In this study, we compared diet related attributes such as food taste preference, food consumption frequency and nutrition intake between elderly residents in their 80’s of areas in Jeollanam-do that are well known for longevity and those of a part of Seoul. Structured in-depth interviews were conducted by trained interviewers on 125 consented subjects (67 Jeonnam and 58 Seoul). Differences of groups were tested using Chi-square tests for nominal or ordinal data and t-tests and ANOVA tests for ratio data. The elderly from Jeonnam tended to sleep longer, express emotion more freely, and interact with others more often than those from Seoul. The elderly tended to prefer sweet or salty tastes, which might be highly related to serious health problems. The most frequently consumed foods were napa cabbage kimchi (2.19 times/day) and multigrain rice (1.99 times/day). Elderly from Jeonnam tended to consume garlic, milk, beans and roasted barley/corn teas less often; whereas, they consumed porridge, dried radish greens, potato, fermented fish, dried fish, pork rib, pork belly, soybean paste soup, soybean paste/Ssamjang, other kimchis, pickled vegetables, snacks, cookies, and green/black teas more often than elderly residents from Seoul. Differences in nutrition intake between the regions were greater than differences between the perceived levels of household economic status. NAR and INQ for folate were lower among elderly from Jeonnam than those from Seoul, while those for protein, vitamin C, niacin, vitamin B6 were higher. The study results indicated that elderly from Jeonnam engaged in a more diverse diet than the elderly from Seoul.

• 전순실(순천대학교 식품영양학과) | Soon-Sil Chun
• 윤은주(동아대학교 식품영양학과) | Eunju Yoon Corresponding author