Due to the recent increase of imported foods in the domestic market, our eating habits have been enriched, yet the concerns have grown on their safety together with the request for the provision of necessary information of them.
In order to clarify the awareness and concerns on the imported foods among women's college students in registered dietitian course, 188 students were studied through questionnaire followed by the intensive review of existing statistics and documents. It revealed the following findings:
1) National and local authorities have set measures to cope with the urgent increase of imported foods, however, the exchange of information and cooperation were not sufficient among related organizations. In particular, the provision of information on safety was insufficient, and it was also the urgent and important issue among them.
2) The concerns on whether foods to be purchased were imported or not showed the significant differences in awareness and degree of comprehension concerning imported foods. The concerns on health induced by imported foods indicated the similar significance, although the difference in university, school year and type of accommodation did not.
3) Since the students requested the assurance of safety as well as the information on such as inspection system, both national and local authorities were expected to provide the necessary information, and the students were also expected to enlighten their awareness through positive access to such information.

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The study aims at investigating use of “kizami” (minced foods) diets in special nursing homes for the elderly. Questionnaire sheets were mailed to all of 157 nursing homes in Tokyo, and 132 responses were recovered (recovery ratio: 84.1%). Following result was obtained.
1) “Kizami” diets were served in as many as 43% of the institutions, and 7% of them served pureed foods.
2) Choice between normal and “kizami” diets was largely influenced by the opinion of the nursing staff while that between normal and pureed diets was influenced predominantly by the medical staff.
3) Dietitians decide to switch to “kizami” diets when the chewing or swallowing ability as well as health conditions and appetite of the elderly deteriorated.
4) “Kizami” diets are considered “time consuming in preparation”, “limited in choice of food materials and recipes”, “not appealing in appearance”, “inferior in taste”, “inferior in texture”, and “difficult to accommodate to individual taste”. To overcome these drawbacks, dietitians “prerare a cooking manual”, and “serve foods in a more attractive manner”.
5) Food materials are minced mainly with knives into sizes usually between 3mm and 2cm or larger, but some were minced to less than 3mm. Ten to 30% of “kizami” diets were served as tuna sashimi or sushi, favorites of the elderly, retaining substantially the original form.

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A questionnaire survey was conducted on 1, 696 elementary school children in Hamamatsu City to investigate the relation between frequency of food intake and daily behavioral pattern, and the following result was obtained.
1) Among 12 factors of behavioral pattern, significant difference was observed in 10 items when broken down by the grades and in 6 items when broken down by the sex.
2) There was more number of factors of behavioral pattern that affected frequency of food intake among children in higher grades, particularly among girls.
3) Factors which had greater effect on the score of nutritive balance included “school notices regarding school lunch”, “conversation at home regarding school lunch menu”, “joy of eating at home”, and “discipline on eating manner during meals” for 3rd and 4th graders; and “frequency of breakfast intake”, “joy of eating at home”, “number of hours of TV watching”, and “bedtime hour” for 5th and 6th graders.
4) The score on nutritive balance showed a tendency to rise among children who often read the school notices regarding school lunch, have frequent conversation with family members about school lunch, find joy in meals at home, are less subject to discipline on eating manner, eat breakfast every morning, watched TV less than 30 minutes and who go to bed before 20:30.
5) Children who showed higher scores in nutritive balance tended to spend more time in reading, studying, and helping with house chores, whereas children with lower scores in nutritive balance spent longer time in reading cartoon books, playing with TV games and watching TV.
6) Children who enjoy watching TV commercials frequently eat junk food while a predominant ratio of children who do not watch TV seldom do so.

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[in Japanese]

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