Comparison of Indices for Diet Quality Evaluation of Korean Adolescents by Residence Area and Body Size

Park, Min Young; Um, Ji Sook; Hyun, Hwa Jin; Park, Hae Ryun; Chung, Young Jin

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess several indices of diet quality based on nutrient, food and food group intake of Korean adolescents based on several indices on diet quality according to residence area and body size. Using the data from the 1998 National Health and Nutrition Survey, twenty-four-hour-dietary recalls of a total of 1,110 Korean adolescents aged 13-19 years (male 543, female 567) were analyzed for nutrient adequacy ratio (NAR), index of nutritional quality (INQ), the number of foods (Dietary Variety Score, DVS) and food group consumed (Dietary Diversity Score, DDS). In doing that, it was attempted to apply only the minimum amount of solid foods of Kant's without inclusion of liquid foods because of the very limited variety in Korean foods. Based on weight length index, 13.1% of the subjects were categorized as obese, 14.2%, overweight, 44.4%, normal and 28.3%, underweight. Only vitamin B2 intake was higher in the obese group than in the underweight group. There was no meaningful difference in energy, protein and fat intakes according to the grade of the body size. In terms of residence area, intake of fat, niacin, vitamin B6 and folic acid were lower in the rural areas than in the metropolitan city. Only vitamin E intake was higher in the rural areas. Mean value of NARs (MAR) and INQs (mINQ) was also higher in the metropolitan city than in the rural areas, but there was no significant difference of these two values according to body size of the subjects. Mean DVS was 21.02 for total subjects, and has no difference between male and female and between metropolitan city and other medium-small city. But, the rural areas showed the lowest DVS of 19.05. Mean DDS in which five is a maximum score was 3.3 with no significant difference by sex and by residence area in male subjects. However, in female subjects, DDS in the rural areas was the lowest. According to body size of the subjects, there was no meaningful difference in both scores of DVS and DDS. In conclusion, most indices of nutrient intake and food and food group intake were not significantly different by body size of the subjects, while most indices were significantly different by residence areas: higher in the metropolitan city than in the rural area.