This study investigated the potential role of dietary factors associated with obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in Koreans. The scoping review method was used to evaluate the studies that utilized the secondary data sets comprising the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) and the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study (KoGES). Articles published between 2012 and 2022 were identified using RISS, KISS, DBpia, PubMed, and ScienceDirect databases. In all, there were 32 published articles on obesity and 119 on MetS. Obesity research included eight articles on nutrients, 12 on food items/food groups, two on dietary patterns, nine on dietary behavior/eating habits, and one on the dietary index. MetS studies comprised 34 articles on nutrients, 43 on food items/food groups, seven on dietary patterns, 25 on dietary behavior/eating habits, and 10 on the dietary index. Carbohydrates, alcohol, and coffee consumption were the most frequently studied dietary factors for obesity and MetS. The primary areas of study were largely focused on nutrients and food items/food groups. Thus, to overcome the paucity of information on the relationship of dietary patterns and dietary indexes with obesity and MetS, there is a need for further research using the KNHANES and KoGES data sets.

This study was carried out to analyze the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and general characteristics, psychological factors, eating habits, dietary behaviors, and health related quality of life using survey of 335 women aged 20 to 29 years in the Seoul and Kyungin areas. The 335 study subjects were divided into 4 groups by BMI (㎏/㎡) levels; normal group(18.5≤BMI≤22.9), overweight group(23.0≤BMI≤24.9), mild obesity group(25.0≤BMI≤29.9), and heavy obesity group (BMI≥30) by Asian-Pacific obesity index criteria. The family income of the heavy obesity group was significantly (p<0.05) less than that of the normal weight group. Psychological factors, such as stress and depression of the normal weight group tended to be higher than those of overweight and obesity groups. The higher BMI level had the lower self-efficacy(p<0.05) among all subjects. As the BMI level increased, the preference for sweet, salty, and hot taste was significantly high. We found that normal weight women had healthier eating habits and dietary behaviors and a higher level of health-related quality of life than did those who were overweight, mildly obese, and heavily obese women. Overweight and mildly and heavily obese women were strongly associated with decreased physical and mental health related quality of life. Therefore, weight loss is desirable, and is likely to be beneficial for health-related quality of life in obese adult women. In conclusion, this study contains evidence to suggest that obesity management programs including different strategies according to obesity are required to determine the types of programs that are suitable for adult women, prior to their initiation of a program. The findings are helpful to inform researchers and practitioners who are seeking to implement appropriate strategies to create positive changes in the health behaviors of obese adult women.

The factors of obesity related with food habits were assessed to provide information for nutrition education database. The subjects in this study were 234 primary school children in Busan. Children were classified into normal and obese groups(mildly obese, moderately obese and severely obese) by obesity index. In self-recognition of body image, only 28.6% of MI group considered themselves as 'overweight or obese'. 87.2% of the subjects controlled their weight method with exercise. With regard to meal speed, 64.5% of the subjects ate fast(≤15 min.). The study also found that 79.8% of the subjects ate breakfast, 56.4% of the subjects them were moderate by obese, 40.8% of the subjects ate snacks after dinner. Eating speed, meal volume and snacks money per day were significantly different in obesity. Preference for eating out was Korean Chinese, Western and Japanese food, in order. Favorite food for snack, such as ddukbokki, fruits, milk. fried foods and candy and caramel were significantly different in obesity(p〈0.05). However hamberger, pizza and chocolate were not significantly different in obesity. The most preference snack for all the subjects were fruits and ice cream. In food preference, potato, dduk, meats, fishes, cheese, milk, ice cream were significantly different in obesity. The distasteful food for subjects were patbab, vegetables, shellfishes and salt-fermented foods. From above results, obesity of children was related to meal speed, meal volume and snacks motley per day. Therefore, these results suggest that continuous and practical nutrition education to change food habits art necessary to avoid child obesity.