Dietary and Lifestyle Factors Associated with Hypertension in Korean Adolescents: Based on 2005 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey / 대한지역사회영양학회지

This study was performed to determine dietary and lifestyle factors associated with hypertension in Korean adolescents. Study subjects were 12~19 years (n = 521) adolescents who participated in the 2005 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES III). Subjects were divided into the hypertensive group (HG, n = 102) and normotensive group (NG, n = 419) by '2007 Korean children and adolescents growth standard' and the relationships between blood pressure and physical measurement, nutrients intakes, eating behaviors and health related factors were analyzed. HG showed significantly higher levels in weight, waist circumference and BMI than NG. The amount of nutrient intakes was not different between NG and HG. Index of nutritional quality (INQ) for phosphate was higher in HG compared with NG. In both male and female HG, INQ for iron was higher but INQ for vitamin B1 was lower than NG. HG revealed higher consumption frequencies of snack, yoghurt, and ice cream compared with NG. In eating and behavioral factors, 'dinner with family', 'eat proper amount', 'keep Korean traditional diet', alcohol drinking, and mean alcohol intake were significantly different between the two groups. By logistic regression method, risk factors for hypertension revealed in this study were gender (male), age (15~19 years), BMI (> or = 85 percentile), and not keeping Korean traditional diet. These results suggest that education program for hypertension prevention in adolescents should include eating habits improvement and lifestyle modification as well as weight control.

A Survey on Customers' Perceptions of Nutrition Labeling for Processed Food and Restaurant Meal

Consumer perception of processed food and restaurant food's nutrient labelling was surveyed. The subjects of this survey consisted of 1,507 parents, whose ages were 20-59 years old. The ratio of the respondents that have known nutrition labelling on processed foods was 89.8% and the ratio of whom have checked the nutrition labelling at their point of purchase was 72.3%. The nutrients which were considered important for nutrition labelling were fat (57.1%), calorie (56.3%) and sodium (49.0%). Also nutrient which were able to be recognized at a glance by the subjects were in the order of trans fat (62.1%), cholesterol (26.9%), calorie (23.9%) and sodium (21.0%). If restaurant menu's nutrient labelling be enacted, the answer rate that the menu's nutrition labelling may affect their menu choice is 90.6% of the respondents. Besides of the Fastfoods that are enforcement, restaurants of that customers want the menu to be labeled were 'pizza and chicken restaurants'. Nutrients that customers preferred to be labelled were calorie (62.0%), fat (60.3%) and sodium (50.9%).