It is necessary to improve the abilities of students participating in pre-service teacher training courses. A target was set for Home Economics Education. 169 students were interviewed in the course of the survey.The relationship between genders, their likes and dislikes, interests and achievements were clarified.We discovered the following: College students aims are low. Enjoying Home Economics is related to achievement. Interest in Home Economics is related to achievement.In conclusion: In order to improve students’ achievements it is necessary to examine the curriculum. It is necessary to consider synthetically Home Economics Education from the elementary to the university level.

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Antioxidant properties were observed following glycation of chicken myofibrillar proteins (Mfs) with maltose, via the Maillard reaction. We then improved the conditions of the Maillard reaction, including temperature, relative humidity, reaction time, and the weight ratio of protein-maltose, to obtain glycated chicken Mfs with enhanced antioxidant ability, and found that the incubation conditions of 65℃, 41%, 36 h, and 5, respectively, induced higher antioxidant activity. Under these conditions, the superoxide anion radical-scavenging activity(SOSA), converted on the basis of the SOD IC₅₀ value (1.5 U/mL), of 541 U/g of protein was similar to that of driedDelaware grape (700 U/g). Interestingly, the SOSA was halved following partial pepsin digestion, although the solubility increased from 31.5 to 58.5%, suggesting that the primary structure or specific peptide sequences, irrespective of the shape of protein, may contribute to the antioxidant ability of glycated chicken Mfs.（Received Janualy 11. 2012; Accepted in revised form March 31. 2012）

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We conducted a survey on the forms of food served in nursing homes for the elderly and evaluated their physical properties by measuring the texture. The forms of food were mostly determined according to the observations of such experts as dietitians and registered dietitians. The suitability of the forms of the food was mostly assessed by care providers. We observed that the nursing homes provided 4.0 ± 2.5 forms of major staples and 4.4 ± 2.3 forms of side dishes as averages. The meat dishes served at the nursing homes had been cooked to be sufficiently soft according to the requirements specified by the universal design food table. The hardness of rice gruel and mixed rice gruel met the requirements applied to foods for people with difficulty in swallowing as specified by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, although the adhesiveness was too high to meet the requirements. The texture of chawan-mushi satisfied the Level III allowance, but the adhesiveness of steamed egg custard exceeded the Level III allowance. The hardness and adhesiveness of the rehydrating jelly drink met the Level II or III allowance, and its degree of cohesiveness was between0.2 and 0.6. These results indicate that the forms of food served in nursing homes are suitable and safe for consumption by the elderly.

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