A Study on Health, Anthropometry and Food Behavior of the Elderly living in Inchon

인천지역 노인의 건강과 체위 및 식행동 조사 연구

The health, anthropometry, food habits, food intake frequency and nutrition intake of 747(219 men and 528 women) elderly people living in Inchon were investigated. Mean BMI, WHR, triceps skinfold thickness, BIA, blood pressure of the subjects were 23.4, 1.0, 15.6mm, 28.6%, 137.5/78.8mmHg in men and 24.9, 0.87, 22.6mm, 36.2%, 130.8/73.8mmHg in women respectively. Over the half of the subjects perceived themselves unhealthy and 86.2% of the elderly suffered from one or more illness. Ratios of the smoking and the drinking elderly were 40%, 43% in men and 12%, 11% in women. The major reason to stop smoking or drinking was the concern about their health. Food habit score of the subjects was relatively high (14.45/18.0) but food intake frequency score were relatively low (21.18/33.0) except the food groups of cereal & grain, white vegetable and sweets. The foods consumed by the elderly were very limited in quality and also in quantity. The daily intakes of calorie, protein, iron, vit. B1, niacin and vit. C were less than 2/3 of RDA and the amounts of calcium, vit. A and vit. B2 consumption were less than 1/2 of RDA.