Characteristics of Nutrient Intakes of Adults over 20 years in Daegu-Gyeongbuk - From the 1st to 3rd National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys -

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the characteristics of nutrient intakes of adults aged 20-64 years in Daegu and Gyeongbuk areas in comparison with Seoul and the whole nation. Data from the 1st (1998) to 3rd (2005) Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) were used. Total numbers of subjects were 296-369 from Daegu and 307-447 from Gyeongbuk while 1076-1244 from Seoul and 5436-6852 from the whole nation. Average energy intakes (men; 2,386, 2,581, 2,305 Kcal, women; 1,937, 1,981, 1,804 Kcal in 1998, 2001, 2005, respectively) of the subjects from Daegu were higher than those from Gyeongbuk (men; 2309, 2267, 2487 Kcal, women; 1,851, 1,845, 1,901 Kcal) and those from Seoul in 1998 and 2001 but not different from those in 2005. Energy from carbohydrate was consistently higher in the subjects from Daegu and Gyeongbuk than in those from Seoul from 1998 to 2005, when the subjects whose carbohydrate energy was over 70% comprised 34 to 58% of the total in the two regions. In 2005, the average intakes of calcium of women and men from Daegu were 512 and 573 mg, iron, 12.8 and 16.6 mg, sodium, 4,650 and 5,951 mg, potassium, 2,585 and 3,152 mg, vitamin A, 823 and 1,038 ㎍RE, thiamin, 1.10 and 1.43 mg, riboflavin, 1.08 and 1.33 mg, and niacin. 15.4 and 19.3 mg, and vitamin C, 94 and 105 mg and these intakes were not very different from those from Gyeongbuk except higher sodium intake of the Gyeongbuk subjects. Nutrients of which the intakes were over 50% lower than EAR were calcium and riboflavin and those about 30% lower than EAR were iron in women, vitamins A and C in men and women from Daegu and Gyeongbuk. From the present results, it is concluded that high dependence on carbohydrate as energy source and low calcium intake in adults of Daegu and Gyeongbuk are serious and that low intakes of riboflavin, iron and vitamins A and C need to be improved. But changes in the intakes of total energy and other micronutrients from 1998 to 2005 were not reliable enough to judge the regional nutrition due to large variations during this period. The present study also provides the adults' nutrient intakes separated by sex and age groups in the three regions which could be readily used for setting up the nutrition policy for the adults in the regions.