Awareness and Practice of Dietary Action Guide for Adolescence among Middle and High School Students in Korea / 대한지역사회영양학회지

The purpose of the study was to examine the adolescents' awareness and practice of Dietary Action Guide for Adolescence, which was developed by the Ministry of Health & Welfare. Subjects were middle and high school students, selected one class each from all of the 16 provinces in Korea, which were 32 schools and 998 students all together. The subjects were asked to self-evaluate the degree of awareness and practice of Dietary Action Guide using the 5 point-Likert scale from July to September, 2010. On average, 55.1% of the students responded that they were aware of the Dietary Action Guide and 49.4% answered that they put Guidelines into practice. The average score of awareness and practice were 3.54 +/- 0.24 and 3.42 +/- 0.33, respectively. The awareness score was higher than those of practice score in all the questions in the 6 categories. Awareness score of female students was higher than those of male students but there was no difference by residence area. Awareness and practice of the nutrition education-experienced were higher than those of the inexperienced. Practice score was higher among middle school-students compared to high school students, which reflected the opportunity of taking nutrition related classes. This finding shows that nutrition education for adolescents is important to change their dietary behaviors regardless of gender, residence area and school level.

Comparison of the Nutrient Intakes by the Score of Dietary Action Guides for Korean Children among the Elementary School Students in Gwangju City / 대한지역사회영양학회지

This study was conducted to examine differences in nutrient intakes by the compliance with the Dietary Action Guide for Korean Children. The subjects included 343 elementary school students in Gwangju city. Compliance with the Dietary Action Guide for Children showed that 62.4% of subjects had breakfast everyday; 44.3% of subjects ate vegetables/fruits/milk and dairy products daily; 26.8% of subjects ate a variety of lean meats/fish/eggs/bean products daily; 32.9% of subjects enjoyed outdoor activity everyday and ate according to their energy needs; 40.2% of subjects chose healthy and nutritious foods for snack; and 15.5% of subjects avoided food waste. Intakes of most of nutrients including energy were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in those who complied with the Dietary Action Guide well. Also nutrient intakes had the positive correlation with the scores of Dietary Action Guide (p < 0.05). From these results, nutrient intakes of children were significantly influenced by dietary factors suggested in the Dietary Action Guide for Children. In addition, the results also confirmed that good food behaviors were indispensible to maintaining a proper nutritional status. Based on these results, good food behaviors and practice were critical to secure good health and proper nutritional status for children, and that nutrition education should be strengthened in school as well as at home.

Current Status and Management of Congregate Meal Service Program for the Elderly at Community Centers

To investigate current status of the elderly meal service program, community centers nationwide were surveyed for congregate meal services. The survey was conducted during the month of December 2002 by mail using self-developed questionnaire on administration, staffs, funding, and meal service management. Only 95 out of 356 community centers (27%) answered and returned the questionnaires, and congregate meal menus were also collected from 20 centers for 492 days. Results were analyzed using SAS package program. In more than half of the elderly congregate meal service programs, following criteria were used in multiple form to allow participation; 65 years old or older, low income, or living alone. All centers served lunch, most of them free of charge, and 88.4% of them provided service 5 days a week. About 79% of the total cost occurred on the congregate meal service was supported by the government. Most of the menus served at congregate meal service were Korean style dish with rice. On the average, each meal provided 3 side dishes including kimchi, in addition to soup or stew. Only 19% of the centers have employed dietitian working for meal service programs; meal menus were prepared by social welfare workers or other non-dietetic personnels in more than 80% of the centers. Food purchasing and food hygiene control was also practiced mainly by social welfare workers or cooks. This study suggests that dietetic professionals are needed to better manage meal service programs for the elderly in both aspects, food hygiene and nutrition. Development of more nutritious menus and determination of appropriate serving sizes for the elderly meal service programs are necessary to meet the RDAs and dietary action guide for the elderly.