Association of Whole Grain Consumption with Socio-Demographic and Eating Behavior Factors in a Korean Population: Based on 2007-2008 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Article information

Korean J Community Nutr. 2011;16(3):353-363

Publication date (electronic) : 2011 June 30

doi : https://doi.org/10.5720/kjcn.2011.16.3.353

Department of Food & Nutrition, Sungshin Women's University, Seoul, Korea.

Corresponding author: Seungmin Lee, Department of Food & Nutrition, Sungshin Women's University, 147 Mia-dong, Kangbuk-gu, Seoul 142-100, Korea. Tel: (02) 920-7671, Fax: (02) 920-2076, smlee@sungshin.ac.kr

Received 2011 June 09; Revised 2011 June 13; Accepted 2011 June 16.

Abstract

The objective of the current study was to examine associations of whole grain consumption with socio-demographic (i.e.: sex, age, household income, education, marriage status) and certain eating behavior factors (i.e.: dish source, eating place, meal type) among a generally healthy Korean population. Using twenty-four hour recall data from the 2007-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, whole grain intake (g/day) was calculated for a total of 8,836 generally healthy Koreans aged 6 years and higher. The study subjects had very low whole grain intake. Specifically approximately 60% of the subjects reported no whole grain consumption on the survey day, and mean daily intake ranged from 8.0 g to 15.1 g in different gender and age groups. Living with a spouse was found to be a positive environment factor for whole grain consumption, especially among men. As household income levels increased, whole grain consumption status also improved. The proportion of non-consumer was lowest in a 6-19 year group, and mean intake amount was highest in middle-aged adults. Major dish sources for whole grain consumption included boiled rice with mixed grains, corn, boiled rice with brown rice, cereal products, and other types of boiled rice. It was found that whole grain consumption was highly affected by eating places rather than meal types. The best contributing eating place was home in each age and gender group. The study findings may be useful in planning nutrition education strategy and formulating dietary behavior guidelines for whole grain consumption improvement.

Keywords: whole grain consumption; socio-demographic factors; eating behavior factors; Koreans

Notes

This research was conducted by the generous financial support of the Youlchon Foundation (Nongshim Corporation and its affiliated companies) in Korea.

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Article information Continued

Table 1

Distribution of whole grain intake levels by socio-demographic factors

1) N (%)

^*: p < 0.05, ^***: p < 0.001 by chi-square test for difference between socio-demographic status within gender

Table 2

Mean whole grain intake (g/day) by socio-demographic factors

1) NS: not significant, ^*: p < 0.05, ^**: p < 0.01 by ANOVA or t test for difference between socio-demographic status within gender

2) NS: not significant, ^*: p < 0.05, ^**: p < 0.01 by t test for difference between gender within a row

3) Different letters represent statistical difference by Duncanís multiple comparison test

Table 3

Top 5 dish items for whole grain intake by gender and age group

Table 4

Eating places for whole grain intake by gender and age group

Table 5

Meal type for whole grain intake by gender and age group