2016 Volume 26 Issue 4 Pages 197-204
Nowadays, in Japan, there is a high ratio of women who complain of chilliness. In this study, the effects of lifestyle and frequency of certain types of food intake on chilliness among female college students were studied using a questionnaire (n=215).
According to the diagnostic criteria for chilliness, 42% of all responders routinely experienced chilliness. The influence of food and lifestyle habits on chilliness was ana lyzed using logistic regression analysis. First, exploratory factor analysis was per formed on 41 items about food and life habits. These items combined into 4 factors with a few items forming their own one-item factor. Using logistic regression analysis, these factors, together with BMI (Body Mass Index), were examined to see whether they predicted the relative risk of respondents for chilliness.
The factors “Eating more vegetables”, “Eating more noodles” and “Feeling stress” were shown by the regression analysis to be positively related to experiencing chilli ness (p<0.05). An increase in the consumption of noodles by one level of intensity on a Likert scale of one to five is associated with a 4.75 relative risk of chilliness (given average levels of BMI); an increase in stress by one level (on a one to five Likert scale) is associated with a 3.07 relative risk; an increase in the consumption of vegeta bles by one level (one to five Likert scale) is associated with a 5.56 relative risk. BMI was negatively related to chilliness (p<0.05).
These results suggest that to prevent chilliness women should avoid primarily eat ing vegetables and foods like noodles (which are typically eaten by themselves, unlike rice, which is usually part of a balanced meal). Eating a variety of nutritionally-bal anced foods will help with chilliness as well as maintaining a proper weight. The ne cessity of reducing stress is also clear.
