• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.163-173
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• 2013

Objectives: There has been an increase in the use of mind-body therapies to control cardiovascular risk factors recently. This trial was designed to determine whether the 'jeol'(Korean Buddhists' prostration) meditation program, as a new mind-body intervention, was effective in managing stress, depression and controlling cardiovascular risk factors in women working at a geriatric hospital. Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial to determine whether the 'jeol' meditation program could improve stress, anxiety, depression, and cardiovascular risk factors in women. We randomly assigned 57 participants to the intervention(29 participants) or control(28 participants) group. The subjects in the intervention group participated in a group Jeol meditation program once weekly, and practiced at home. The following variables were assessed: stress(Psychosocial Wellbeing Index), depression(Beck's Depression Inventory), body mass index(BMI), waist circumference, hemoglobin A1c(HbA1c), homeostasis model assessment(HOMA), low-density lipoprotein(LDL) cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein(HDL) cholesterol, and triglyceride were assessed. Results: After the 8-week program, 2 participants from the intervention group and 1 from the control group dropped out. The subjects in the intervention group exhibited decreased scores for stress(t=5.102, p<0.01), depression(t=5.259, p<0.01), BMI(t=2.942, p=0.007), and waist circumference(t=2.582, p=0.016); however these scores did not demonstrate a significant decrease in participants of the control group. The other variables showed no significant difference between the groups. Conclusion: The 'jeol' meditation program evidently reduced stress, anxiety, depression, body weight, and waist circumference in women, which suggests that this program could be employed as a mind-body therapies.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.9
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• pp.791-797
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• 2020

Maqui berry are known as one of the "superfoods" and can purportedly improve health. The effects of orally administered maqui berry extract on biological parameters such as serum lipids and blood cells in healthy subjects were investigated in rats in vivo for 2 weeks. Possible causes of harmful effects on liver and kidney function were also examined. After oral administration of maqui berry extract, levels of serum triglyceride (TG) were decreased to almost 30% less from the control, and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was increased to 18% more; thus, serum lipids profile seemed to be improved. The administration of maqui berry extract increased red blood cell concentration by 10% from the control, while both the hemoglobin and the mean corpuscular volume (MCV) were increased by 12%. Maqui berry extract also increased the concentration of serum total proteins by 30% of the control and that suggests protein metabolism might be improved. Moreover, maqui berry decreased serum levels of glutamin oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT) and glutamin pyruvate transaminase (GPT) by 12% from the control group so maqui berry improved liver function. This study suggests that oral administration of maqui berry extract may be helpful to improve those heath parameters like serum lipids profile, red blood cell level, liver protection. It would also be very useful for the development of high value products such as functional foods and pharmaceutics in the future.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.249-258
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• 2008

Purpose : Abdominal obesity with visceral fat accumulation have been known to be intimately associated with the development of metabolic syndrome. Therefore, it is important to estimate the precise amount of visceral fat. Ultrasonography has been reported that it is a simple and noninvasive method for visceral fat evaluation. Purpose of this study is to evaluate the association of ultrasonographic visceral fat thickness, anthropometric indexes, and risk factor of metabolic syndrome, and to investigate the cut-off value of abdominal visceral fat thickness leading to increased risk of metabolic syndrome. Materials and methods : The subject included 200 men and 200 women who visited D healthcare center in Daejeon from January to April 2008. The subcutaneous fat thickness and visceral fat thickness were measured by ultrasonograph. As anthropometric index, we measured body mass index, waist circumference and waist/height ratio. As for the risk factor of metabolic syndrome, we measured blood pressure, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglyceride and fasting serum glucose. Results : VFT was significantly correlated with waist circumference, (r=0.683/M, r=0.604/F), waist to height ratio (r=0.633/M, r=0.593/F) and BMI (r=0.621/M, r=0.534/F) in both men and women. In addition it was significantly correlated with Systolic blood pressure (r=0.229/M, r=0.232/F), Diastolic blood pressure ((r=0.285/M, r=0.254/F), high density cholesterol (r=-0.254/M, r=-0.254/F), Triglyceride (r=0.475/M, r=0.411/F), and Fasting blood sugar (r=0.158/M, r=0.234/F) in both men and women. The cut-off value of visceral fat thickness leading to the increased risk of metabolic syndrome was 4.58cm (sensitivity89.2%, specificity 71.2%) in men and 3.50cm (sensitivity61.2% specificity 80.8%) in women respectively. The odds ratio of the risk of metabolic syndrome was dramatically increased with the abdominal visceral fat thickness level over 6cm in men and 5cm in women. Conclusion : The visceral fat thickness using ultrasonography was significantly correlated with anthropometric indexes and risk factors of metabolic syndrome in both men and women. The cut-off value of visceral fat thickness leading to the increased risk of metabolic syndrome was 4.58cm in men and 3.50cm in women.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.683-693
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• 2009

This study was designed to investigate the effect of dandelion juice supplementation on attenuation of oxidative stress and hangover after drinking alcohol in healthy college male students. This human trial was conducted by two phase cross over design with two weeks wash out period. The subjects (age $24{\sim}28$ years) were volunteers who had more than 72 g of ethanol drinking capacity. Dandelion group was given dandelion juice 220 mL daily for 7 days. Biochemical markers were determined in blood samples taken at 0 and 150 minutes after administration 72 g of alcohol. The levels of plasma glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, glutamic pyruvic transaminase, lactate dehydrogenase and bilirubin, the indicators of liver cell damage, were not significantly different between groups. No significant differences in lymphocyte DNA damage level between groups was observed. However, plasma acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) and high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were significantly (p<0.01) increased in dandelion supplemented group compared to that of control group. Furthermore, activities and protein expressions of glutathione-reductase and catalase of erythrocytes were significantly elevated in dandelion supplemented group compared to that of control group. From the above results, it is concluded that dandelion juice supplementation can reduce oxidative stress and hangover syndrome through the elevation of ALDH and antioxidative enzyme system in healthy male adults.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.178-186
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• 2016

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of whole wheat bread with added Lindera obtusiloba (LO) and Capsosiphon fulvescens (CF) ethanol extracts on serum glucose and lipid levels in Sprague Dawley rats. Rats were divided into five groups depending on the diet administered: normal bread (NC), whole wheat bread (W), whole wheat bread with LO leaves extract (WL), whole wheat bread with CF extract (WC), and whole wheat bread with freeze-drying CF (WDC). After 4 weeks of consuming the experimental diet, the blood glucose level and hemoglobin A1c contents were found to be significantly lower in the W, WL, WC, and WDC groups than in the NC group. The high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels increased in the WL group when compared to those in the NC group and triglycerides levels decreased in all wheat groups compared to those in the NC group. These results suggest that wheat breads containing LO and CF extracts are effective for preventing hypercholesterolemia and obesity.