Abstract

Recently, as korean eating habits have been westernized, the incidence of large intestinal disease, which has been recognized as western diseases until now, has been increasing. This study was conducted to find the association of fiber intake and large bowel function. This was a cross-sectional survey, the data were obtained by self-administering questionnaire and study population was adults aged more than 18 years old in Seoul(N=1200). The response rate was 81.8%. The results were summarized as followed: 1) The factors associated with bowel function was sex, habits of defecation such as regularity and frequencies of defecation, fecal form, gastrointestinal diseases, psychological scores, self-assessment of physical status, exercise and alcohol drinking. 2) The association between the amount of fiber intake and bowel function was significant. This association was still significant, when the confounders such as disease of upper digestive system and alcohol drinking were controlled.

Keywords

• fiber intake;
• large bowel function