The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of awareness and knowledge of the efficacy of carbonated water on consumption patterns and satisfaction for college students, who are the principal consumers of carbonated water. A survey was conducted with 502 college students in the Metropolitan area from May 13 to 18, 2015 and 455 questionnaires were analyzed. As for the differences in awareness and knowledge of the efficacy of carbonated water according to gender, females (14.60 and 0.76) had better awareness and knowledge than males (13.40 and 0.58) (p=0.000 and p=0.036). The more positive the awareness of carbonated water, the greater the knowledge (p=0.000); the greater the knowledge of carbonated water, the higher level of consumption satisfaction (p=0.006). The odds ratio of awareness for carbonated water was 11.98; that is, positive awareness led to higher levels of satisfaction than negative awareness (p=0.003). Since awareness of the efficacy of carbonated water was found to affect carbonated water drinking and satisfaction, it is necessary to provide correct information about the efficacy of carbonated water.

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of carbonated water on the yield, weight, length, thickness, and vitamin C and isoflavone contents of soybean sprouts cultivated for 6 days. 100 g Junjori cultivar soybeans were cultivated at 22±1℃ with carbonated water (pH 4.5) and drinking water (pH 7.8) for 6 days, respectively, after 6h presoaking treatment. The yield of the soybean sprouts cultivated with carbonated water for 6 days was 255.1 g, approximately 1.45 times higher than the 176.1 g soybean sprouts cultivated in drinking water. The weight and length of the soybean sprouts cultivated with carbonated water were 1.3 and 1.2 times higher, respectively, than those of the soybean sprouts cultivated with drinking water. The same can be said of the thickness of the carbonated- and drinking-water soybean sprouts. The vitamin C contents of the soybean sprouts cultivated with carbonated water was about two times (1.13 mg%) higher than those of the soybean sprouts cultivated with drinking water. The genistein and daidzeinin contents of the soybean sprouts cultivated for 6 days with carbonated water were higher than those of the soybean sprouts cultivated for 6 days with drinking water. The growth characteristics and contents of the useful components of the soybean sprouts were affected more by carbonated water than by drinking water.