Abstract
We investigated articles about the function of food, in the consumer magazine, “Tashikana Me” and added some examination to articles in general-interest magazines. The results were as follows.
1) The number of articles on food in “Tashikana Me” accounted for about 26% of the total articles.
2) The number of articles on the physiological function of food in “Tashikana Me” has been from 1.5 to 2 times the number of articles on nutritive function in the period of five years from 1991 to 1995.
3) The names of functional composition that appeared at high frequency for certain periods in “Tashikana Me” were lipid and non-nutrient in the articles on physiological function, and vitamin and mineral in the articles on nutritive function.
4) There were high appearance of names of non-nutrient composition, and vague expressions about the function of foods in the general-interest magazines.
5) These results showed a recent tendency to pay attention to the specific functional composition of food.
6) Based on the investigation, the authors indicated it was necessary to consider learning content of home economics about the function of food as to food information, and made some proposals.
