Intake Of Processed Foods Research Articles

A Survey of dietary habits and lifestyle of childbearing Korean women by BMI

The purpose of this study was to suggest dietary habit and lifestyle of Korean childbearing women. Between August and September 2007, women aged 20–39 years (n=449) visited in Healthcare System Gangnam Center for regular health checkup were assessed. They were divided into three groups by BMI: low weight(LW, BMI<18.5), normal weight (NW, BMI=18.5–22.9), over weight(OW, BMI≥23.0). They were interviewed using questionnaire to assess dietary habit and lifestyle. Anthropometric were also measured. The mean age of the subject were 32.8yr and the distribution of BMI was LW(17.8%), NW(65.7%), and OW(16.5%). The BMI group was not affected significantly by age. LW group have significantly more experience of current drinking (53.8%), current smoking (7.5%) and irregular menstruation (53.8%), taking functional food (33.8%), the early first smoking age (17.7yr), increased smoking quantity (1 pack per day) and late menarche (13.8yr). In dietary habit, all of the groups got low total score of dietary habit(58.6, 61.4, 61.6 in LW, NW, OW, respectively). The score of balance diet, healthy diet habit, regular meal and fruit intake were lower in LW group. In OW group, salty food, sweet snack and processed food intake were more often and meal speed was faster than other groups. This study showed that childbearing women have wrong dietary habit especially in LW and OW groups. Further researches are needed to establish the relationship between right eating and the long-term health in childbearing Korean women.

A Study on Processed Food Intake of High School Juniors and Seniors in Korea

In this study, 1,962 students(1,000 juniors and 962 seniors) were asked to complete a questionnaire to describe the recognition and intakes of processed food. Students who occasionally skipped breakfast included 48.5% of junior high students and 53.3% of the senior class. Most of the students skipped breakfast. Processed foods have been eaten mainly at home. The main reason for this was taste (over 50%), and caring less about lack of nutrition (below 2.2%). BMI shows that lower weight students obtain more processed food in each food than normal and overweighted students. Most students recognized the harmful effects of prepared foods, but not of high intakes of sodium. Over 53% had not eaten processed food containing vegetables and fruit. It has been demonstrated that, the higher the mother’s education level, the more expensive meat processed food and convenient food her son/daughter obtains. Based on this study, testing junior and senior high school students preferences for processed food, and proper nutrition program, should develop and practical education should be performed in order to provide students with good information about systematic intake of processed food. Therefore, the government should perform proper consumer education for the health benefit of the people.

Quantification of urinary N‐acetyl‐S‐ (propionamide)cysteine using an on‐line clean‐up system coupled with liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

Acrylamide has been reported to be present in high-temperature processed foods and normal processed food intake could lead to significant acrylamide exposure. Acrylamide in vivo can be conjugated with glutathione in the presence of glutathione transferase. This conjugation product is further metabolized and excreted as N-acetyl-S-(propionamide)cysteine (NASPC) in the urine. NASPC could be considered a biomarker for acrylamide exposure. The objective of this study was to develop a highly specific, rapid and sensitive method to quantify urinary NASPC, serving as a biomarker for acrylamide exposure assessment. Isotope-labeled [13C3]NASPC was successfully synthesized and used as an internal standard. This urine mixture was directly analyzed using a newly developed liquid chromatographic/tandem mass spectrometric method coupled with an on-line clean-up system. The detection limit for this method was estimated as < 5 microg l(-1)(0.4 pmol) on-column. The method was applied to measure the urinary level of NASPC in 70 apparently health subjects. The results showed that the NASPC urinary level was highly associated with smoking. Smokers had a significantly higher urinary NASPC level (135 +/- 88 microg g(-1) creatinine) than non-smokers (76 +/- 30 microg g(-1) creatinine). A highly sensitive and selective LC/MS/MS isotope dilution method was successfully established. With an on-line clean-up system, this system is capable of routine high-throughput analysis and accurate quantitation of NASPC in urine. This could be a useful tool for health surveillance for acrylamide exposure in a population for future study.