This study was conducted to investigate health status of preschool children utilizing anthropometric values and serum biochemical indices. The subjects were 1,159 boys and 1,019 girls in Gumi day-care centers aged 4 to 6 years. The mean height and weight of 4, 5 and 6 year old children were 103.0 cm and 17.1 kg, 107.2 cm and 18.3 kg and 113.4 cm and 20.6 kg, respectively. By the obesity index criteria, 5% of boys and 4% of girls were obese:whereas 10% of boys and 9% of girls were underweight. By the Kaup index criteria, 7% of boys and 4% of girls were obese. By the percentage of body fat criteria, 5% of boys and girls were obese. The mean concentrations of serum total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, Atherogenic Index and serum glucose were 154.1 - 156.5 mg/dL, 80.1 - 81.9 mg/dL, 46.8 - 47.4 mg/dL, 90.9 - 92.8 mg/dL, 2.34 - 2.39 and 76.4 - 77.8 mg/dL, respectively. Serum triglyceride level, AI and body fat percentage of obese children were significantly higher than other children and were significantly lower in HDL-cholesterol level (p < 0.05). In addition there were significant correlation between anthropometric values and serum biochemical indices:Kaup index and obesity index were positively correlated to the systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure in boys and girls (p < 0.01) and to the triglyceride concentration in boys (p < 0.05). These results indicate the need of developing and implementation of nutrition education program for preschool children to prevent further development of childhood obesity and to maintain normal serum lipid profiles.
The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of nutrition education program on anthropometric values and boichemical index in obese children who live in Gumi city. The subjects were 16 obese boys, 20 obese girls with obesity index over 130 and 36 of their parents. The nutrition education was carried out by the professional personnel such as doctors, professors, and dietitians. The children were provided with well-balanced lunch meals and had 40min-lectures on the reasonable weight management, 40 min-games and also had regular exercises (stretching, swimming) for 90 mins everyday during 2weeks of the program. The parents had 90 min-lectures on childhood obesity, diet therapy, behavior modification, and exercise for 6times. After the program, obesity index, BMI, % body fat were significantly decreased (p < 0.05) in boys and obese index, BMI, % body fat and WHR were significantly decreased (p < 0.05) in girls. Blood cholesterol and TG levels of girls were significantly decreased (p < 0.05). These findings show that the well-designed nutrition education program for obese children can be an effective approach to help them to improve their anthropometric values and biochemical index.