This study aimed to find the differences in weight control status and eating behavior of satisfied and dissatisfied female high school students regarding their own body shape. The participants consisted of 238 students at two female high schools in Nonsan-si, Chungnam-do in May of 2008. Self-assessment evaluated present body shape and ideal body shape they would like to have by providing silhouette drawings. The subjects were divided into two groups, 'satisfied' and 'dissatisfied', according to the differences between present body shape and ideal body shape. In the distribution of subjects according to body mass index, 100% of overweight, 97.0% of normal weight and 48.7% of underweight belonged to the dissatisfied group. There were significant differences in weight control and eating behavior between dissatisfied and satisfied groups in terms of frequency and reasons of conducting weight control behavior, body weight return after weight reduction, skipping breakfast and consuming fast food. The satisfied group was two times more likely to not conduct weight control behaviors compared to the dissatisfied group. The main reason for trying to control weight differed according to the group; the reason was feeling fat in the dissatisfied group and desiring to be healthy in the satisfied group. The percentage of subjects that returned to their original weights after weight reduction was 5 times higher in the dissatisfied group. The percentages of subjects that regularly skip breakfast and consume fast food were both higher in the dissatisfied group than in the satisfied group. The dissatisfied group responded 'eating alone' more frequently among nine binge eating behaviors compared to the satisfied group. Both groups, however, did not show any difference in overeating of meals, eating speed, intake frequency of regular meals, food preference, preferred cooking method, carbonated beverage intake and snack eating behavior. In summary, the dissatisfied group tried more unnecessary body weight reduction and had poor eating behavior. Accordingly, to correct the biased perception of body shape by the majority of female high school students, the values of our society should change toward the pursuit of beauty of health.

This study was conducted to investigate the meal quality and dietary behaviors of low-income family children by qualitative method. The subjects were 12 children(2 boys and 10 girls) aged 7 to 11, enrolled in an after-school care center in Kimpo, Gyeonggi province. Most of their mothers had jobs(83.3%) and 75% were the beneficiaries of a government assistance program. When compared using body mass index(BMI) percentile, 16.7% of the subjects were classified as being overweight. The food intake patterns and meal qualities were evaluated from dietary records for three non-consecutive days. The mean dietary diversity score(DDS) was 3.8, suggesting at least one food group was deficit. Only 8.3% of the records indicated a satisfactory intake of all five food groups, and fruit was the most deficit food group(58.3%). Also, the proportion of balanced of meals was low, especially breakfast(36%), in that main dish(the source of protein) was not included. The children had problematic eating behaviors, such as an unbalanced diet, eating meals in a hurry, skipping breakfast, and irregular meal times. They answered that they liked to eat simple meals and convenient foods. In conclusion, nutrition education should incorporate strategies to reach families and help with meal planning and management, as well as modifying the eating behaviors of children, in order to improve nutritional status.

This study was conducted to investigate the dietary behavior of day-care center teachers and their meal attitudes during meal time in Jeonju area. Self administered questionnaires were collected from 266 day-care center teachers who worked in a national(public) or private day-care center. The Statistical data analysis was conducted using SPSS v. 12.0. All subjects were women, and 64.7% were married(p<0.001), over more than 60% were junior college graduates(p<0.05), and 73.7% had salaries greater than 1, 000, 000 won(p<0.001). The breakfast skipping ratio of the subjects was very high, and about 66.5% of the respondents had irregular meals. The snack intake ratios of the subjects in private day-care centers were higher than the subjects in national(public) day-care centers(p<0.001). Approximately 56% of the subjects responded that education about eating is very important for providing balanced nutrition to young children. About 84% of subjects had no experience with the continuing-education program for teachers(p<0.01), and they wanted to know more about balanced nutrition. The meal attitude education score during meal time was 4.53±0.36. The relationship between meal attitude education and the dietary behavior of day-care teachers was significantly different based on the "frequency of overeating"(p<0.05) and "self-recognition of eating habit"(p<0.05). These findings suggest that a nutrition education program for day-care center teachers should be developed so that they can effectively manage meal attitude education for young children and provide good nutrition for themselves.

We surveyed 553 middle school students living in Incheon using questionnaires to compare their food behaviors and snack intake patterns according to weight groups based on BMI. Mean BMI was 20.3 for males and 19.6 for females. The rate of underweight, normalweight and overweight students was 33.3, 51.7, and 15.0%, respectively. Compared to the other two groups, the overweight students perceived their body shape more accurately (p<0.01). Regarding the reasons for skipping dinner, the most frequent answer by the underweight students was 'because of snacks', while that of the overweight students was 'to lose weight' (p<0.01). The normalweight students were found to eat a Korean traditional type breakfast more frequently than the other weight groups (p<0.05). The overweight female group was more likely to overeathabitually, whereas the normalweight and underweight groups tended to overeat when they were under stress (p<0.05). As for the amount of the snack intake, the overweight male students replied that they eat quite a lot of snacks. As a conclusion, the problems found in the underweight group were unbalanced diet and the disturbance of regular meal patterns due to inappropriate snack intake. The problems shown in the overweight group were overeating due to habit or stress, fast eating speed and large amount of snack intake.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of weight control programs on BMI, serum profiles, nutrition knowledge and eating behaviors of adult obese women. The subjects of this study were 33 adult obese women aged 30- 65 years residing in Seoul. The weight control program for obese women included nutritional education, cognitive behavioral therapy and exercise for 12 weeks. The weight control experience of the subjects was 60.6%. They preferred physical exercise and diet restriction to weight control and 72.7% of subjects answered that the reasons for wanting to control their weight was health. The BMI of test subjects significantly decreased (p<0.001) from 28.3 to 27.1 after the 12 weeks of the weight control program. In addition, the % body fat significantly decreased (p<0.001) from 36.4% to 34.5% after completion of the weight control program. SGPT levels in the serum were also significantly decreased (p<0.05) after the program. Triglyceride levels significantly decreased from 194.9 mg/dL to 98.1 mg/dL (p<0.01) and the HDL cholesterol level significantly increased (p<0.01) from 55.8 mg/dL to 60.0 mg/dL after completion of the weight control program. Nutritional knowledge and eating behavior scores were significantly increased (p<0.001). In addition, the eating self-efficacy of the subjects was significantly increased (p<0.01); however, the food diversity scores were not changed after the program. These results suggest that the weight control program for adult obese women may be effectively used to promote weight reduction and improve nutritional knowledge and eating behavior.

This study was conducted to investigate the vegetable eating behaviors and preferences of elementary school students by stage of change for vegetable intake. The subjects consisted of 191 fourth and fifth grade elementary school students from Gyeonggi province. The stage of change for vegetable intake was categorized into three groups: precontemplation (PC, 18.4%), preparation (P, 43.5%), and action/maintenance (A&M, 48.2%). The trend to eat a variety of foods was more distinctive as the students went from the PC to the A&M stage. The stage of change for vegetable intake was closely related with the kimchi-eating pattern of the students. The A&M group ate more vegetables than the PC group because they liked vegetables and/or wanted to prevent disease. The PC group had a lower tendency to follow recommendations for vegetable eating than the P and A&M groups. The PC group also had an incorrect notion that low vegetable consumption over an extended time would not have a big impact on their health. The vegetables of high preference for the elementary school students were potato, sweet potato, lettuce, radish, perilla leaf, cucumber, and cabbage. The vegetables of low preference were spinach, onion, balloon flower, and green pepper. The PC group had lower preferences for most vegetables than the P and A&M groups. Therefore, careful nutrition education is necessary especially for students in the PC group in order to explain the positive effects of vegetable intake and negative effects of an unbalanced diet. It is also necessary to survey students' tastes consistently and to develop recipes that encourage them to consume more vegetables agreeably.

In this study, the relationships among obesity, food behavior, and personality traits were studied in male and female elementary school children. The obesity rates were calculated via the measured heights and weights of the subjects. Food behavior was surveyed via a questionnaire. Personality traits were evaluated using an authorized personality test. The obesity rates in the child subjects in this study were 34.1%in the male children, and 28.7% in the female children, and the rates of underweight were 18.2% in the males and 28.7% in the females. The percentage of obese children was slightly higher in the male population than in the female population. With regard to food behavior, the females evidenced significantly higher points than the males, particularly on the items designated 'slow eating' and 'stop eating upon satiety'. Among the personality traits assessed herein, which included emotional stability, general activity, sociability, masculinity, responsibility, reflectiveness, and superiority, the females evidenced significantly higher sociability scores than the males. The personality traits did not appear to be significantly associated with the obesity rate. However, the obese children scored lowest on all personality traits among the three groups. In terms of the relationship between food behavior and personality traits, children with high stability, sociability, responsibility, and superiority also had significantly higher food behavior scores. These results imply that the maintenance of good food behavior may enhance stability, sociability, responsibility, and superiority in children.

The objective of this study was to investigate the consumption pattern of snacks-containing trans-fatty acid in adolescents living in the Kwang-ju area of Korea, and to analyze the relevance toward their eating behaviors, body composition, nutrient intakes, and consumption frequency of snacks-containing trans fatty acid. A survey questionnaire was developed in order to investigate general environmental factors, eating behavior, nutritional knowledge, and the consumption frequency of snacks-containing trans fatty acid. A total of 312 middle school students were surveyed. The collection rate was 97% and ultimately 282 cases were analyzed. Anthropometric measurements, body composition data, and nutrient intakes were also collected. The consumption frequencies for snacks-containing trans-fatty acid were negatively correlated with food behavior scores (p〈0.01) however, pocket money and snack intake frequency per day were positively correlated with consumption frequency. Also, snack consumption frequency had some correlation with the subjects' anthropometric measurements and body composition data such as total body water (p〈0.01), body protein (p〈0.01), body minerals (p〈0.01), and skeletal muscle mass (p〈0.01). Finally, the consumption frequency of snacks-containing trans fatty acid was significantly correlated with calcium intake (p〈0.05), it also showed correlations with vitamin A, retinol, β-carotene, and folic acid intake, although statistical significance was not verified.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the eating habits and eating behaviors, nutrition knowledge of students in 4, 5 and 6th graders of elementary school in Jeonju Area. The subjects for questionnaire were 2,568 elementary school students (boys 1,364, girls 1,204). The results were analyzed by SPSS program, and were as follows. In anthropometric data, there were significant differences between boys and girls. In eating habits and eating behaviors, there were significant differences in the rate of 'Hasty eating habit(p<0.01)', 'Most heavy meal(p<0.01)', 'Eating when receive stress(p<0.05)', and 'Frequency of snack eating per day(p<0.01)' between boys and girls. In total scores of nutrition knowledge, there were significant differences between boys and girls. In nutrition knowledge, there were significant differences in the rate of 'Carbohydrate and fat give heat and force.(p<0.001)', 'Carbohydrate is nutrient that make muscle and blood of our body.(p<0.01)', 'Overeating of carbohydrate does not contribute gain of weight. (p<0.05)', To intake vitamin, it is good to eat fresh fruit and vegetable.(p<0.01)', 'Calcium deficiency is leading to anemia.(p<0.001)' between boys and girls. In conclusion, systematical educational programs need to be developed at elementary school. These should include information about achieving a balanced diet, good eating habit and behavior, meal management and Korean dietary culture. Also, nutritional education at home must be emphasized.

The purpose of this study was to analyze food behavior of tourists to develop consumer-oriented local cuisines for the Goseong dinosaur festival. A random sample of 518 tourists took part in one-on-one interviews which were conducted between May 7 and May 28, 2006. The highest percentage of people were in the 30-39 age group, and the over 60 years were the second highest. The participants resided mainly in urban areas of Gyeongnam province and other large Korean cities. Most of the tourists had breakfast at home before leaving for the festival, 27.8% skipped breakfast or bought and ate various food s as a breakfast on the way to the main venue. The proportion of the tourists who wanted to eat lunch at outlets in the main venue was 39.8%, while 34.6% of the tourists brought their lunch boxes. Only 14.5% had a desire to eat lunch at restaurants in Goseong. 33.8% of the tourists were willing to pay 5,000-6,000 Won per capita for the lunch, 15.6% wanted to pay 7,000-10,000 Won per capita. Noodles and Gimbab were chosen as favorite dishes for lunch by 15.4% of tourist while Bibimbab was selected by 12.0%. Various aspects of food behavior were different between the two predominant age groups. For example, the prices and the kinds of meals they wanted, and the places they preferred to eat meals. Therefore, it is suggested that more than 2 kinds of local cuisines have to be developed for the predominant age groups. The price of the local cuisine for the 30s age group should not exceed 5,000-6,000Won, whereas less than 10,000Won is an appropriate price for the over 60s. Menus for children also need to be developed, along with breakfast menus specifically for the 30s age group.