Functional foods for health are often consumed among adolescents. To investigate functional food usage, this study surveyed 326 students aged 14-16. 56.3% of the subjects answered that they were interested in health. More than 76% of the subjects thought themselves to be very healthy. Users of functional foods made up 56.7%, and among all types of functional food, probiotic supplements were taken most frequently, followed by nutritional supplements>red ginseng products>enzyme containing products. Most users of functional food got the information on functional food through family (71.3%). 50.3% of users experienced the effectiveness of the functional food when they supplemented. After use, repurchase intent was 58.1%. In order to investigate the relationship between academic stress and functional food usage, groups were classified as stressful (n=124), intermediate (n=122), and low stress (n=84) according to self-perception about stress. There was no significant difference in the intake of functional foods according to academic stress. However, in the intermediate stress group, academic stress index was improved in the users of functional foods. In conclusion, the results of this study can be used to develop functional foods in the future, possibly helping to prepare nutrition education materials, reducing academic stress among adolescents with middle stress.

Despite expansion of the mulnaengmyeon market, there have been no studies on consumers’ attitudes towards mulnaengmyeon. The purpose of this study was to investigate the usage and consumption patterns for mulnaengmyeon among adults in the Seoul metropolitan area of Korea. A survey including demo- and socio-graphics, general mulnaengmyeon usage, and consumption questions was tested on 210 consumers. The results of the survey showed that the majority of consumers consumed mulnaengmyeon more frequently during summer. Although the instant mulnaengmyeon market has rapidly increased, it was found that mulnaengmyeon is a food that is generally consumed in restaurants. In addition, mulnaengmyeon usage and consumption patterns significantly differed according to consumer age, whereas there was no difference observed according to parent’s or grandparent’s hometown of origin. Older consumers were observed to consume and purchase mulnaengmyeon as well as instant mulnaengmyeon more often than young consumers. Also, older consumers were shown to consider “health” related factors as more important when selecting mulnaengmyeon, whereas young consumers considered “price” related factors to be more important.