Dietary Life, Vitamin D Status and Blood Clinical Indices of University Laboratory Workers

Jung Hyun Hwang; Hong Mie Lee; Jung Hee Kim

doi:10.5720/kjcn.2019.24.3.245

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Hwang, Lee, and Kim: Dietary Life, Vitamin D Status and Blood Clinical Indices of University Laboratory Workers

Research Article

Korean Journal of Community Nutrition 2019; 24(3): 245-256.

Published online: 30 June 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5720/kjcn.2019.24.3.245

Dietary Life, Vitamin D Status and Blood Clinical Indices of University Laboratory Workers

Jung Hyun Hwang¹

, Hong Mie Lee²

, Jung Hee Kim³

¹Department of Food and Nutrition, Seoul Women's University, Seoul, Korea, Student.

²Major in Nutrition Education, Graduate School of Education, Daejin University, Pocheon, Gyeonggi, Korea, Professor.

³Department of Food and Nutrition, Seoul Women's University, Seoul, Korea, Professor.

Corresponding author: Jung Hee Kim. Department of Food and Nutrition, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul Women's University, 621 Hwarangno, Nowon-gu, Seoul 01797, Korea. Tel: (02) 970-5646, Fax: (02) 976-4049, jheekim@swu.ac.kr

Received 4 June 2019 Revised 21 June 2019 Accepted 21 June 2019

The Korean Society of Community Nutrition

(open-access):

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.

Abstract

Objectives

Although the number of laboratory workers is constantly increasing every year, few studies have been conducted on the health and nutritional status of these research workers. This study determined the health status of laboratory workers by analyzing their anthropometric indices, dietary life, vitamin D status and blood clinical indices.

Methods

The subjects consisted of 100 female laboratory workers. This study investigated their diet, anthropometric indices, vitamin D status and blood clinical indices. The subjects were divided into two groups according to their duration of working in a laboratory (<1 year,≥1 year).

Results

The average age and body mass index (BMI) of subjects were 23.18 years and 21.51 kg/m², respectively Those subjects with over 1 year employment (≥1 year) had a significantly higher waist-hip ratio than that of the subjects with the less than 1 year employment (<1 year). The mean serum vitamin D level of all the subjects was 10.04 ng/mL, which is close to a level of vitamin D deficiency. There was a significantly higher average intake of calories in the over 1 year employment group as compared to that of the less than 1 year employment group. The frequency of eating sweet snacks was significantly higher for the over 1 year employment group. The correlation analysis showed a significant positive correlation between the serum 25-(OH)-vitamin D level and the time of exposure to sunlight, while dietary intake of vitamin D did not show correlation with the serum 25-(OH)-vitamin D level. However, the serum 25-(OH)-vitamin D level was also negatively correlated with both the percentage of body fat and visceral fat.

Conclusions

Laboratory workers are a very high risk group in terms of their nutritional status of vitamin D. Therefore, they need greater time of exposure to sunlight as well as increasing their dietary consumption of vitamin D. In addition, it is important for laboratory worker to practice regular and balanced dietary habits in order to maintain a healthy life.

Keywords: laboratory workers, dietary life, vitamin D status, blood clinical indices

Figures and Tables

Table 1

General characteristics of subjects according to duration of laboratory work

^*: p<0.05, ^**: p<0.01, ^***: p<0.001 by Student t-test or χ²-test

1) Mean ± SD

2) Number of subjects, ( ): % of subjects

Table 2

Anthropometric indice and physical activity of subjects according to duration of laboratory work

^*: p<0.05, ^**: p<0.01 by Student t-test

1) Mean ± SD

2) Number of subjects, ( ): % of subjects

Table 3

Nutrients intake of subjects according to duration of laboratory work

^*: p<0.05, ^**: p<0.01

1) Measured by Student t-test

2) Measured by ANCOVA test adjusted for energy intake

3) Mean ± SD

4) % of energy intake derived from carbohydrate, protein and fat

Table 4

Dietary behavior of subjects according to duration of laboratory work

^*: p<0.05 by χ²-test

1) Mean ± SD

2) Number of subjects, ( ); % of subjects

Table 5

Serum 25-(OH)-D level and blood clinical indices of subjects according to duration of laboratory work

^*: p<0.05 by Student t-test

1) Mean ± SD

2) Number of subjects who have abnormal blood level, ( ): % of subjects

AST: Aspartate aminotransferase

ALT: Alanine aminotransferase

TSH: Thyroid stimulating hormone

T₄: Thyroxine

Table 6

Correlation coefficient between serum 25-(OH)-D level and several variables

^*: p<0.05, ^**: p<0.01 by Pearson's correlation analysis

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a special research grant from Seoul Women's University in 2019.

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ORCID iDs

Jung Hyun Hwang
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1288-7860

Hong Mie Lee
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4810-8195

Jung Hee Kim
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2282-5524

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