Dietary pattern classifications with nutrient intake and body composition changes in Korean elderly

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The body composition changes in aging increased the risk of metabolic disorder. Recent dietary studies have increasingly focused on the correlations between dietary patterns and chronic diseases to overcome the limitations of traditional single-nutrient studies because nutrients in food have complex relations that interact. SUBJECTS/METHODS: This study was conducted to classify a dietary pattern among Korean elderly using cluster analysis and to explore the relationships between dietary patterns and body composition changes in Korean elderly aged 65 years or older. The study subjects (n = 1,435) were individuals who participated in the Korean National Health Examination and Nutrition Survey (KNHANES) in 2011. RESULTS: There were three dietary patterns derived by cluster analysis in this study: 'Traditional Korean' (37.49% of total population), 'Meat and Alcohol' (19.65%) and 'Westernized Korean' (42.86%). The (1) 'Traditional Korean' pattern was characterized by high consumptions of white rice and low protein, low fat, and low milk products, while (2) 'Westernized Korean' pattern ate a Korean-style diet base with various foods such as noodles, bread, eggs and milk, (3) 'Meat and Alcohol' pattern had high consumptions of meat and alcohol. In body composition changes, compared with the 'Traditional Korean' pattern, the 'Meat & alcohol' pattern was associated with a 50% increased risk of having elevated BMI (kg/m2), 'Westernized Korean' pattern was associated with a 74% increased abnormality of ASM/Wt (kg) by logistics analysis. Most of the Korean adult population continues to follow ether a traditional Korean having beneficial effects for successful aging. However, the 'Traditional Korean' pattern showed low protein intake (0.7 g/kg), calcium intake, and vitamin D intake as well as low of appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM (kg)) among 3 groups. CONCLUSIONS: Considering the low ASM, consumption of protein, calcium and vitamin D should be increased for Korean elderly health body composition.

Applying the Health Belief Model to college students' health behavior

The purpose of this research was to investigate how university students' nutrition beliefs influence their health behavioral intention. This study used an online survey engine (Qulatrics.com) to collect data from college students. Out of 253 questionnaires collected, 251 questionnaires (99.2%) were used for the statistical analysis. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) revealed that six dimensions, "Nutrition Confidence," "Susceptibility," "Severity," "Barrier," "Benefit," "Behavioral Intention to Eat Healthy Food," and "Behavioral Intention to do Physical Activity," had construct validity; Cronbach's alpha coefficient and composite reliabilities were tested for item reliability. The results validate that objective nutrition knowledge was a good predictor of college students' nutrition confidence. The results also clearly showed that two direct measures were significant predictors of behavioral intentions as hypothesized. Perceived benefit of eating healthy food and perceived barrier for eat healthy food to had significant effects on Behavioral Intentions and was a valid measurement to use to determine Behavioral Intentions. These findings can enhance the extant literature on the universal applicability of the model and serve as useful references for further investigations of the validity of the model within other health care or foodservice settings and for other health behavioral categories.