This study was conducted to measure the effect of a community-based nutritional intervention program on dietary behaviors and nutrient intakes of low-income elderly women in Korea. The subject of the study was a group of 88 elderly women using the free meal service in Dong-gu, Gwangju city in Korea. The study was carried out from April to July 2009, and the pretest, application of nutrition education, and post-test were applied in each stage. This community-based nutrition intervention program consisted of snack supplement and nutrition education provided three times a week and 36 times in total. The nutrition education was led by the nutritionists and professionals using various educational media. Snack supplement included were milk, soymilk, carrot juice, bread, yogurt, and bananas. The result of pretest showed that the nutrient intakes of the subjects were much below the Recommended Nutrient Intake (RNI) level of Dietary Reference Intake for Koreans. Comparison of the dietary behavior score and nutrient intakes before and after the nutritional intervention program indicated that the food behavior score increased from 3.1 to 5.6 (P<0.001) and intake of energy, protein, carbohydrate, thiamin, niacin, vitamin C, iron, and potassium of the subjects all increased significantly (P<0.05). Mean Adequacy Ratio (MAR) of their nutrient intakes was also improved from 0.53 to 0.64 (P<0.01). These results indicated that the nutrition intervention program conducted in this study was effective in improving dietary behavior and nutrient intakes of elderly women in local community.

• 김복희(조선대학교 식품영양학과) | Kim, Bok Hee
• 양지숙( 조선대학교 교육대학원) | 양지숙
• 계승희( 아주대학교 의과대학 예방의학교실) | 계승희
• 이윤나( 신구대학교 식품영양학과) | 이윤나