Objective: To examine the dietary habits and health awareness of regular eaters of well-balanced breakfasts (cereal grains (shushoku), protein foods (shusai), and vegetables (fukusai)) and thus promote consumption of well-balanced breakfasts.

Methods: The 1,255 subjects (20–69 years), who ate breakfast ≥4 days weekly, completed the 2016 Hyogo Diet Survey. Binomial logistic regression analysis was performed by sex and age group (20–49 and 50–69 years); whether or not subjects regularly ate well-balanced breakfasts was the dependent variable and dietary habits and health awareness were independent variables, with adjustment for age, family composition, and BMI.

Results: For all sex and age groups, the odds of eating well-balanced breakfasts were significantly higher in subjects who breakfasted on rice 5–7 times weekly or who ate well-balanced meals ≥2 times daily for 6 or 7 days weekly than in those who never breakfasted on rice or who ate well-balanced meals twice daily for ≤5 days weekly. In the health-awareness-related survey items in males ≥50 years, the odds of eating well-balanced breakfasts in subjects who believed they currently ate healthily, ate at regular times, practiced dietary habits to prevent lifestyle diseases, and tried to maintain a healthy weight were significantly higher than in subjects not practicing these habits.

Conclusion: Breakfasting on rice and eating well-balanced meals ≥2 times daily were associated with the habit of eating well-balanced breakfasts in both males and females of all ages. The two factors were also associated with enhanced health awareness in males aged 50–69.

Objective: This study aimed to adapt plant-based dietary indices (PDIs), which have been reported in previous studies, for female university students in Japan and to describe correlations among PDIs, nutritional intake, and body mass index (BMI) in order to use PDIs as basic materials for research on plant-based dietary patterns.

Methods: PDIs, which are composed of a plant-based dietary index (PDI) and healthful and unhealthful plant-based dietary indices (hPDI/uPDI), were calculated using dietary intake data from a validated brief-type self-administered diet history questionnaire (BDHQ) administered to 281 female university students in Japan. Correlations between PDIs and energy, nutritional intake (energy-adjusted value), and BMI were also calculated.

Results: The median BMI (25th and 75th percentile) was 20.0 (18.8, 21.2) kg/m². Participants with higher hPDI consumed higher amounts of all micronutrients except for cholesterol (ρ = 0.147~0.645, p < 0.050). Participants with higher uPDI scores consumed less energy and nutrients, except for several energy-adjusted macronutrients, such as saturated fat (ρ = −0.718 ~ −0.127, p < 0.050). No significant correlations were observed between the PDIs and BMI.

Conclusions: Participants who scored higher for hPDI had better nutrient intake than others. On the other hand, participants with higher uPDI scores had insufficient energy and had a lower nutritional intake compared to others.

Objective: Although protein ingestion after muscle training for senior citizens has been widely organized, the effectiveness varies in each experiment. We hypothesize that these discrepancies were due to differences in the food texture. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of protein-rich softened food in senior citizens during a three-month strength training program.

Methods: To perform a controlled before-after study, 15 senior citizens with an average age of 76.3 years living in Sendai, Japan, were randomly recruited to participate in a three-month, twice-a-week strength training program. They were divided into two groups, and immediately after each training session, one group ate 50 g of softened/boiled pork, and the other ate 50 g of boiled pork.

Results: Both groups showed similar physical fitness improvements following the same exercise program. After performing a principal component analysis, we found a difference in the motor function component. The component score of the group that ate softened/boiled pork significantly increased during the training, while the other group that ate boiled pork did not experience such an increase.

Conclusions: This may suggest that softened food is more efficient for post-exercise protein intake in senior citizens because it could enhance their motor functions through a physical fitness program.