Dietary changes in Vietnamese marriage immigrant women: The KoGES follow-up study

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The immigrant population has grown considerably in South Korea since the early 1990s due to international marriages. Dietary changes in immigrants are an important issue, because they are related to health and disease patterns. This study was conducted to compare changes in dietary intake between baseline and follow-up periods. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Two hundreds thirty three Vietnamese female married immigrants. Baseline data were collected during 2006-2009, and the follow-up data were collected during 2008 and 2010. Food consumption was assessed using a 1-day 24-hour recall. RESULTS: The amount of the total food consumed (P < 0.001) including that of cereals (P = 0.004), vegetables (P = 0.003), and fruits (P = 0.002) decreased at follow-up compared to that at baseline, whereas consumption of milk and dairy products increased (P = 0.004). Accordingly, the overall energy and nutrient intake decreased at follow-up, including carbohydrates (P = 0.012), protein (P = 0.021), fiber (P = 0.008), iron (P = 0.009), zinc (P = 0.006), and folate (P = 0.002). Among various anthropometric and biochemical variables, mean skeletal muscle mass decreased (P = 0.012), plasma high density lipoprotein-cholesterol increased, (P = 0.020) and high sensitivity C-reactive protein decreased at follow-up (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: A long-term follow-up study is needed to investigate the association between changes in food and nutrient intake and anthropometric and biochemical variables in these Vietnamese female marriage immigrants.

Nutrition Knowledge and Need for a Dietary Education Program among Marriage Immigrant Women in Gyeongbuk Region

The purpose of this study was to provide basic materials and assistance for developing a nutritional education program targeting marriage immigrant women, and it was carried out on 86 female marriage immigrants living in the Gyeongbuk region. An average age of the female marriage immigrants who participated in this survey were 28.6 years, and their home countries were the Philippines (32.6%), Vietnam (29.1%), and so on. Exactly 59.3% of subjects had been married for 1~5 years, and 40.7% of the subjects had an education status of less than middle school graduation. The majority of them (65.1%) had one more children, and 51.2% of subjects were a part of a nuclear-family, with the husband's age between 40~49 years old (58.1%). Concern for nutrition label was significantly different according to number of children (P10 years than <1 year (P<0.01), and education level of college & university graduation than less than middle school (P<0.05). Sixty percent of the women surveyed participated in the education program of 'Korean language' as they were in their country, and the most preferred education program was 'Korean dietary life and culture' (39.5%). Regarding participation and educational method, the majority of subjects responded that they wanted to learn nutritional education in a cooking academy or school (52.9%) and public health center (34.1%).