Relationship among self-reported fatigue, dietary taurine intake, and dietary habits in Korean college students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among self-reported fatigue, dietary taurine intake, and dietary habits in Korean college students. The subjects were 239 college students (142 male and 97 female) residing in the Incheon, Korea. Self-reported fatigue score was determined using a questionnaire of "Subjective Symptoms of Fatigue Test." The average physical fatigue score ( p < 0.001), mental fatigue score ( p < 0.01), nervous fatigue score ( p < 0.001), and total fatigue score ( p < 0.001) of female students were significantly higher compared to male students. Average dietary taurine intake in male and female was 102.5 mg/day and 98.0 mg/day, respectively. There was no significant correlation between self-reported fatigue score and dietary taurine intake. However, there was significantly negative correlation between self-reported fatigue scores and dietary habits such as "eating meals at regular times" ( p < 0.05), "eating foods such as meat, fish, eggs, and beans more than two times a day" ( p < 0.05), "eating greenish yellow vegetable every meal" ( p < 0.05), and "avoiding eating sweet foods everyday" ( p < 0.05). Therefore, in order to reduce self-reported fatigue, it is necessary to provide nutrition education and counseling for better dietary habit in Korean college students, and a further large-scale study is needed about relationship of self-reported fatigue and dietary taurine intake. © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013.