Systematic Review on the Study of the Childhood and Adolescent Obesity in Korea: Dietary Risk Factors / 대한지역사회영양학회지

OBJECTIVES: The present study systematically reviewed previous studies published in Korea regarding obesity status of children and adolescents in order to provide valid directions for future research and to help establish evidence-based prevention strategies. METHODS: The articles were selected by searching the primary keyword ‘obesity’ and the secondary keywords ‘children’, ‘young children’, ‘adolescents’ or ‘kids’ on the KISS (Korean Studies Information Service System). Out of 503 articles excluding the overlap, 308 articles were selected with inclusion and exclusion criteria. Secular trends of obesity research, distribution of subjects, potential risk factors for obesity, and intervention method for obesity management were documented. The associations between obesity and dietary factors were summarized. RESULTS: The overall number of research studies has increased since 2000 but obesity management studies have decreased in recent years. Most of the studies used a cross-sectional design. Research on preschool children were extremely limited. Intervention studies targeting males were prevalent. The most significant variables relevant to dietary habits were speed of eating, regular breakfast and snacking. The most significant food and nutrient intake factors were thiamin and iron. Intakes of cereals and animal foods were significantly higher in obese children than the counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: The present review of locally published articles on the obesity status in children and adolescents suggested the need for well-designed further studies focused on risk factors of obesity and on a range of intervention methods conducive to the development of obesity prevention and management programs.

The Effect of NutriPlus Program among 1-5 Year Children in Daejeon Area - The Improvement in Nutritional Status of Children and Nutrition Knowledge and Attitude of Parents - / 대한지역사회영양학회지

This study investigated the effect of nutritional improvement of 1-5 year children participated in NutriPlus program. The program was carried out at Public health Center, Daedeok-gu, Daejeon from March 2009 to April 2011. The subjects were selected among applicants for low-income family financing of the government and included 90 children and their parents. they were divided into 2 groups (less than 6 months and more than 6 months of participation in the study). We analyzed the effects of NutriPlus program and nutrition education in both study groups. The results of this study were summarized as follows: The number of children with less than 10th percentile in height and weight and weight for height was decreased. The anemia prevalence rate was reduced from 64.4% to 8.9%. NAR value of subjects increased for energy, protein, calcium, iron, vitamin A, riboflavin, niacin and vitamin C. The education program improved knowledge and attitude of the parents. In nutrition knowledge according to the income level, there were greater changes in the group of less than 100% compared to the subsistence. In nutrition attitude according to the education level, there were greater changes in the group of middle school graduates than in high school graduates or college graduates. There were no difference between less than 6 months group and more than 6 months group in improvement of hemoglobin level, anthropometric data and nutrients intakes. Based on these results, we conclude that providing supplementary food to children and nutrition education brought positive effects on growth of the children.

Colchicine-derived compound CT20126 promotes skin allograft survival by regulating the balance of Th1 and Th2 cytokine production

Colchicine has been shown to regulate the expression of inflammatory gene, but this compound possesses much weaker anti-inflammatory activity. In this study, we synthesized a new colchicine derivative CT20126 and examined its immunomodulatory property. CT20126 was found to have immunosuppressive effects by inhibiting lymphocyte proliferation without cytotoxicity and effectively inhibit the transcriptional expression of the inflammatory genes, iNOS, TNF-alpha, and IL-1beta, in macrophages stimulated by LPS. This effect was nearly comparable to that of cyclosporine A. This compound also significantly suppressed the production of nitric oxide and Th1-related pro-inflammatory cytokines, IL-1beta, TNF-alpha, and IL-2, with minimal suppression of Th2-related anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-4 and IL-10 in the sponge matrix allograft model. Moreover, administration of CT20126 prolonged the survival of allograft skins from BALB/c mice (H-2d) to the dorsum of C57BL/6 (H-2b) mice. The in vivo immune suppressive effects of CT20126 were similar to that of cyclosporine A. These results indicate that this compound may have potential therapeutic value for transplantation rejection and other inflammatory diseases.

Needs Assessment for Developing a Nutrition Information Site for Elementary School Children Among Elementary School Dietitians / 대한지역사회영양학회지

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 (< or = 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.

The Effects of Korean Traditional Medicine Mixture on Cytokine Level, Food Intake and Nutrition Metabolism of the Cachexia Induced-Mice

Cancer cachexia, characterized by weight loss and progressive tissue wasting, has been postulated to be mediated by cytokines. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of Korean Traditional Medicine (KTM ; mokhyang, jisil, osooyu) mixture on food intake, blood cytokines level and blood nutrients status of the cachexia induced-mice. Thirty male Balb/c mice aged 6-8 weets were blocked into 3 groups that were Normal (no colon26 cells) Control (colon 26 cells) and KTM (colon26 cells + KTM extract mixture) group. In Control and KTM groups, murine adenocarcinoma colon 26 cells were injected subcutaneously to induce cachexia. KTM mice were given 200 ul KTM extract mixture (7%) per day. Half of each groups were sacrificed at the 14 th day to see serum cytokines & nutrients and the others were fed until almost of control group died to see life span. food intake and body weight were decreased significantly in cachexia induced groups. Tumor weight of KTM group was significantly lower than control group. Serum cytokines (IL-1beta and TNF-alpha) level of cachexia induced groups were increased than those of normal group, and those of KTM group were significantly lower than the level of control group. Total serum protein and serum albumin were higher in KTM group than other groups. TG and fatty acid were lower in cachexia induced groups than normal group. HDL-cholesterol in serum was increased in KTM group. Effect of oral administration of KTM extract mixture on survival time of colon26 bearing mice showed extension of the life span. Overall, this study showed that KTM (mokhyang, jisil, osooyu) extract mixture inhibited the growth of cancer cell, changed the secretion of cytokines induced by colon26 adenocarcinoma in mice, and changed nutrition metabolism.

A Study of Dietary Intake, Physical Status and Biochemical Status of Children in Taejon / 대한지역사회영양학회지

This study was conducted to investigate the relationship among Rohrer index, and nutritional intake and biochemical status. We examined physical status, dietary intakes, serum cholesterol, blood pressure and other biochemical of children in Taejon. Thin survey was carried out in Octobe, 1995. The subjects were 362 children, aged from 6 to 11 years old. The results were summarized as follows. By Rohrer index, 4.5% of the subjects were lean, 70.2% were normal, 17.0% were overweight and 8.6% were obese. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures of the subjects were 111.73 and 69.88mmHg, respectively. The systolic blood pressure of obese subjects(119.93mmHg) was higher than any other groups. Total cholesterol level was 160.87mg/dl, cholesterol levels in each group were not significantly different. Hemoglobin level of total subjects was 13.10mg/dl, especially hemoglobin levels of 11 year-old girls was lower than that of the same aged boys suggesting that the girls should be supplied with more protein, iron and other nutrients. Energy and protein intakes wee 86.6% and 94.5% of RDA, respectively. The nutrients above the RDA were only two, phosphorus and-vitamin C. The intakes of iron, zinc and vitamin A were lower than 50% of the RDA's. The levels of zinc and niacin were highest in obese group than any other groups. The subjects in overweight and obese groups had eaten more calories from snack and less calories from breakfast than other groups. Rohrer index was correlated with cholesterol, systolic blood pressure and creatinine levels.

Development and Evaluation of Nutrition Education Program through Internet / 대한지역사회영양학회지

This study was undertaken to develop and evaluate a nutrition education program with internet for students. A survey was conducted to find out needs for nutrition education program with 430 college or high school student in October, 1997. Eighty four point eight percent of female and 36.0% of male students had a plan to reduce their weight in a near future. Forty four point four percent of subjects obtained information about weight control from mass media, 28.6% of subjects obtained from their neighbor's recommendation. The information wanted to know were high-calorie foods, answered by 42.1% of females, and calorie expenditure of exercise, answered by 31.9% of males. The obese group showed higher preferrence to sweet foods, salty foods, hot foods, convenience foods, processed foods, animal foods, fried and oily foods, and eating-out than normal group(p<0.05). The obese group also showed a tendency of bad food habits, low intake of seaweeds, high intakes of animal fat, cholesterol-rich foods and salty foods. Amount of food intakes was inappropriate in obese group. An internet program for nutrition education was developed using the results of the survey and juvenile nutrition programs. The program consisted of 6 steps ; step 1 was to check one's physical status, step 2 was explanation about good food habits, step 3 was about food management, step 4 was methods of exercise for health, step 5 included how to maintain ideal weight, and step 6 was related-internet site. Pre-education test and post-education test was conducted to evaluate the nutrition education through internet. The score of nutrition knowledge increased from 74.2+/-7.4 to 77.2+/-9.6. The score of food attuitude did not change. The subjects wanted more information about nutrition from internet. Therefore, internet program of nutrition education with specific and interesting topics should be developed more.

The effect of food habits on blood component profile and health condition

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of food habits on blood components level(blood glucose, uric acid, hemoglobin, some lipids levels) and health condition in Taejon. The study was conducted with 250 subjects (male 130, female120) who cisited in a general hospital from May to June in 1997. Questionaires were used for food habits. The data were analyzed by using chi-square-test, t-test, ANOVA and multiple range test. Reuults were summerized s follow ; mean of Broca Index were 110.0+/-13.7% in male, 110.6+/-16.6% in female. Mean values of systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure were 130.9+/-17.6mmHg, 76.2+/-12.6mmHg, respectively. The systolic blood pressure was significantly higher in man than woman, Mean serum total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and HDL-cholesterol and triglyceride levels were 202.8+/-0.2, 121.1+/-5.5, 50.3+/-2.9, 157.1+/-12.6mg/dl, repectively. Triglyceride level was significantly higher in man than woman. But HDL-cholesterol was significantly lower in man than woman. And also, the value of LPH and AI were higher in man. So Man has more risk of atherogenesis than woman. Mean values of blood sugar, uric acid and hemoglobin was 102.7+/-.36mg/dl and 14.1+/-.56g/dl were higher in man than woman except blood sugar. Food habit of woman were better than it of man. The levels of education and income did not affect to food habit score. The most problem of habits were intake od salty food and lack of exercise. The intake of nutrients were higher as food habit score was higher. Intakes of energy, Ca, vitamin A and vitamin B1 were lower htan RDa's of nutrients in bad food habit group. This result did not show that blood components level and health condition were significantly different by food habits. But Broca Index and triglyceride levels were higher in bad food habit group than other groups, but not statistically significant. By this result, it is more needed food habit education to man and yong people. The education of food habits will include the real methods of weight control, low intak of salt and exercise to bad food habit group.

A Study on Nutrients Intake, Physical and Biochemical Status of Elementary School Children in Taejon

The purpose of this study was to investigate nutrients intake, Rohrer index, serum cholesterol level, blood pressure and others for clinical and nutritional study on school children in Taejon. This survey was carried out in October, 1995. The subjects were 362 children, 6 to 11 years old. The results were summarized as follows. By Rohrer index, 4.6% of the children was lean, 69.6% was normal, 17.4% was overweight and 8.6% was obese group. Systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and skin fold thickness of all subjects were 111.7+/-15.7mmHg, 69.8+/-14.9mmHg and 14.5+/-7.3mm respectively. Systolic blood pressure and skin fold thickness were increased with Rohrer index. Total cholesterol, urea nitrogen and creatinine levels in blood were 160.8+/-23.9mm/dl, 11.5+/-3.5mm/dl and 0.71+/-0.12mm/dl respectively but not significantly different among groups. These levels have a slight tendency to increase in obese group but not significantly different among groups. Hematocrit and hemoglobin levels were 41.3+/-4.7%, 13.1+/-1.6g/dl. These levels of 11 years old girls were lower than same aged boys. Composition ratio of total energy intakes were 65% of CHO, 13% of protein and 22% of fat. Energy and most nutrients intakes were insufficient except for P and vitamin C. Especially the amount of vitamin A, Fe, Zn and folate intakes were lower than halves of RDA'S. Most nutrients intake were not significantly different among groups. Pearson' correlation in Rohrer index with nutrients intakes were all negative correlation significantly different of K, Na and Thiamin.