College Students' Recognition and Attitudes toward Functional Food in Korea

초록

The purpose of this study was to investigate the Korean college students' recognition and attitudes toward functional food (FF). The subjects were 173 male college students and 107 female college students in Incheon, Korea. The anthropometric characteristics were measured and the recognition and attitudes toward FF were collected through a self-reported questionnaire in March of 2010. More than half of the students have consumed FF (males, 60.5%; females, 71.0%). Most of these students thought FF can promote health (males, 76.5%; females, 72.0%). Among the students who have not consumed FF, 53.6% of males and 32.3% of females thought that FF is not necessary for their health (P < 0.01). Forty-four point one percent of the students thought specialty store is necessary and 63.6% of them thought specialty store is beneficial for improving trust to FF. Most of the students thought that counseling dietitian is necessary for explaining prescription of FF and providing FF intake information (males, 82.2%; females, 86.1%) and the FF price under 100,000 won was reasonable (males, 95.4%; females, 92.4%). Forty-two point five percent of the students wanted to get the FF recommendation according to their body condition. The students focused on clinical results when they purchased FF (males, 75.1%; females, 60.7%). About half of the students wanted to consume FF which have functions such as enhancement of immunity and body weight control. Therefore, these results can be used for new FF development and establishing market strategies to promote FF consumption of the college students.