An overview of the leftovers and wasted food and our eating habitat is described.
According to the result of Statistics for Loss of Food which includes leftovers and wasted food, published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in 2002 FY, 5.6% of foods consumed in household were leftover or wasted.With these statistics, they also researched the composition of the foods leftover or wested in each food groups, The loss of food consists of mainly vegetables, fruits and marine products, especially an excessive waste of each food group. From statistics in 2000 FY, they researched the loss of food in the food service industry. The ratio for food loss in a wedding party reached 23.9%. The loss of food is one of the main problems of our eating habitat.
To promote better dietary patterns including resolving the problem for wasted food and the more effective use of agricultural resources, the Japanese Government prepared “Japan's Dietary Guidelines” in 2000. In the guidelines, we mentioned “Reduceleftovers and waste through proper cooking and storage methods” . In addition, many problems concerning food ssfely have been recognized. Government is promoting “Food Education” now
To reduce food loss links a solution to a problem for the environment, and is a very important method to review our eating habitat in this era of abundance.

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To determine whether education had an effect on food life styles, a questionnaire survey was conducted of college women majoring in nutrition (Group A, 374), nursing (Group B, 252), and the arts (Group C, 251)
1) When asked whether they thought they were not eating properly to maintain good health, 22%, 33%, and 28% in groups A, B and C, respectively, thought that this applied to themselves.
2) When asked about their subjective feelings of fatigue, 71%, 68%, and 61% in groups A, B, and C, respectively, answered that they felt very tired.
3) With respect to their wishes about their health condition, 56% overall hoped to be healthy, 19% were worried about maintaining their health, and 25% wanted to learn howto maintain their health.
4) Frequent skipping of meals was reported by 36% in group A, 42% in B and 46% in C.
5) The intake frequencies of vegetables, seaweed, pulses, fish and shellfish, dairy products, and oils were higher in group A than in B and C.These food groups are considered to represent the quality of food styles.
6) The intake of beverages such as coffee and juice containing sugar was reported by 10%, 18%, and 24% in groups A, B, and C to be more than 2 times per day and 61% 45%, and 47% in groups A, B, and C to be less than once a week, respectively.
These results showed that the quality of food habits was the highest for the nutrition majors (group A). Thus, education about food and nutrition is needed to help improve the food styles of college students.

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The optimum cooking conditions for low-salt Nikujyaga prepared by vacuum cookingwere determined by using the random centroid optimization (ROC) method. The quantities of the seasoning for vacuum cooking were selected with reference to eight popular cooking books and decided the heating time were 40min at 100t by ranking test. The low-salt Nikujyaga made by vacuum cooking was preferred by scoring method, so the optimum condition for vacuum cooking were investigated by RCO search regarding the two factors of soy sauce weight and sugar weight in the constant concentration of bonito broth seasoning.
The optimum soy sauce weight and sugar weight in the stock were 6.6 gand 4.2g, respectively, from the overall preference score. The amount of salt was reduced by 33% compared with ordinal cooking under these conditions. In the same way, it was investigated regarding three factors of soy sauce weight, sugar weight and bonito broth seasoning powder weight.The optimum soy sauce weight, sugar weight and broth powder weight were13.4g, 5.5g and1.7g, respectively.The amount of salt was reduced by 38% compared with ordinal cooking under these cooking conditions.

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We provided questionnaires to 3 generations of a family (i.e., grandparents, parents and children) and 2 generations of a family (i.e., parents and children) for investigating the comparative preference for foods of the different generations.
1) As for the taste of food, grandparents favor vegetables, while parents and children showed a tendency to like vegetables, meat, and fish.
2) All 3 generations evaluated “good” to “so so” for the foods frequently served in the ordinary family, of which there were no particularly hated foods.
3) Grandparents prefer Japanese foods, and not negative for Western foods.
4) Children prefer Western foods in comparison to the grandparents, but not negative for Japanese foods.
5) The children of the 3 generations have a better understanding of the grandparents' preference of the 2 generations.

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We conducted a research study regarding the preference of konnyaku and its eating habit among 1, 727 female college students and their 1, 723 mothers, The following results were obtained.
(1) Konnyaku is the food both daughters and mothers like. The “Feeling of tasting it good” and “It supplies dietary fiber” are the top reasons for eating. Eating it Once or twice a month is the highest category at 53%. In addition, students, who are on a diet, eat it most frequently (p<0.05).
(2) In terms Of area, both the daughters and mothers who like the white co1Or one live in Hokkaido and Tohoku while the black colOr one is overwhelmingly favored in other areas. In addition, there is aI Ocal characteristics of how to eat it.
(3) In terms of cooking, “oden” and “boiled and seasoned food” are ranked at the top among both daughters and mothers, but the daughters rank “jelly”, a new product, higher than mothers by 22 points.
(4) Approximately 75% of both daughters and mothers “know” the physiological and functional effects of konnyaku, which include “getting rid of constipation” and “preventing obeseness” that are ranked at the top. However, there is astatistical difference between daughters and mothers (p<0.01).
(5) In the awareness research of konnyaku, daughters scored lower than mothers in knowledge level and the number of correct answers regarding its cooking attributes, where it was produced and being a new product.

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To investigate actual conditions and frequency of food intake, a questionnaire was distributed to undergraduate students at Sagami Women's University. Subjects were 367 students including 186 majoring an administrative dietician and 181 majoring life science studies. Major findings are as follows:
1. The subjects in dietician major (60.3%) had scheduled breakfast times higher rate (p<0.01). Moreover, 72.6% of dietician major students had scheduled lunchtime higher rate (p<0.05).
2. Ratio of no breakfast showed 25.4% in life science department major students (p<0.01). Likewise, life science department major students skipped lunch showed high 17.6%(p<0.05).
3.While breakfast was important for subjects in dietician major (22.6%), dinner was in life science department major students (72.4%)(p<0.05).
4.Ratio of frequency of snacking between meals was high in dietician major (59.9%)(p<0.05). On the other hand, 16.6% of life science major students had more snacks after dinner (p<0.05).
5. All subjects reported to have either rice or bread (approximately 50% for each) in the morning. While 66.2% of the subjects in dietician majors had lunch menu with rice than those in other majors (p<0.05), more than 90% of all subjects had dinner with rice.
6. All subjects not exist difference regarding with taste of meals, enjoyment of having meals, appetite and satisfaction of meals.As for interest degree of dietary environment, significant difference was recognized highly in dietician majors.
7. In frequency of diet terms, dietician majors show high light-green (p<0.001) and green-yellow vegetables, beans, soybean products, milk, daily products (p<0.01) and mushrooms (p<0.05). In addition, life science majors had candies and sweets (p<0.001).

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We investigated the effect of the physical properties on and tested the sponge cake with 0, 10, 20, 30, and 40%amaranthus dry powders.
The following results were obtained.
1) With an increase in the amaranthus dry powder, the specific gravity of the cakebatter increased, and the specific volume after baking decreased.
2) As for the color of the cakebatter and the inside of the cakes, with an increase in the amaranthus dry powder, the L value decreased and the b value increased, but these was little difference in the exterior of the baked sponge cakes.
3) For the Rheolometer measurements, there were significant differences in the hardness of the sponge cake with an increase in the amaranthus dry powder. The cohesive force of these cakes were smaller for those containing 20% or more.
4) The breaking properties of baked sponge cake were higher with an increase in the amaranthus dry powder.
5) As a result of a sensory evaluation, the sponge cake had a low value with an increase in the amaranthus dry powder. We could replace the amaranthus dry powder at the rate of 10%.

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The fermented products from milk whey (PS-H1) was cultivated using of Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, Streptococcus, Leuconostoc, Acetobacter and Saccharomyces ets.
The hypocholesterolemic effect of the PS-H1 was examined in the rats fed a high cholesterol diet.The atherogenic diets containing 1% PS-Hl was given to four-weekold wistar rats for 28 days.
After 28 days of feeding, serum total cholesterol concentration was significantly lowered in the rats fed PS-H1 group than control group, but there were no significant difference in the liver cholesterol among the group.
There was a higher concentration of Albumin, IgG and IgA in serum of the PS-H1 group compared control group.
We suggest the possible presence of a component in the PS-H1 which promotes the activation of protein synthesis in the liver.

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Several kinds of breads containing different ratios of dry okara in wheat flour were baked in order to investigate the effect of okara addition to the flour on the breadmaking properties, physical properties and taste characteristics of the bread. Swelling of the dry okara in hot water was required for suitable use as a bread material. The specific loaf volume of bread crumbs decreased with the increasing ratio of the okara in the flour. The hardness of bread crumbs containing more than 20% okara was remarkably increased compared to that of bread crumbs containing less than 10% okara. While the cohesiveness of the bread crumb was slightly decreased by the okara addition, the breaking stress was remarkably decreased.
The bread crumbs containing okara had a slight brown color. Although the sensory evaluation of the bread crumb containing 10% okara was close to that without okara, the evaluation was remarkably lowered by increasing the ratio of okara to 20%. On the other hand, the lowering was somewhat prevented by increasing the amount of hot water used for swelling the okara.
It seems that the change in the microstructure of the bread crumb by the addition of okara depends on the depression of the gluten formation.

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