At the 2002 World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg (WSSD) the need for “sustainable consumption” was once emphasized as UNCED. This paper aims to clarify the relationship between time use and “sustainable consumption” within the household. Data obtained from the time use survey and questionnaire in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo (2000), has been used. 1) On the whole, just as in the 1995 study, wives tended to exemplify “sustainable consumption” more than husbands and employment for wives had some effect on gender within the household. 2) Symbolic of this is the trend of a lack of activity performed in relation to strong feeling of need for lifestyle change, especially in husbands with unemployed wives. This shows a risk of assignment of “sustainable consumption activities” based on gender. 3) However, the response “pressure from spouse (wife)” in regards to why environmentally responsible consumer behavior was performed has increased. “Sustainable consumption” related gender bias “within the household” becomes clear and the capability to do away with this is also visible. 4) “Social activities/consumer activities” increases have been shown in participation rates and time spent. 5) Gender bias with automobile use is the issue that should be addressed along with environmental policy in future.

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The effects of heat treatment on the radical-scavenging activity of the two phenolic compounds, quercetin and epigallocatechin gallate, were examined. The retained radical-scavenging activity of both polyphenols was 100% and 80% after respective 60-and 480-min heating at 100°C suggesting that common boiling practices do not compromise the antioxidation effects. However, the content of epigallocatechin gallate was significantly decreased, although its radical-scavenging activity remained. With heating at 180°C, both the quercetin and epigallocatechin gallate contents decreased much more rapidly than their radical-scavenging activity, suggesting that the radical-scavenging activity remained in their degradation products. After 15 min of heating at 180°C, the retained radical-scavenging activity of quercetin and epigallocatechin gallate was more than 80%. Therefore, usual high-temperature cooking methods such as deep frying or oven heating would not severely compromise the antioxidation effects of these compounds.

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In order to sterilize wash water and impart an antibacterial property to a fabric after washing, metalion-supporting zeolites (silver, copper and zinc) were evaluated for their water softening abilities. The water softening effect on mineral ions in water was then examined, and washing was carried out with metal-ion-supporting zeolites. In addition, the sterilizing effect in the aqueous solution was evaluated. While the metal-ion-supporting zeolites had lower calcium-ion exchange abilities than non-metal-ion supporting zeolites, 0.50 wt% of these metal-ion supporting zeolites yielded a sufficient calcium-ion trapping effect. Furthermore, the calcium-ion trapping effect was sufficient after about 5 min of stirring. Artificially soiled cotton fabrics were washed with 3.0 × 10^-4 mol/l of sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (hereafter “DBS”) and 0.50 wt% of a number of zeolites. A detergent efficiency of over 30% was obtained when metal-ion-supporting zeolites were used. However, when no zeolite was added, the detergent efficiency was as low as 12. 5%. The sterilization effect of metal-ion-supporting zeolites proved that living bacteria could not be found upon addition of only 0.002 wt% of zeolites (ZL-2 to ZL-5). When 0.01 wt% of zeolite was added, the sterilization effect began to occur after 15 min, and after 30 min no living bacteria could be observed at all.

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We studied the effect over time of powdered green tea (PGT) on the triglyceride (TG) content and super-oxide dismutase (SOD) activity during adipose conversion of 3T3-L1 cells. In a 7-14-day culture with insulin, preadipocyte differentiation and TG accumulation were observed, but SOD activity was not significantly increased. After 21 days of culture, the TG concentration and SOD activity had further increased compared to their levels after 7 days of treatment (p< 0.01). These results suggest that the intrinsic SOD activity had a preventive effect on the increase in TG concentration. When PGT and insulin were simultaneously added, the increase in TG content was markedly suppressed, and the SOD activity was significantly enhanced (p< 0.01). These effects were most marked after 7 days of treatment, but became less thereafter because of the increase in intrinsic SOD activity. Thus, PGT had antilipogenic activity in the early phase and could be useful in preventing obesity.

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