The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

5041.0: Wednesday, November 13, 2002 - Board 7

Abstract #43505

Evaluation of nutrition education and exercise program for Korean elderly women living in elderly homes

Hee-Seon Kim, PhD1, Kyung Ja June, PhD2, and Rhayun Song, PhD2. (1) Foods and Nutrition, Soonchunhyang University, PO Box 97, Asan-si, Choongnam, 336-600, South Korea, (2) Dept. of Nursing, Soonchunhyang University, PO Box 97, Asan-si, Choongnam, South Korea, 041-570-2495, hskim1@sch.ac.kr

More than 90% of Korean elderly women, especially those living in elderly homes, have one or more chronic disease. Yet, they have limited access to information on healthy food choice and health management. The study was designed to provide nutrition education and exercise program to 65 elderly women from 3 selected elderly homes for 6 months and to evaluate changes in diet behaviors, actual food intakes, and serum lipid profile. Monthly nutrition education classes were provided along with Korean dance exercise program three times a week for 6 months. Each subject was interviewed to assess perceived dietary behavior, food intake by a 24-h recall method. Fasting blood samples were obtained for analyzing the lipid profile at the beginning and the end of the program. The baseline food analyses showed that intakes of vitamin A, vitamin E, riboflavin, iron and calcium were insufficient while energy, fat and sodium intakes were high. At the completion of the program, dietary behaviors of the subjects were significantly improved (p<0.001), and the participants reported significantly decreased intakes of energy and fat while intakes of iron and vitamin A were increased. The serum analyses also revealed that the average serum total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels were decreased by 3.15mg/dl and 16.60mg/dl, respectively, while the average high-density lipoprotein (HDL) level was increased by 13.23mg/dl. In conclusion, the nutrition education and exercise program was effectively applied to Korean elderly women to improve their dietary behaviors and food intakes in healthy way.

Learning Objectives:

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

IH Posters V

The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA