Study on the Relationship between the Nutrient Intake and Level of Depressive Symptoms: Using the Data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2016

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between the nutrient intake and level of depressive symptoms. A total of 5,761 subjects with depression were selected for the main data analysis from a Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, KNHANES (2016), and were divided into low depressed and high depressed groups. The data were analyzed by descriptive analysis, χ2-test, logistic regression, and t-test using SPSS 24.0 statistics. The results revealed significant differences in the prevalence of depression according to sex (P < 0.001), age (P < 0.001), income (P < 0.001), and education (P < 0.001). Regarding the health behavior, higher stress levels (P < 0.001) and smoking habit (P < 0.001) appeared to be strongly associated with high levels of depression. On the other hand, the possibility of experiencing depressive symptoms was lower when the number of walking days per week was more than 3 days (P < 0.05), when the number of working days per week was more than 5 days (P < 0.01), and the rate of aerobic physical activity was higher. Based on the ‘Dietary Reference Intakes for Koreans 2015’, the subjects in the low depression group showed better intake of energy and 22 nutrients than the high depression group.

Socio-Demographic Influences on Adolescents' Eating Behavior: Based on the Korean Youth Risk Web-Based Survey from 2015

This study was conducted to explore socio-demographic influences on eating behaviors among adolescents in Korea. Data were obtained from the Eleventh Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (2015 KYRBS), a nationwide representative sample of 3,532,149 middle and high school students. The data were analyzed by descriptive analysis, t-test, and logistic regression based on complex sample design using SPSS 20.0 statistics. The results showed that intake frequency of soda, fast food, and instant noodles was higher in male than female students (P<0.001). Additionally, the frequency of eating breakfast, fruits, vegetables, and milk was higher among high school students than middle school students (P<0.001). Higher levels of economic status were associated with less skipping breakfast. Adolescents with mothers that had higher levels of education were more likely to be frequent consumers of fruits, vegetables, and milk, and to eat breakfast.