A Study on food Ecology According to Obesity Index of Elementary School Children in a High Socioeconomic Apartment Complex in Seoul

An ecological survey of food and nutrition was conducted in April and May, among 278 children, 6 to 12 years old, of the Youido elementary school, which offers no school lunch program, and is situated in Youido delta of Han River side of Seoul, known as the location of one of the socioeconomically high groups; Eighteen percent and 18.3% of subjects were proven to be overweight and obese, respectively. With regard to frequency of skipping breakfast, 28.4% of the subjects skipped breakfast often and 2.5% of subjects skipped breakfast every morning. Obese children showed good appetite and the time consumed for eating was shorter than those of normal or overweight children. Most serious anxiety among the mothers for those children was food habit of `eating rapidly' and `overeating'. Another striking observation was that 14.4% of the subjects ate only one side-dish with boiled rice, and such a pattern was more often found in the normal or slim group. Most of the subjects had their snacks after being back in home from school. Thirty-one percent of the children had snacks when they felt hungry, 69% had snacks for various reasons such as `habitually', `for unwinding', and `mother gives me snacks'. Thirty-eight percent of the boys and 19% of the girls had physical exercise everyday and overweight and obese children got exercise more frequently. But the time consumed for exercise was much more shorter than that of normal subjects. Most of the children liked fruits, meats, and biscuit, in contrast, lowest preferency was for vegetables, fermented fish products, and boiled rice mixed with other grains. Obese children experienced more kinds of food than normal or slim group. The study found that habits of overeating due to good appetite and eating rapidly were recognized as one of dominant reasons causing obesity among children. On the other hand, serious dietary problem of children of normal or slim group was eating less variety of food. Active nutrition education for both children and mothers will be recommended with joint participation of teachers.