The Relation between the Frequency of Family Gathered Meals and the Body Mass Index-Standard Deviation Score in Elementary Students

BACKGROUND: Skipping family gathered meals, because of lack of time due to increased academic demands, leads to nutritional imbalance and further contributes to obesity among children and teens. This study was conducted to underscore the importance of family gathered meals and to serve as a basis for reducing the prevalence of childhood obesity. METHODS: The relation between frequency of family gathered meals and body mass index-standard deviation score (BMI-SDS) was assessed at 247 elementary students in Gyeonggi-do. Survey based on self reported questionnaire was conducted from April to May of 2013. Parental consents from participants were received and parents were asked to answer the questionnaire together with their children. The questionnaire included questions regarding anthropometric characteristics, socioeconomic informations, number and environmental characteristics of family gathered meals, and eating habits of their children. RESULTS: The average frequency of family gathered breakfast was 3.65+/-2.18 times/week, frequency of family gathered dinner was 6.10+/-1.54 times/week, and frequency of family eating-out was 1.64+/-1.43 times/week. Although the prevalence of family gathered breakfast among the participants was shown to be 51%, the prevalence of skipping breakfast was 14.2%, which was relatively high. The BMI-SDS increased in correlation with less frequent breakfast consumptions (P=0.015) and family gathered breakfasts (P<0.001), also with more frequent family gathered dinners (P=0.001) and family eating-outs (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: The eating frequency of breakfast, family gathered breakfast, family gathered dinner, and the family eating-out is associated with BMI-SDS.

Genetic Polymorphisms of Cytochrome P450 2C19 in Functional Dyspeptic Patients Treated with Cimetidine

Inter-individual pharmacokinetic variation of H2-receptor antagonist is related to genetic polymorphism of CYP2C19. We investigated the frequency of CYP2C19 genetic polymorphism and the treatment duration of cimetidine by CYP2C19 genotypes in functional dyspeptic patients without definite causes who were treated with cimetidine in Korea. One hundred subjects with functional dyspepsia participated in this study from March 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011. They were tested by upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and treated for their dyspepsia with cimetidine. The single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of CYP2C19 were genotyped using the Seeplex CYP2C19 ACE Genotyping system. There were no significant differences in the demographic, clinical, or laboratory findings among the CYP2C19 subgroups which are wild type homozygote (W/W), heterozygote (W/V), and variant homozygote (V/V). The frequencies of CYP2C19 subgroups were 33 (33%) in W/W, 49 (49%) in W/V, and 18 (18%) in V/V, respectively. The mean duration of cimetidine treatment (in weeks) was the shortest in the V/V among the CYP2C19 genotypes (W/W: 5.1+/-1.5, W/V: 4.0+/-1.7, V/V: 2.1+/-0.7; p<0.001). This study can also act as a basis for further investigation to identify the underlying genetic, epigenetic, or environmental factors in CYP2C19 enzyme activity.