• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.236-252
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• 1994

This survey was accomplished to investigate the patterns of vitamin/mineral supplements usage in the middle-aged. Eight hundred seventy two persons of middle age were chosen from various cities and rural communities in Korea. In this study, those factors affecting vitamin/mineral supplements consumption, and usage patterns were examined. In addition, vitamin and mineral intakes through supplements were calculated, and then compared with RDA. As a result, vitamin/mineral supplements were taken by 40.8% of subjects. The higher the age, education level, family income and socioeconomic status were, the higher the percentage of supplements consumption was. City-dewellers used them more often than rural-dewellers. And vitamin/mineral supplements were taken frequently in subjects who perceived their health as poor, and concerned much about health. Illness and climacteric symptoms were also related with elevated usage. However, nutritional knowledge and food habit did not affect supplements consumption. Users mostly received information about supplements from TV/radio/newspapers, of family/friends. One of the mainly cited reasons for taking supplements, next to ' to give energy', was 'to be healthier'. The four most favored supplements, in ranking order, were vitamin B-complex, vitamin E, vitamin A and Ca. Most vitamin and mineral intakes through supplements were much greater than RDA except Ca. Especially, vitamin B1 intake was the highest as 49.6$\pm$34.9 times of RDA. In conclusion, vitamin/mineral supplements used by the middle-aged in Korea was as high as those of western countries. Supplements consumption seemed to be related with affluence, poor health status, and high level of health consiousness. And supplements tended to be taken for health promotion irrespective of scientific background. Most vitamin and mineral intakes by supplements were exceeded RDA, and their intake ranges were very wide. Thus some subjects should give attention to the potential harms of megadose.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.798-808
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• 2001

In order to investigate the current status of supplements use in the elderly during the last one year, a nationwide survey was conducted in metropolitan areas(6 cities) and middle-sized cities(8 cities). The subjects were 2188(male 765, female 1423) non- institutionalized adults and elderly people aged 50 and over, and information was collected by in-person interviews. Prevalence of supplements use and different types of supplements taken by subjects were examined using SPSS statistical package. Different category of supplements was used by 30.2% of the subjects. On the average, the subjects consumed at least one kind of supplements. Chinese medicine was the most commonly used supplements in both male and female subjects. Among the reasons for using supplements, health promotion ranked the highest, however, most supplement users did not know(35.3%) or knew roughly(48.9%) about the health claims of their supplements. Subjects reported the information source for supplements as family, friends or relatives(43.6%) followed by TV and radio(23.3%). Chinese medicine was most commonly used supplement in male subjects who have chronic diseases(40.7%), and vitamin and mineral supplements were most commonly used by female subjects who have chronic diseases(39.0%). Therefore, these results may provide basic information on different category of supplements used by the middle-aged and elderly.

• 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.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.264-274
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• 1992

The tendency o taking supplements as the means of promoting health status has been increasing. This research was performed to reveal the influence of nutritional knowledge and health-consciousness on taking-supplements and to reveal that of general characteristics and related factors. The data were obtained by self-administering questionnaire and study population was adults aged 18-81 years living in Soul(N=1300) The overall response rate was 70%(N=910) The results can be summarized as follows: 1) A substantial percentage(82.5%) of the subjects used some kinds of nutrient supplements Forth nine percent of respondents used both drug type supplements and food type supplements 2) The main reasons for taking supplements were ; to prevent illness and to treat illness' and ' to recover from fatigue and to give me energy' The main reason for not-taking was 'Because I am Healthy' 3) The factors influencing on taking supplements were sex marital status disease exercise recognition of knowledge and health-consciousness. When the confounders of health-conscious-ness recognition of knowledge and self-estimated score were controlled threr were significant correlations between health-consciousness and taking-supplements.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.633-643
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• 2005

The purpose of study was to investigate nutritional supplements intake of elementary school students aged 7 to 12 years in Incheon The subjects were 631 mothers of schoolchildren and cross sectional study was conducted by a self-administered questionnaire. Nutritional supplements were taken by $42.3\%$ of the surveyed elementary school students. Among nutritional supplements they toot vitamin and mineral accounted for $47.3\%$, herbs and chinese medicine $39.3\%$ and dietary supplements $10.7\%.$ Among reasons for taking nutritional supplements, help for growth, health promotion, supply for deficient nutrients and prevention or treatment of disease were in order. As for the reasons for not taking nutritional supplements, most of the subjects answered that meals are enough in getting nutrients for children Mother of elementary school students usually Dew the health claim of the nutritional supplements before taking the Also they usually got the information of the nutritional supplements 1mm doctors or pharmacist and bought the nutritional supplements at drugstores, oriental medicine clinic and on-line shop in order. As for the effect of nutritional supplements, $43.7\%$ of the subjeces answered as 'effective' and $81.7\%$ of the mother of elementary school students who took nutritional supplements answered positively that they would continue to have their children take it Among the reasons they would continue to have their children take it help for growth ranked the first. therefore, these results my provide basic informations on nutritional supplements used by the elementary school students in Incheon.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.139-146
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• 1997

Use of the viamin-mineral supplements markedly increased with the awareness of diet and health. Data were collected from the self-administered questionnaire of 450 free living elderly, 60 to 94 years old, in Korea, to assess the relationships between socioeconomic variables, beliefs about nutrition, and the factors affecting gupplements usage. In addition, vitamin-mineral intakes through the supplements were calculated, and compared with RDA. 44.9% of the subjects took the vitamin-mineral supplements, and significantly higher percentage of women(49.3%) than men(38.1%) took supplements(p<0.05). The higher the education level, monthly pocket money, the percentage of supplements consumption was higher. People living in large cities took more supplements than those in small cities. One of the mainly cited reasons for taking supplements was to maintain health. The most favored nutrient supplements used by the subjects were in the order of vitamin B complex, vitamin E and Calcium, and vitamin-mineral intake through the supplements were much greater than RDA and ranges of their intakes were very wide. Vitamin B1 and vitamin E were observed to consume excessive amount(63 times of RDA and 40 times of RDA, respectively). The reasons for supplementation were often inappropriate and unreliable sources of information were used. Thus nutritional understanding and education of the elderly peopled are needed in regard to the use of vitamin-mineral supplements, and the relationship between adequate diet and good health.

• 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.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.299-306
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• 2006

This study was done to investigate the use of nutritional supplements (NS) in Korean elite soccer players using an anonymous questionnaire. NS were classified into health supplements, manufactured health food supplements, chinese medicines & tonic foods, and nutrient supplements. Information was sought on the type of NS and factors that might influence supplement use including selected demographic parameters and health related variables. The data were collected from 241 athletes (aged $24.6{\pm}3.8$ years) in 9 professional soccer club. The prevalence of NS use among the subjects was 81.3%. Health supplements were used most frequently and nutrient supplement drug was the second one. Among the health supplements, weight/muscle gainer and calorie replacement product were most frequently used. Vitamin supplements were most frequently used among all nutrient supplement drugs. Users of NS were higher age (p<0.05) duration of exercise (p<0.05), and income (p<0.05) than non-users. The married (p<0.05) and a member of K-league (p<0.01) tended to have higher prevalence of NS use. The main adviser of NS were family (55.3%) and oneself (39%) instead of coach or sports nutritionist. Although NS use, only 26.2% certainly check up nutritional information on their used NS. Among the subjects, 84.5% of them felt that NS use were improved athletic performance, and 86.5% of them will to keep on taking supplement. These data suggest that a large number of elite soccer players use NS and these players may require education about healthy nutritional supplement practice and on the proper use of nutritional 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.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.40-48
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• 2010

Objectives The purpose of this study is to get the basic information about the actual amount of consumption of the Health supplements and Herbal Medicines. Also, we investigated the consumption differences according to the regions. Methods 500 questionnaires were handed out to parents of elementary students in O O, Gyeonggi-do province, and 331 questionnaires were collected and evaluated for this study. Results Among the 331 students, 58.4% were female, and 41.6% were male. The percentages of the subjects consuming health supplements and herbal medicines were 67.4% and 59.2% respectively. The maximum period of taking the health supplements were from 1 month to 6 month (49.5%), and the maximum period of taking the herbal medicine was within one month (55.6%). The total cost of the health supplements was less than 100,000won (43.7%), which was the most common while herbal medicine cost was between 100,000won and 200,000won (40.6%). The most common age of consuming the health supplements and herbal medicine for the first time was six to ten years old (47.3%); the case of herbal medicine was one to six years old (64.0%). Most of people purchased health supplements from pharmacy (48.0%), and purchased the herbal medicine from the oriental medical clinic (61.8%). Among those people who purchased health supplements, they bought nutritional supplements (82.8%), red ginseng or ginseng products (43.4%), plum extract products (10.9%), and chlorella products (6.8%). The reason for consuming health supplements was to be healthier even though there is no ongoing illness (47.1%), which was the most common reason. The reason for consuming herbal medicine was to cure weakness (39.3%). For the responses about effectiveness after taking medications, people thought herbal medicine seemed to be more effective compare to health supplements (72.3%, 63% respectively). Only 1.4% of the subjects consuming the health supplements showed adverse effects while herbal medicine showed 4.6%. The most common adverse effects were 'general reaction' caused by the health supplements and dermatologic problems caused by the herbal medications. Conclusions Among 331 subjects, the percentage of consuming the health supplements (67.4%) was higher than the Herbal Medicine (59.2%). The total consuming cost of the herbal medications was higher than general health supplements. Also, the maximum period of consuming the health supplements was longer than herbal medications. Therefore, it is shown that herbal medications have no price competitiveness compare to health supplements. The age of using the herbal medicine for the first time was younger than the health supplements. Even though many people can purchase both health supplements and herbal medication from pharmacies and local oriental medical clinic, it is also shown that some people thought that the health supplements should be purchased from oriental medical hospital (13.9%). The most commonly taken forms of the health supplement was nutrition-supplying products, and the second common health supplements were ginseng and red ginseng. The health supplements were commonly consumed for preventing illness and for maintaining healthy life rather than for cure diseases. On the other hand, the herbal medicine was more commonly consumed to be taller or to treat diseases. More than half of the entire people replied as 'satisfied' for their purchase. Some adverse effects and general reaction were common with the subjects consuming health supplements while dermatological adverse reaction was common with the subjects consuming herbal medications.