Comparisons of masticatory properties according to gender and weight using Hamburger (western food) and Bibimbap (Korean food) = 햄버거(서양식)과 비빔밥(한식)을 이용한 성별과 비만도에 따른 저작특성비교

Abstract

Recently, because of improvements in the economic environment worldwide, and an increase in the entry of women into the work force, eating-out has become a big part of daily eating, especially, the intake of fast-food has increased by far. A hamburger meal is popular for its convenience, economic feasibility, and as a simple meal that busy contemporary people can eat quickly. On the other hand, because of increased interest in well-being and health, the eating habits of modern people are changing. In addition, the perception of the excellence of Korean food is gradually increasing. Above all, Bibimbap is a representative of nutritious Korean food which has well-mixed, Namul (various seasoned vegetables). However, people these days tend to prefer hamburgers, which are high-calorie, fast food with artificial flavor, when compared to Bibimbap, which has various Namul, is nutritious, and has natural flavor. Therefore, in this study, by comparing the mastication properties of Bibimbap, a representative of Korean food, which is hard to chew, and hamburgers which are soft and easy to chew, we are going to reveal the excellence in Korean food compared to Western food. The subjects of this study are 41 healthy male/female university students and we recruited both obese/non-obese subjects. The masticatory test is comprised of free-, mean-, and full-chewed tests, according to chewing frequency. We also investigated masticatory properties like total meal time, satiety change, chewing number, chewing time, eating rate, and bite size. Using these test results, we aim to investigate whether gender or weight has a relation with masticatory properties according to meal types. The results of the experiment can be summed up as five facts as follows. First, females have a longer total meal time than males, and non-obese subjects ate longer meals than obese subjects did. In this case, when eating a hamburger meal or Bibimbap, the differences affected by gender were significant in the free- (p<0.05) and full-chewed tests (p<0.05) in both cases. Additionally, the total meal time took longer when eating a hamburger meal than when eating Bibimbap. Second, the satiety change, which is satiety- after- eating minus hunger- before- eating, was higher in females than males and higher when eating a hamburger meal than when eating Bibimbap. Especially, in all masticatory tests in the hamburger meal, both males and females showed significant differences (free- and mean-chewed: p<0.01, full-chewed: p<0.05). When eating Bibimbap, obese subjects had a higher satiety change than non-obese subjects, especially showing significant differences in case of full-chewed (p<0.01). However, when eating a hamburger meal, there was no difference between weight groups. Third, chewing number (n/100g), and chewing time (sec/100g), according to chewing frequency (mean- and full-chewed) of the sample type (hamburger, Bibimbap) increased significantly, eating rate (g/min) decreased significantly, and bite size increased, but only Bibimbap increased significantly. Fourth, masticatory properties according to sample type (hamburger, Bibimbap, French fries) showed significant differences in both cases (p<0.001). After examining the interactions between sample types and gender, significant differences were found in eating rate (5.43) and bite size (8.78) among masticatory properties. Also, in the case of sample types and weight, a significant difference was discovered in bite size (3.05) among other mastication characteristics. Fifth, in correlation between the characteristics of masticatory properties, there were significant relations between chewing number, chewing time, eating rate, and bite size, but there was no significant relationship with satiety change. Total meal time had significant relations only with the chewing number, chewing time, and eating rate.