Objective: To investigate the combination of stress coping style and differences in stress responses, especially in regard to overeating at dinner and Body Mass Index (BMI), to examine the possibility of restraining overeating by stress coping.
Methods: In December 2012, 390 Japanese workers completed an Internet-based questionnaire on their characteristics, stress coping, and stress response (psychological, physical, and feeling of satiety scale as a behavioral response). Cluster analysis of the stress coping scale by sex was conducted, and relationships between stress response and BMI were examined using two-way analysis of variance and χ² tests.
Results: Four stress coping style categories emerged among men (n = 225), “emotion oriented,” “none implemented,” “changing mood not implemented,” and “multiple implemented.” The overeating score was higher in the “emotion oriented” group than the “multiple implemented” group. The psychological response score was higher in the “emotion oriented” group than the “multiple implemented” and “changing mood not implemented” groups. The categories among women (n = 135) were “emotion oriented,” “not implemented,” “multiple implemented,” and “engaged problem and emotional oriented coping.” The overeating score was higher in the “emotion oriented” group than the “not implemented” group and the psychological response score was higher in the “emotional oriented” group than the other groups. There were no differences in BMI among groups.
Conclusion: The overeating score at dinner was higher in the “emotion oriented” group than the “multiple implemented” group in men and in the “not implemented” group in women.

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Objective: In nutrition education for the students with special needs, selecting teaching tools that utilize the learners’ senses are important; however, there has been little research verifying their effectiveness. Since the three-dimensional teaching tools (TDTT) have been widely used in special needs education, we hypothesized that TDTT elicit higher reaction and interest from the students with a various type and degree of the disability as compared to the flat one. The aim of our research was to confirm this hypothesis.
Methods: Forty-five students with a primarily physical-disabled, in the elementary to high school sections of S-nursing school, received the nutrition education with the main activity being a pseudo-harvest experience in September 2013. In order to prepare the education tools, a paper was attached to the right half of a B1 size panel, and on the left half, a cloth was attached, thereby creating the appearance of a field. Then, on the right half, flat teaching tools (made of paper) that practically replicated the actual size of the crops were attached, and on the left half, the same number of TDTT (made of cloth) were attached using magic tape. The students came to the lunchroom in the unit of classes (4-6 students) and freely harvested the crops for approximately 15 minutes. The observers recorded the responses of the students and the number of crops harvested, and converted their observations into scores. An evaluation was also conducted from the free descriptions of the teachers.
Results: The TDTT showed significantly higher scores for both responses and number of crops harvested than the flat teaching tools. The superiority of the TDTT was also evident from the teacher evaluations.
Conclusions: In nutrition education for students with special needs, the findings suggested that TDTT that emphasize discriminative sensations elicit more interest and greater response as compared to flat teaching tools.

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Objective: We sought to clarify factors that influence the frequency of eating with family and investigate by age and gender the correlation between adults’ frequency of eating with family, lifestyles, societal participation, and psychological health.
Methods: We used survey materials from a free-response questionnaire-based cross-sectional survey of 2,000 men and women 20 years and older conducted in City S, Osaka Prefecture, in 2013. We utilized data from 935 individuals living with their families. We divided frequency of eating with family into “less than ten times per week” and “ten or more times per week” and tested age and gender differences. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted, with frequency of eating with family as the objective variable and lifestyle (6 items), societal participation (1 item), and psychological health (2 items) as the explanatory variables.
Results: Frequency of eating with family was lowest for men in their twenties and thirties. Significantly more women than men in their twenties to fifties ate with their families “ten or more times per week.” The multivariate analysis showed that frequency of eating with family was correlated with “stress” for women in their twenties and thirties. Furthermore, frequency of eating with family was correlated with “start time of dinner” for men and “bedtime” and “smoking” for women in their forties and fifties, with “start time of dinner” and “smoking” for men, and with “second-hand smoking” and “societal participation” for women sixty and older.
Conclusions: For younger women, frequency of eating with family is correlated with psychological health; for middle-aged men and women, it is correlated with lifestyle and societal participation. Promoting eating with family requires measures that take into account age, gender, and obstructive and promotional factors.

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Objective: To examine the effect of barley pancakes on postprandial blood glucose levels.
Methods: This study was a randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study. Subjects were 12 healthy adults who had normal fasting blood glucose levels. Subjects ate flour pancakes (placebo meal) and barley pancakes (test meal) containing the same amount (50 g) of available carbohydrates. Blood glucose levels were measured before the meal and at 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, and 120 min after starting the meal. The same test was repeated with the subjects eating placebo meal and the test meal with pancake syrup.
Results: In the test with and without pancake syrup, barley pancakes lowered the overall average postprandial elevation of blood glucose levels and the incremental area under the curve of blood glucose concentration (IAUC) (0-120 min).
Conclusions: It was confirmed that barley pancakes are effective in controlling the rise in postprandial blood glucose levels.

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