CHANGES OF DIETARY PATTERN, FOOD CHOICE, FOOD CONSUMPTION, NUTRIENT INTAKE AND BODY MASS INDEX OF KOREAN AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENTS WITH DIFFERENT LENGTH OF RESIDENCE IN THE LOS ANGELES AREAS.

KOREAN Americans; COLLEGE students; SCHOOL food; QUESTIONNAIRES; BODY mass index; FOOD consumption; CARDIOVASCULAR diseases

LOS Angeles (Calif.); CALIFORNIA

This study was to investigate how dietary pattern, food choice, food consumption, nutrient intake and body mass index (BMI) vary with length of residence for Korean American college students. The respondents were 60 Korean American residents living in the Los Angeles Area. They were divided into two groups based on the length of stay in the U.S.: low acculturated Korean Americans (LAK, n=23, average length of residency: 4.10±2.92 years) and high acculturated Korean Americans (HAK, n=37, average length of residency: 16.97±5.86 years). A food frequency questionnaire and one day food record were used and analyzed based on the levels of acculturation and of gender. Using the Food Guide Pyramid System, the results indicated the HAK had consumed more foods in the grain servings (5.89±3.30 vs. 5.30±3.05), vegetable servings (8.57±8.01 vs. 7.04±6.80), fruit servings (4.68±6.16 vs. 3.87±5.21), dairy servings (2.46±2.56 vs. 2.30±3.20) and meat servings (6.46±6.10 vs. 5.04±6.46) than those of LAK, respectively. The HAK tended to consume significantly more raw vegetable salad (1.92±1.32 vs. 1.00±0.0) than those of LAK. It is noteworthy that female groups from both HAK and LAK consumed higher total numbers of servings of foods than their male counterparts. Both groups consumed excessive amounts of sodium and had inadequate intakes of calcium. The HAK weighted more (66.33±19.73 vs. 60.99±12.56 Kg) and had significantly higher BMI (23.8±5.76 vs. 21.97±2.60 Kg/M[sup 2]) than those of LAK. The averaged BMI of the HAK (23.8) was closed to the World Health Organization (WHO) which set BMI of 23 as cutoff for Asians for being overweight. The HAK consumed more numbers of servings of all food groups (28.05±21.71 vs. 23.6±21.25) and calories (1928.52±628.11 vs. 1648.56±540.53) a day than those of LAK. The HAK consumed more Western foods such as bread, bagel, cookies, tortilla, hamburger bun, egg, hot dog, bacon, ham, peanut butter than those of LAK, although they consumed relatively more vegetables and fruits than those of LAK. This may be due to acculturation of consumption of the Western foods and thus lead to why the high-acculturated Korean Americans were having more weight and higher BMI. Further nutritional education for this group to control body weight that obesity and its related diseases such as Type II diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease can be avoided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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