Dietary Taurine and Nutrient Intake and Dietary Quality by Alcohol Consumption Level in Korean Male College Students - Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology - page 115

Chapter 13
Dietary Taurine and Nutrient Intake
and Dietary Quality by Alcohol Consumption
Level in Korean Male College Students
Jeong Soon You , So Young Kim , So Yoon Park , and Kyung Ja Chang
Abstract Heavy alcohol consumption is related to various negative healthy conse-
quences. To investigate difference of taurine intake according to the alcohol con-
sumption level, we studied body composition, intake of dietary nutrients including
taurine, and dietary quality in Korean male college students that were divided
according to their alcohol consumption level. Surveys were conducted using a ques-
tionnaire and a 3-day recall method for assessing dietary intake in 220 male college
students residing in Incheon, Korea. The subjects were divided into two groups by
alcohol consumption level: heavy drinking group (average drinking over 5 cans
(355 ml) of beer or 7 shots (45 ml) of soju) and light drinking group (average drink-
ing less than 5 cans of beer or 7 shots of soju or not drinking any alcohol at all at one
time during the previous month). The average body mass index (BMI) in the heavy
drinking group was significantly higher compared to the light drinking group
( p <0.05). There was no significant difference in dietary taurine intake between
heavy and light drinking group. With regard to the dietary quality evaluation of the
subjects, the nutrient densities (ND) of carbohydrate, niacin, vitamin C, and zinc in
the heavy drinking group were significantly lower than those of the light drinking
group. Therefore, continuous nutrition education for heavy drinking Korean male
college students may be needed to improve balanced nutritional status and further
studies such as case-control study or taurine intervention study are required to know
the relationship between dietary taurine intake and alcohol consumption.
J. S. You ￿ S. Y. Kim ￿ S. Y. Park ￿ K. J. Chang ( * )
Department of Food and Nutrition , Inha University ,
Incheon , South Korea
e-mail: [e-mail]