Dietary changes in Korean American immigrants: implications for chronic disease risk.

The first Korean inlmiizrants caine to the US in I 903. when Korean workers arrived in Haw au. Flowever, the large wave of immigra tion only began with the Immigration Act of 1965. Today. Korean populations exist throughout the US, hut the largest groups reside in California and New ‘iork. wherethe majority are post—1965 migrants and their children, The Korean population in Hawaii is relatively small, about 24,000 of the well over one million nationwide, hut is more evenly divided between descendants of the group from the early 1900’s and recent immigrants’. A person has a shift in lifestyle and environment after immigra tion to a new country, and these changes can result in alterations to chronic disease risk. In particular, ethnic groups like Koreans, who have a dietary tradition that is very distinct from the Western style, may go though a significant dietary transition, even though food habits are fundamental to most cultures thus may change more slowly than other aspects of culture. Several researchers has e been focusing on diverse aspects of Ko rean Americans’ diets, including dietary quality, nutritional status, and changes in food habits and dietar intake, although the studies are relatively few compared to those loriapanese and Chinese Some studies have show n significant differences in diet by acculturation stage that was measured by arious methods. The Multiethnic Cohort Studs in Hawaii and LosAnceics included more than 500 Koreans at basel inc. I 993— 1996. most of whom were women Ii vine in Haw ai i Thus, it was possible to compare health—related behaviors and the diets of Korean American women hr place of birth: the lirsi generation immigrants) who were horn in Korea and the second or subsequent eenerauons born in the US. The study showed se\ eral differences hetss cen the two groups. The average borIs mass index B\l 1. a measure of obesity, was higher in US—horn Korean women 23.(o than in those horn in Korea t22. I after adjustment for age and education. althouch both mean values were in the normal range of I S.5 to 24.9. The proportion who were overweight or obese BMI 25i was three times ahigh in US-born women 31.4 ‘3 as in Korea-horn women Q.33 tiS-born Korean American women showed mote w’csternited dietary characteristics compared to those horn in Korea. For example. as show ii in Table I. t S-burn svoumen consumed more total tilt (5;.Sgdav and fat as pci cnt Lc ot ic i 25 i Ui in did Korca horn womc n t34 9 day. 22.6’) ). wInch mar explain in part the higher proportion of those who were os erw eight or obese amnon the US-horn women. A traditional Korean diet is high in sodium intake, derived mainly from Kimehi. soup. and dried or salted fish, all of which are very popular in the Korean diet. US-horn Korean women consumed less odtum (2 8O8mJd is 1 th an did Kort. i hot n ss omen I 375in 1diy) However, the intake of both groups was still higher than the up per limit of 2.300mg recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 4.Calcium intake by Korean Americans was low, much less than the recommended value. The main reason for this is the low consumption of dairy pmducts. which is also true of the tradi tional Korean diet. US—born xvomen consumed more cheese than did Korea-born women. However, total dairy product consumption was still less than one serving per day in both groups, well below the recommended three servings per day 4. Intakes of vitamin C and ri-carotene were higher in Korea-born women than in USborn women. Some of these differetices in vitamin intakes can he explained by differences in intake of vegetables and fruits by the two groups. US-born women cotasumed less vegetables and fruits than did Korea-burn women: for vegetables and fruit, 4,2 and 2.7 servings in US-horn women ,5,2 and 3.5 servings in Korea-born women. These findings from Koreans in the MEC Study generally agree with the results of previous studies on the diets ofKoreanAmericans. For example. the diet and health practices of Korean Americans were examined hr acculturation level in a nation sample of about 350 adults”. This study reported that more acculturated Korean Americans consumed more American food and less Korean food.