Since 1977, volunteer classes for people wishing to study about prevention of hypertensions have been held in Health Centers in Yokohama City. After 1982, the classes began to be held on regular basis. Dietitians were not necessarily sure of the curricula for the classes because of their inability to assess the effective behavioral improvements in the attendants. Authors tried to improve this situation by jointly preparing improved curricula based on clear identification of objectives, resources, strategy, time table and pre-test and post-test evaluations in accordance with the health education method promoted by WHO.
The study was conducted on 80 attendants during the period from August, 1979 to March, 1980 in 7 Health Centers. They were given follow-ups in respect of all the items described in two short questionnaires and records of two meals (taken on two days). The curriculum adopted is oriented toward changing the food pattern in an effort to prevent hypertension.
Authors believe that they have found a possibility of improving the dietary patterns of clients despite many difficulties in the behavioral changes.

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Various many researches are being conducted on cooking rice. In case of a large-skale cooking, there are still problems relative to performance of rice cookers and restrictions imposed by working conditions.
The present study reports on the experiments conducted to see what influences preliminary soaking of rice in water has on the taste of cooked rice which is considered one of the preliminary conditions for tasty rice.
We used two brands of rice, Koshihikari and Toyonishiki, and set four cooking conditions; depending on the lengths of time up to the boiling point and duration of boiling. Cooked rice was evaluated by the dehydration speed, texture and result of organoleptic tests.
Following results were obtained:
1) Dehydration speed of the rice soaked in water preliminarily was slower than that of rice not soaked.
2) Result of measurement by a texturometer showed the rice soaked in water was more sticky, less hard, less digestible, and less cohesive.
3) Result of the organoleptic tests showed that the rice soaked in the water under varying cooking conditions was rated higher than the one not soaked.
4) As for cooked rice which was kept warm for a period of time, rating was higher for the rice which had been soaked in water, but not higher than the rice evaluated immediately after it was cooked.

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The present nutrition study was carried out in a district in Goto Island, Nagasaki Prefecture in December 1981 among 60 housewives.
The amount of food intake was generally lower than the average values of the 1980 National Nutrition Survey except for rice, fish and shellfish, and fruits. Nutrient intake was substantially sufficient to recommeded dietary intake except for calcium and iron.
The partial correlation excluding age factor among food groups and other examined data was significantly positive (p<0.01-0.001) in respect of wheat to fats and oils, fish and shellfish to sugar, and sodium to vegetables. Diastolic blood pressure to confectionary was negative, but body weight to obesity positive, and serum cholesterol to milk was also positive.
Using multiple factors analysis for 15 food groups, the authors selected 8 factors of more than 1.00 individual value. Their cumulative proportion was 75.9% and communalities from 8 factors were between 57% and 86%. In regard to factor loadings, the 1st factor was explained as the contrast of rice to wheat, sugar, fish and shellfish, and meat, and the 2nd factor as the contrast between fish and shellfish, and confectionary to potatoes, pulse and meats.
The relationship between factor scores of 15 food groups and examined data was not clearly observed except for the negative correlation between the 2nd factor and activity of alkaline phosphatase.

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We studied the effect of dietary changes on serum cholesterol, triglyceride and lipoprotein fraction in adult women on low energy diets at the Nutritional Clinic of Kagawa Nutrition College.
Serum cholesterol concentration became significantly lower when subjects took the low energy diets for 15 weeks, particularly in women in their 50s and those with the initial value of above 200mg/dl. However, the decrease was insignificant in the subjects who had a hereditary coronary heart diseases.
Serum cholesterol concentration and amount became lowered in subjects after menopause than in those before menopause in the same age group. However, those with serum cholesterol concentration of over 230mg/dl showed a notable decrease if after menopause.
As for serum lipoprotein fraction, pre β lipoprotein decreased, α lipoprotein increased, and β lipoprotein remained unchanged by the intake of low energy diets.
The intake of energy, fats and animal fats decreased, but cholesterol intake increased in the subjects on low energy diets.
All subjects with hypertriglyceridemia and 70% of those with hypercholesterolemia improved their conditions with the intake of low energy diets.

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Fourth revision was made sweepingly to Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan in 1982. We studied the changes in nutrient intake levels for young people in the revised standard table with 115 students (105 males and 15 females) ranging in age from 19 to 32 as subjects.
The results were as follows:
1) Ca, Na, vitamins A, B₁, B₂ and C were significantly higher while P and Fe were significantly lower in the 4th revision than in the 3rd revision.
2) Protein was higher by 7% and fat lower by 4% in the 4th revision.

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