This study investigates the relationship between vitamin C intake and obesity prevalence among Korean adults. Based on data of the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2016-2017), a total of 1,356 participants were included in this analysis. Increasing the dietary vitamin C intake resulted in a significantly decreased occurrence of BMI obesity prevalence (p for trend=0.0194) and WC obesity prevalence (p for trend=0.0452). Moreover, increasing the dietary vitamin C intake of Korean adults having a high frequency of eating breakfast resulted in significantly decreased BMI obesity prevalence (p for trend=0.0406) and WC obesity prevalence (p for trend=0.0432). Among the Korean adults who ate out frequently, decreased BMI obesity prevalence was determined with increased intakes of dietary vitamin C (p for trend=0.0193) and total vitamin C (food and dietary supplements) (p for trend=0.0429), whereas significant decrease in WC obesity prevalence was observed with increased dietary vitamin C intake (p for trend=0.0484). Our results provide conclusive evidence that consumption of dietary vitamin C is associated with obesity prevalence in Korean adults, according to their habits of eating breakfast and frequency of eating out.

There is only limited evidence for the association between fruit and vegetable consumption and mental health in Korea. This study examined the relationship between fruit and vegetable consumption and mental health according to physical activity among Korean adult women. Based on data of the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2014-2016), a total of 5,332 participants were included in this analysis. With increasing fruits and vegetables consumption, the prevalence of depressive mood was significantly decreased (p for trend=0.0248). The prevalence of stress perception (p for trend=0.0422) and the prevalence of depressive mood (p for trend=0.0300) were decreased with increasing fruit consumption. The prevalence of depressive mood was significantly decreased when fruit and vegetable consumption (p for trend=0.0370) and fruit consumption (p for trend=0.0356) were increased for those Korean women with low intensity of physical activity. For the obesity group (Body mass index 25 kg/m2), the prevalence of depressive mood was decreased with increasing fruit and vegetable consumption (p for trend=0.0111) and increasing fruit consumption (p for trend=0.0165). In conclusion, fruit and vegetable consumption were associated with mental health according to physical activity among Korean adult women. Further prospective studies are warranted to explore the association between fruit and vegetable consumption and mental health among Korean adult women.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of dietary education on undergraduate student’s health, environment, and consideration. A total of 54 participants were recruited from an undergraduate student in Seoul. We conductive quantitative analysis of a structured questionnaire and qualitative analysis of interviews recorded by photovoice. There are significant differences among knowledge, dietary attitude, and food behavior in the field of health (p<0.001). In the field of health, photovoice data were categorized as ‘health care practice’, ‘Korean dietary lifestyles’, or ‘awareness of importance of health’ (p<0.001). In the field of environment, photovoice data were categorized as ‘environment-friendly dietary lifestyle’ and ‘environmental contamination minimization’(p<0.001). In the field of consideration, photovoice data were categorized as ‘gratitude for others’, ‘joy of cooking’or ‘eating meals together’(p<0.01). In conclusion, we found that dietary education about health, environment, and consideration may affect healthy dietary lifestyle among undergraduate students. Our findings may warrant further studies to develop significantly effective dietary education for undergraduate students.

This study was conducted to investigate the correlation between frequency of high-caffeine energy drink intake in adolescents and their mental health status using data from the Korean adolescent health behaviors online survey (2014-15). Mental health was classified by the five categories: Perception of stress (PS), Insufficient relief of fatigue after sleep (IRFS), Experience of sadness despair (SD), Suicidal ideation (SI), and Subjective unhappiness (SU). Regarding general characteristics, higher age, height, and body weight of subjects were associated with higher frequency of high-caffeine energy drink (HCED) intake (p< .0001). In the OR analysis, when the lowest group (≤2/wk) and highest group (1≥day) were compared, the highest group showed significantly higher OR in all five categories of mental health. According to gender, males did not show better PS, SD, and SI than females who had a high frequency of HCED (p for trend<.0001). According to school level, middle school students showed a higher risk rate than high school students in PS, IRFS, and SD (p for trend< .0001). Based on the above results, higher frequency of HCED intake among adolescents was associated with more adverse effects on mental health.