Change of Body Composition in Obese Women with Short-term Low Calory Diets

BACKGROUND: A reasonable weight reduction method is to reduce fat-body mass while preserving fat-free mass. Recently, many people in Korea have been trying reckless diet therapy for weight reduction by means of low calory and protein diets, which gave rise to many side effects consequently. For reasonable weight reduction, this study was undertaken to investigate the significant dietary factors that change body composition during short-term low calory diet. METHODS: Twenty six healthy obese women aged 23~37 years, whose BMI was greater than 24, volunteered for the 6 week diet therapy from January to April in 2003. All subjects were instructed to eat approximately 1,200 kcal/day and keep a dietary diary. In the beginning the 3rd week and the 6th week of the study, subjects' body weight were measured and fat body weight were measured by BIA. In the 6th week, the analysis of the dietary diary was conducted. RESULTS: There was a significant positive correlation between the protein intake per ideal body weight in the first 3 weeks and the fat-free mass increase in the latter 3 weeks (P<0.05). At the same time, the fat intake in the first 3 weeks had positive correlation with the fat-free mass in the latter 3 weeks, also (P<0.05). But, we could not find any significant values that had effect on the fat-free mass increase in multiple regression analysis. CONCLUSION: The protein intake in the first 3 weeks helped to preserve the fat-free mass in the latter 3 weeks, and had positive effects.

Do Patients Want Physicians to Inquire about Their Religion?

BACKGROUND: In Korea, there has been a few medical studies on the relationship between religion and health. In future, active research is anticipated in this area. However, the validity and methods of performing religious inquiry should be tested beforehand. This study was designed to look into the attitudes of patients about religious inquiries by their physicians and to suggest better methods of religious approach to aid future researches on the effect of religion on health. METHODS: A survey was performed on the religious attitude among 177 patients among which 92 were randomly selected from an outpatient clinic of tertiary teaching hospitals and 85 from two local family practice offices on August, 2002. x2 test was used to verify the difference of results between the subgroups. RESULTS: As a whole, more than half of patients disagreed with religious inquiries by their physicians regardless of medical situation; however, there was a trend that a critical health reasons produced a higher percentage of patients accepting religious inquiry than in ordinary patients. There was no significant difference in answer between the two practice settings but a significant difference among the subgroups with strong religious belief and among those with a particular type of religion existed. CONCLUSION: The results of this study may be used as data on the method of approaching patients with religious inquiries for future studies on the relationship between religion and health, and also should encourage active researches on this subject.

A Study on Hair Mineral Concentrations in Diabetic Patients

BACKGROUND: Minerals are essential nutrients of human body and related with various diseases. Some minerals may be associated with endocrine function. Especially, chromium is known to enhance the action of insulin. The correlation of minerals with DM has not been studied in Korea yet. Therefore, to know whether there is any significant difference of minerals concentration and component between DM patient and non-DM patient, the quantity of each mineral in the hair of patients and controls was measured. If there is any significance, a guideline of nutritional therapy with minerals could be proposed and recommended. METHOD: An analysis of hair was performed on the type II diabetic patients and non-diabetic patients who visited Severance hospital outpatient clinic from April, 2001 to January, 2002. Hairs were obtained from each subject and were analyzed into the concentration of mineral using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The concentration of each element between the two groups was compared by t-test analysis. RESULTS: The concentration of copper, sodium, chromium, sulfur, and antimony was significantly different; the level of copper was significantly lower in the diabetic group (P=0.013). On the other hand, the levels of sodium, chromium, sulfur, and antimony were significantly higher in the diabetic group (P=0.013, 0.0001, 0.010, 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Previous studies have suggested that the concentration of chromium in diabetic patients' blood was lower than those in normal population. However, this study showed that the measured amount of chromium in hair was significantly higher in the diabetic group. This result warrants a study on the correlation between the concentration of chromium in blood and hair, and also, on the mutual relationship of other minerals (copper, sodium, sulfur, and antimony) which also showed significant difference in this study.