The Risk of Overweight and Insufficient Dietary Intake among Children in Low‐income Family in South Korea

Abstract

AimsObesity prevalence has increased steadily in Asian countries. Especially low‐income child is known as vulnerable to obesity due to the limited access to affordable foods and health care. To identify the health and nutrition condition of low‐income children in South Korea, data from the fifth Korean National Health and Nutrition Survey(2010‐2012) was used. Methods: To define the risk of children's health and nutrition status, we adapted the classifications of the Korean family income level(The National Statistical Office, 2012), Korean child standard growth charts(KCDC, 2007), and Korean nutrition intake standards(The Korean Nutrition Society, 2010). Data from age 1 to age 5(n=2,272,243) were analyzed by survey module in SAS. Results: The children's overweight risk decreased by family income. 13.6% children in family with the minimum cost of living were over 95percentile in BMI. However their undergrowth(<5percentile in BMI) rate is the lower(2.2%) compared with other income groups. Those children in the lowest income group had the highest percent of inadequate intake of carbohydrate and fat among children(52.4%, 44.0%). They also had largest rate of insufficient intakes in Vitamin A(37.5%), B1(20.0%), B2(23.9%), Niacin(29.5%), Vitamin C(43.1%), Calcium(64.7%), and iron(41.2%).ConclusionsFor the healthy growth among children in low‐income families in South Korea the accessibility of healthy foods and health care are need to be secured.