A Study on the Fat and Fatty Acid Intake of College Women Evaluated through Internet Nutritional Assessment System

Yu, Choon Hie

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate dietary fat and individual fatty acids intake pattern of 174 college women living in Seoul and Gyong-gi province through internet nutritional assessment system. Each of the subjects was required to input their own food intake for three days, which included two days during the week and one day of the weekend, on the web program directly and all of the data collected were used for statistical analysis. The mean daily caloric intake of the subjects was 1,500.9 kcal which was at 71.5% of Estimated Energy Requirement (EER ). Dietary fat contributed 27.6% of the total caloric intake which was slightly higher than the recommended limit of 25%. Daily cholesterol intake was 310.0 mg, which was also high to some degree. Mean daily N6 and N3 fatty acid intake was 6.1 g and 0.9 g, respectively, and calory % calculated from each were 3.63% and 0.53%. This result showed the intake of N3 fatty acid fell in Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges (AMDR )0.5 ~1.0% but that of N6 fatty acid was somewhat lower than the AMDR 4 ~8%. N6/N3 ratio 8.5/1, however, was within the desirable range 4 ~10/1. Considering overall dietary fatty acids intake, oleic acid was the most abundant, followed by linoleic and palmitic acid. And among polyunsaturated fatty acids intake, linoleic acid was exclusively high, accounting for 97.4% of total N6 fatty acid intake. On the contrary, three fatty acids, linolenic (67.3%), DHA (21.1%)and EPA (10.0%), together supplied 98.4% of total N3 fatty acid intake. Mean P/M/S was 0.9/1.1/1.0. The subjects' intake of fat, many fatty acids and cholesterol came from diverse food groups including meats, fats and oils, milk and milk products, eggs, fish, and soybean products. Nevertheless, the subjects tended to show unfavorable fat and fatty acids intake pattern in terms of quantity and quality. Based on these results, it is important to monitor dietary fat intake pattern of the general population continuously and an internet program such as the one used for this study would be valuable, especially for assessing dietary patterns in the younger generation.