Korean J Nutr KJN Korean Journal of Nutrition 0367-6463 2005-7121 The Korean Nutrition Society 10.4163/kjn.2013.46.2.177 Research Article Dietary behavior and nutritional status among Chinese female college students residing in Korea Gaowei 1 Kim Soyeon 1 Chang Namsoo 1 Kim Ki Nam 2 Department of Nutritional Science and Food Management, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 120-750, Korea. Department of Food and Nutrition, Daejeon University, Daejeon 300-716, Korea. To whom correspondence should be addressed. (kimkinam@dju.kr) 04 2013 30 04 2013 46 2 177 185 10 09 2012 14 10 2012 04 04 2013 © 2013 The Korean Nutrition Society 2013 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the nutritional status of Chinese female college students in Korea, and to investigate changes in their dietary behavior after residing in Korea. The subjects included 114 Chinese female college students currently studying in Korea. General characteristics and dietary behaviors before and after residing in Korea were investigated. Daily nutrients and food intake were assessed using a one-day 24-hour recall. Consumption of most nutrients, namely calcium, iron, zinc, vitamin B2, vitamin C, and folate was estimated to fall below the EAR for the Korean population. The proportions of subjects whose intake were estimated below the EAR for folate, calcium, vitamin B2, iron, zinc, and vitamin C were 93.0%, 71.9%, 66.7%, 65.8%, 65.8%, and 63.2%, respectively. In the current study, the dietary behavior scores fell significantly after Chinese students immigrated to Korea (p < 0.001); increased frequency of meal skipping, less consumption of fruits and vegetables, irregular meal pattern, and imbalanced diet were some of the significant changes among Chinese students before and after residing in Korea. In addition, consumption of most nutrients, including dietary fiber, vitamin A, vitamin B group, vitamin C, and folate in the Worsened Group was significantly lower, compared with the No Change Group (p < 0.05). According to the changes in dietary behaviors, consumption of most nutrients, including dietary fiber, vitamin A, vitamin B group, vitamin C, and folate in the Worsened Group was significantly lower than in the No Change Group (p < 0.05). In conclusion, these results indicated that Chinese students practiced more unhealthy dietary behaviors after residing in Korea and Chinese students residing in Korea showed poor nutrient-based diet quality. Conduct of a follow-up study using blood profile tests is needed in order to assess the nutritional status of Chinese students. These results would be used in planning of a nutritional surveillance program for Chinese students.

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General characteristics and self-reported health-related behavior of subjects (n = 114)

1) Values are expressed as Mean ± SD 2) BMI: body mass index = body weight (kg) / [height (m)]2 3) Values are expressed as frequency (%) 4) Regular exercise more than 30 minutes a day for more than three one week

Daily food intakes of subjects by food group (n = 114)

1) Values are Mean ± SD; which were calculated by CAN-pro 3.0 program

Daily nutrient intakes and Nutrient Adequacy Ratio (NAR)1) and Mean Adequacy Ratio (MAR)2) of subjects by 24-hr recall method (n = 114)

1) NAR: Each nutrient intake/Korean RDA of that nutrient. Any NAR values are truncated at 1.0 2) MAR: Mean of NAR of 11 nutrients (protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, niacin, vitamin B6, Folate, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Zinc) 3) Values are expressed as Mean ± SD 4) Values are expressed as frequency 5) Frequency (%) of nutrient intake below KEAR (Korean Estimated Average Requirements) 6) Frequency (%) of nutrient intake below KRNI (Korean Recommended Nutrient Intake)

Comparison of dietary behavior score of subjects between time residing in China and in Korea1-3)

1) Values are expressed as frequency or Mean ± SD 2) For each question (No. 1-11), 5, 3, or 1 point were given to answers of 'below 2 days', '3-5 days', '6-7 days', respectively. However, for the other question (No. 12-20), 1, 3, and 5 points were given to answers '6-7 days', '3-5 days', and 'below 2 days', respectively 3) Minimum and maximum scores for each component are 1 to 5. The total score can be up to 100 4) Significances were assessed with the use of the McNemar test 5) Significance was assessed by paired t-test

Daily nutrient intake of subjects according to changes in dietary behavior1,2)

1) Values are expressed as Mean ± SD 2) Differences between two groups measured by student t-test

*: p <0.05