title: Acculturation and changes in dietary behavior and anthropometric measures among Chinese international students in South Korea.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  International students face dissimilar food environments, which could lead to changes in dietary behaviors and anthropometric characteristics between before and after migration. We sought to examine the risk factors, including dietary behaviors, acculturation, and demographic characteristics, related to overweight subjects residing in South Korea.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a cross-sectional study, collecting data from 142 Chinese international students (63 males, 79 females) in 2013.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of the subjects was 25.4 years, and almost half of them immigrated to South Korea to earn a master's degree or doctoral degree (n = 70, 49.3%). Chinese international students showed an increase in skipping meals and eating speed, but a decrease in the frequency of fruit and vegetable consumption in South Korea compared to when they lived in China. We found a statistically significant increase in weight (69.4 → 73.9 kg) and BMI (22.4 → 23.8 kg/m(2)) for male subjects (P < 0.001) but no change for female subjects. We also found that overweight subjects were more likely to be highly acculturated and male compared with normal-weight subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Among Chinese international students living in South Korea, male and more highly acculturated subjects are more vulnerable to weight gain. This study provides useful information to design tailored nutrition intervention programs for Chinese international students.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition Education, Graduate School of Education, Kyonggi University, Gyeonggi 443-760, Korea.
authors.forename: Jounghee
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Food and Nutrition, Seoul Women's University, 621 Hwarangro, Nowon-gu, Seoul 139-774, Korea.
authors.forename: Ran-Ran
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Food and Nutrition, Seoul Women's University, 621 Hwarangro, Nowon-gu, Seoul 139-774, Korea.
authors.forename: Jung-Hee
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
keywords: Chinese; acculturation; diet; international students; migration