• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.31-42
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to develop the website-based program for individual meal planning. The program consisted of the basic information of clients, dietary habits, analysis of nutrient intakes and menu planning. The first part of the program consisted of general information such as general characteristics and anthropometric data of clients. The second part was designed to investigate the dietary habits, food intake frequency, nutrition knowledge, and drinking and smoking habits of the clients. The third part consisted of analysis of nutrient intakes including three major nutrients, calorie intake by foods and alcohol, and ratio of individual fatty acid intake. Nutrient intakes was evaluated by comparing with dietary reference intakes. In the final part, the program included the menu planning by using standard recipe. This system was also designed to insert, remove or change the food items or amount according to the user need. It is expected that the development of a meal planning system based on the internet can facilitate the professional dietary counseling, and thus help to improve the health of people.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.2910-2925
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• 2017

Inadequate and inappropriate intake of food is known to cause various health issues and diseases. Due to lack of concise information about healthy diet, people have to rely on medicines instead of taking preventive measures in food intake. Due to diversity in food components and large number of dietary sources, it is challenging to perform real-time selection of diet patterns that must fulfill one's nutrition needs. Particularly, selection of proper diet is critical for patients suffering from various diseases. In this article, we highlight the issue of selection of proper diet that must fulfill patients' nutrition requirements. To address this issue, we present a cloud based food recommendation system, called Diet-Right, for dietary recommendations based on users' pathological reports. The model uses ant colony algorithm to generate optimal food list and recommends suitable foods according to the values of pathological reports. Diet-Right can play a vital role in controlling various diseases. The experimental results show that compared to single node execution, the convergence time of parallel execution on cloud is approximately 12 times lower. Moreover, adequate accuracy is attainable by increasing the number of ants.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.341-348
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• 2007

This study was to investigate utilization status of internet, health/nutrition websites among children, and to assess the needs for developing nutrition websites and education programs for children. The survey questionnaire was administered to 5-6th grade students (n=434) at two elementary schools. About 32% used the internet every day while 19.5% used it whenever they needed, showing significant differences in internet usage by gender (p<0.01). Although the subjects used the internet frequently, those who used health/nutrition websites were 23.3%. The purpose of using these sites were mainly 'to obtain health/nutrition information' (55%), 'to get information regarding weight control' (17%). Fifty-six percent of the users were satisfied with the nutrition websites, but only 30% said that they were helpful. The preferred topics in developing nutrition websites were assessment of obesity, exercise methods, weight control methods, nutrition information (e.g., diet for stature growth), dietary assessment and food hygiene. Girls showed more interest in these topics than boys (p<0.05). For school nutrition education, girls showed more interest than boys in topics for cooking snacks (p<0.001) and selecting snacks (p<0.05). In nutrition websites, subjects wanted to have information and game/quiz, as well as getting information using Flash animation. The favorite colors for screen and text were slightly different by gender (p<0.01). In school nutrition education, 89.5% of subjects liked to have activities (e.g., cooking, exercise, game). They also liked materials using computers, video and internet than printed materials. If nutrition education was done at schools, subjects wanted to receive 5.7 times of education per semester on average (mean length: 42.6 min/session). This study suggests that nutrition websites and education programs for children should include the topics such as assessment of obesity or diet, weight control and special information (e.g., diet for growth) as well as general information. In designing nutrition websites and programs, methods including game, quiz, Flash animation and activities (cooking, exercise) could be appropriately used to induce the interest and involvement of children.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.405-416
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• 2007

This study was to examine the needs among elementary school dietitians (n = 115) for developing a nutrition information internet site for children. A survey questionnaire included general characteristics, internet use regarding health and nutrition information, and needs for developing a nutrition information site. The mean age of the subjects was 36.2 years. The higher working experience group (> 10 years of working as dieticians) had higher mean age (p < 0.001), had a larger number of enrolled students at school (p < 0.01) and the number of those receiving school lunch (p < 0.01) than the counterparts (${\le}10$ years group). Sources of health and nutrition information were mainly PC/internet (60.4%) and seminar (14.4%). About 95% used health or nutrition information using the internet, however, the majority of users (71.6%) used internet information only when they needed it. Major reasons for using internet information was 'to get nutrition education materials' (63.8%) and 'to obtain general nutrition information' (21%). One third of the subjects were satisfied with nutrition information internet sites; major problems with internet sites were 'lack of content' (38.9%) and 'lack of practical information' (33%). These characteristics regarding internet use were not different between work experience groups. Major problems with nutrition education were 'lack of nutrition educational materials' (41.1 %) and 'lack of nutrition education skills' (32.1%). These were significantly different between the work experience groups (p < 0.01). Subjects preferred CD/internet to leaflet/booklet as nutrition educational materials. In developing nutrition sites for children, subjects wanted topics such as obesity assessment, dietary assessment, and obesity. Subjects responded that contents of nutrition information should be 'suitable to the children's knowledge levels' (31.1%), 'interesting enough by including quizzes, games and songs' (27.8%), 'inserting many illustrations/icons' (16.3%). In terms of designing internet sites for children, they wanted that internet sites should 'be easy enough to find the sites' (29.2%), 'use illustrations and characters' (24.8%), 'use communication channels such as Q&A' (18.7%). Needs for developing internet sites for children were not different by the work experience group. This study suggests that web sites for children should be carefully developed considering the contents and design, have less information with more illustrations, designed to induce the interest of children, as well as including sections such as eating habit assessment and games.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.29-40
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to provide basic information for developing nutrition education programs for preschool children and their families. The subjects were 291 parents whose children went to daycare centers in Uiwang. The questionnaire contained 15 items for children's dietary habits and six items for parents' nutritional attitudes. The results of frequency analysis of children's dietary habits were as follows: 63.9% of children ate meals regularly, however breakfast (46.4%) was usually skipped; 44.0% of children ate a snack more than twice per day; 56.7% did not have late night meals; 49.5% ate out once to twice per week; 89.7% had dinner with family more than three times per week; and 43.6% had picky eating habits. The percentage of children who did not eat vegetables and seaweed was the highest among other food groups. Intake frequencies were low in fatty foods, instant foods, and fast foods. Some correlations were observed between picky eating habits and other dietary habits by cross-tabulation analysis. Intake frequency of non-picky eating children was lower for late night eating and fatty foods but higher for vegetables and seaweed compared to picky eating children. Parents answered that their nutritional knowledge level was normal (72.2%), and nutritional information was collected using the Internet (36.0%). Nutritional value was the most considered point in meal preparation of parents (43.3%), and the most difficult factor in child's diet management was lack of time due to working (36.1%). Parents cited method of creating a menu (27.0%) and table manners (25.3%) as topics of nutrition education by professionals. Therefore, various nutrition education programs need to be developed to improve healthy dietary habits for children and their families.

• Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.77-86
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• 2001

The purpose of this study was to investigate self-perception and practices of health and appearance, health-related lifestyles and dietary behaviors of college students(137 male, 115 female) attending web class via the Internet. This cross-sectional survey was conducted by a self-administered questionnaire and data was analyzed by SPSS program. The average height, weight and BMI of the male and female college students were 174.4cm, 67.8kg, 22.3kg/㎡ and 162.3cm, 52.1kg, 19.8kg/㎡, respectively. Male collage students perceived their health statuses significantly better compared to female students. As for self-evaluation of anemia, female college students perceived significantly more anemia symptoms compared to male college students. Female college students perceived their body image to be obese compared to male college students. Underweight college students perceived significantly less healthy statuses, more anemia symptoms, and worse hair conditions compared to other college students. The rate of male students who exercise was significantly higher compared to that of female students. Male students reported significantly more smoking and drinking of alcohol compared to female students. The rate of female college students skipping meals was significantly higher than that of male college students. Frequency of eating out in female college students was significantly higher compared to that in male students. These results may provide some basic information in developing a nutrition education program for Korean college students using Internet.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.20-29
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• 2015

This study investigated the demand of nutrition education programs among preschooler's parents. Focus group interview was conducted four times with 29 parents of preschool children. Most subjects appeared to have interest in nutrition education; 'very interested' (58.6%), 'somewhat interested' (20.7%). Sources of nutrition information were 'internet' (35.1%), 'books' (21.6%), 'newspaper or magazines' (13.5%), 'family or relatives' (13.5%), 'media' (8.1%), 'preschool' (5.4%) and 'hospital or public health center' (2.7%) in order. The most frequently mentioned health problems related to dietary behavior were atopy and obesity. Major concerns for children's dietary behavior was picky eating habits, and having questions for how to deal with this problem. Most subjects had trouble with obtaining an adequate amount of dietary supplements for their children. Nutrition education for parents about food labeling and information on processed foods was in demand. Preferred methods of nutrition education for children were playing games with stickers, gardening vegetables, and participating in cooking. Attitudes toward computer-assisted education materials, one of the methods of nutrition education, appeared to be ambivalent. Some preschool parents showed negative attitudes towards exposing their children to electronic devices at an early age, whereas others showed positive attitudes. Subjects were interested in meal-planning and ways to balance nutrients for their child. Parents preferred attending professional lectures to receive reading materials or searching websites as an adult nutrition education method. Results of this study have implications on providing basic information for developing nutrition education programs for preschoolers and their parents. Future research should focus on developing nutrition education programs for both preschools and the home.

• Korean journal of food and cookery science
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.596-602
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• 2010

The objective of this study was to investigate parents' behavior and attitudes regarding their kids' snacking and dietary life education. A survey was conducted with the parents (N=412) of elementary students from seven provinces, includeing Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Kwangju, Gyungnam, Chungnam, and Kangwon. Kids' snacks consisted mainly of purchased foods rather than homemade foods. Parents' main concerns regarding kids' snacks were nutrition (44.9%), taste (24.3%), and safety (23.5%). Over 50% of parents checked food labels, especially expiration date (96.4%), food ingredients (49.5%), and food additives (33.5%). The snack items frequently provided to kids were fruits (62.8%), milk (55.5%), bread (47.1%), and snack items (23.3%). Parents responded that the amount of their kids' snacking was adequate (47.8%), small (33.7%), or large (18.2%). The results show that more research is needed regarding the adequacy of kids' snacking, considering that 15.7% and 22.4% of the children ate more and less, respectively, than their daily energy requirement. 76.5% of the parents performed home education regarding their kids' dietary habits, especially on the topics of 'balanced diet' (83.9%), 'healthful food' (53.7%), and 'eating three meals a day' (40.2%). Parents obtained dietary information from TV (65.2%), internet (12.0%), and newspapers (7.0%). From this study, we found that parents perceived their kids' snacking behavior correctly, and considered home-education for their kids' dietary habits positively. However, the information resources were limited, which makes it necessary to develop parents' education programs.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.171-177
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• 2008

Adolescents in Busan area were asked in a survey about their perception and attitudes towards fast food. Most respondents answered that they consume fast food once a month because it is fast, easily accessible and tasty. Although they perceived fast food as unhealthy and less nutritious, they were less aware of its effect on their health and nutritional status. The more knowledgeable respondents were about nutrition and health the less likely they were to choose fast food over other meals. However, respondents who had little or no knowledge about the nutritional factors of fast food accounted for 43.1%. As to their source of dietary information, students relied on themselves(31.0%), parents(20.5%) and mends(19.9%). The medium through which students got the most nutrition and health information was television(66.8%), followed by the Internet(36.7%) and magazines(29.7%). This study will enable educators to plan more effective strategies for improving the dietary knowledge of the adolescent population.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.550-557
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• 2014

Objectives: This study was conducted to examine the preferences and needs of typical Korean females adults for food and nutrition information provided by the mass media. Methods: A total of 343 females (77 in their 20s, 85 in their 30s, 88 in their 40s and 93 in their 50s) residing in the Seoul/Gyeonggido area was surveyed on general characteristics, main sources of food and nutrition information and needs for sources and contents of nutrition information. Results: The survey showed that typical Korean females obtained knowledge of food and nutrition mainly through the Internet (30.4%) and broadcasting (29.0%). Typical Korean females were interested in 'dietary management for weight control' (21.9%), 'the prevention and treatment of disease' (20.0%), 'food safety' (16.8%), 'proper dietary habits' (14.6%), 'cookery' (11.8%), 'functional foods' (9.6%), 'restaurant details' (3.5%) and 'life-cycle-specific dietary guideline' (1.6%). Needs for food and nutrition program forms on TV were 'educational programs' (34.3%), 'documentaries' (20.8), 'expert lecture-style' (13.0%), 'entertainment programs' (11.9%), 'expert conversation' (11.4%), 'news-style' (4.6%) and 'public campaign advertisements' (4.0%). On the Internet, 38.6% of the respondents preferred to get information provided by food and nutrition-related institutions (38.6%) while 26.1% preferred webtoons for nutritional information. The favored forms in mobile applications were 'monitoring their diets' (29.5%), 'data-based texts information' (21.4%), 'experts feedback' (20.6%), 'communities' (15.1%) and 'games' (13.1%). The rates of the preference to obtain information from experts such as nutritionists and dietitians and doctorsor dietitian turned reporters increased markedly with older ages. Conclusions: Since the mass media is a main source of food and nutrition information for the general public, the effectiveness and accuracy of the information provided should be enhanced by taking the needs of the public into account. The quality of information should be improved by involving more nutrition experts.