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Obesity in Korean elderly: nutritional and health implication
Author(s) -
Yang Eunju
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.20.4.a180-d
Subject(s) - medicine , obesity , niacin , marital status , diabetes mellitus , national health and nutrition examination survey , gerontology , environmental health , population , endocrinology
Obesity is an important problem for the growing elderly population. With use of cross‐sectional national data from 2001 Korean Health and Nutrition Survey (¡Ã 65y old; 355 men, 565 women), the subjects were divided into two groups according to having chronic diseases on the basis of taking medication for hypertension, diabetes, liver diseases, or renal failure. Socio‐demographic and lifestyle characteristics (education, income, marital status, physical activity, smoking, alcohol intake, supplement use, and nutrient intakes) were examined relation to obesity. Thirty one percent of elderly men and 37% of elderly women had one and over of chronic diseases. The subjects who had chronic diseases (DE) had significantly higher BMI and WHR compared with healthy elderly (HE) in both men and women. The prevalence of obesity (BMI¡Ã25) of DE and HE was 38.6% and 18.3% in men, and 54.1% and 24.2% in women, respectively. Nutrient intakes were not significantly different between DE and HE. In both DE and HE, the average intakes of energy, Ca, Vit A, and Vit B2 in men and energy, protein, Ca, Fe, Vit B1, Vit B2, and niacin in women were below the Korean RDA. Former‐smoking in men and age, education, current‐smoking, and activity in women were associated with health status. There is considerable scope to prevent health risks in elderly with lifestyle interventions. The results of this study suggest that obesity is an important risk factor for chronic diseases in Korean elderly. However, current nutrient intakes were not associated with obesity or health conditions either. It may not discriminate cause from effect based on cross‐sectional data. Further study is needed to identify relationships between obesity and nutritional status using longitudinal study. (Funded by the Korea Research Foundation)