Objectives : This research aimed to understand the effects of food consumption that fits to the constitution of subjects on health status by recognizing the constitutional food preference according to Sasang constitution. Methods : The participants who are college students in D city were invited from Mar. 17, 2009 to Sep. 5 2010 for the research. More than two medical doctors who are specialized in Sasang constitution diagnosed the constitution of participants, and the participants were selected as subjects only if the diagnosis of the two doctors were agreed. Total 422 subjects (Taeumin: 175, Soeumin: 101, Soyangin: 144) were selected from the diagnosis, and the collected data was analyzed with computer software of SPSS 17.0. The frequency analysis was executed for the general characteristics of subjects, and the relationship of constitutional food preference and health status (SF-36) were analyzed with Pearson Correlation Coefficient. Results : From the results about the distribution of constitutional food preference according to the constitutions, Soeumin showed the highest frequency for both of lower than 10 points (35.0 %), which stands for high preference of constitutional food, and higher than 40 points (1.9 %), which stands for low preference of constitutional food. And, they showed no correlation for the results about the relationship between health status and constitutional food preference based on 9 sub-categories of SF-36 including Physical Component Score (PCS), Mental Component Score (MCS). Conclusion : In conclusion, the effects of food consumption that fits to the constitution of the twenties on their health status were understood by recognizing the constitutional food preference according to Sasang constitution. Comparing with the previous research results that constitutional food consumption can enhance their health status, there were no correlation between health status and constitutional food preference. The discrepancy of results can be addressed to difficulties of group selection, constitutional food categorization and lack of constitutional food-related questionnaires. Thus, it is required to conduct a follow-up studies that were made up for the mentioned shortcomings.
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