, honey, general tea, tonic medicine from natural foods, vitamin B, vitamin C from nutrition supplements, and Lactobacillus product from health supplements. As the main reason for taking health supplements or health foods, the male indicated recovery of fatigue and improvement of health, but the female indicated recovery of fatigue and protection or treatment on disease(p<0.001). The frequency of taking health supplements or health foods was once a day. About the effect of health foods 70.1%, of subjects answered not bad and 25% responded very helpful for their health. Twenty percent of subjects experienced side effects such as diarrhea. The results showed that the proper education program should be developed for consumer to choose suitable health supplements or health foods according to their dietary life and health condition.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.341-351
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• 2018

Objectives: Use of dietary supplements containing vitamins and minerals is growing in Korean adults, especially in pregnant and lactating women. Vitamin and mineral supplements are available in different composition and in a wide range of contents. The purposes of the study were to examine nutrient composition and content of vitamin and mineral supplements for pregnant and lactating women and assess their appropriateness as dietary supplements. Methods: Information on the name, manufacturer, nutrient composition, and usage of vitamin and mineral supplements for pregnant and lactating women were obtained from the homepage of the Food Safety Information Portal managed by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, and Korean Index of Medical Specialties. A total of 264 products were identified. Results: Among 264 products, 26.1% were single nutrient products, and 73.9% were multinutrient products. The most commonly included nutrient was iron (70.1%), folic acid (66.3%), vitamin $B_{12}$ (45.8%), vitamin C (38.6%), and vitamin $B_6$ (38.6%). Although more than 50% of products contained nutrients less than 150% of Recommended Nutrient Intakes or Adequate Intakes for daily use, some products contained inappropriately high amounts of nutrients. When a maximum daily dose of supplements was taken as described on the label, iron in 73 products (39.5%), folic acid in 14 products (8.0%) were likely to be consumed in amounts greater than Tolerable Upper Intake Levels. Most products were assessed as inappropriate for pregnant women due to the possibility of excessive intake of vitamins or minerals when compared with Dietary Reference Intakes. Conclusions: Pregnant and lactating women need to carefully select dietary supplements containing adequate amounts of vitamins and minerals. Nutritionists should provide guidelines regarding selection of appropriate vitamin and mineral supplements for pregnant and lactating women.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.217-221
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• 2007

Within the elderly population, the use of calcium supplements and the intake of calcium from food are on the rise in order to maintain health. Calcium is absorbed as an ion in vivo, leading to speculation that absorption efficiency is affected by the solubility of the calcium consumed. In our study, the bioavailability of two types of calcium supplements with different solubilities was evaluated. Experimental animals were fed water-soluble or insoluble calcium supplements for 6 weeks. We found that blood alkali phosphatase activity, osteocalcin content, and urine crosslinks values were not different between the groups. Similarly, the degree of apparent calcium absorption between the two calcium supplements was not significantly different. The bone mineral density and bone mineral content of the femur and the tibia increased in the group that consumed insoluble calcium compared with those of the water-soluble calcium supplemented group. However, when considering body weight, the bone mineral density value for all areas, including the spine, was significantly higher in the group that consumed the water-soluble calcium supplement.