The small capacity PET bottle for soft drinks were developed in 1996. The production of bottled soft drinks was 18,000,000kL in 2003. The PET bottled drinks accounts for 56% of the market, which the 500mL container accounts has a 36.4% share. The 500mL PET bottled soft drinks is easy to carry. There are many people who directly drink from bottles and carry them for a long time. This suggested that this might cause some problems involving bacteriology. The results were as follows. Various kinds of oral bacterial flora because mixed in the bottled soft drinks by the direct drinking, but these bacteria decreased with time. Most bacteria mixed in the green tea and oolong tea drinks quickly decreased and were not detected after an 8 houre storage at 25°C. Some bacteria mixed in fruit juice, sport drinks and barley tea drinks slowly decreased and were detected after 8 hours at 25°C. The bacteria detected after 8 hours were Genus Staphylococcus and Genus Streptococcus mainly. As written on the label of the bottle, it is important to drink them as soon as possible after opening them.

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  The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of health and nourishment guidance on the participants' health status in a community-based health promotion program.
  Subjects were recruited from participants in a 12-week lifestyle modification program for reducing cardiovascular risk factors, such as obesity, hypertension and dyslipidemia. Subjects were middle-aged women ranging from 36 to 64 years old without obvious heart disease. The intervention consisted of guidance in exercise and nutrition for 12weeks.
  After the 12-week intervention, body weight, BMI, percentage of fat, total cholesterol and triglycerides significantly decreased. The systolic and diastolic blood pressure was significantly lowered. The HDL-cholesterol and maximum oxygen consumption significantly increased.
  The results of the dietary habit analysis confirmed that many items have improved regarding obesity. For those with hypertension, whose dietary habits were desirable, showed improvements in the items of intake of vegetable, fruits and salt after the intervention.
  These results indicated that a 12-week lifestyle modification program consisting of exercise and nutritional guidance, effectively improved this dietary life.
  In conclusion, the implementation of a health promotion program provided a chance for the participants to reconsider and improve their lifestyle.

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  Recently, sick house syndrome caused by formaldehyde has been gaining attention in Japan. Formaldehyde is toxic substance and its main intake is considered through the airways, but if formaldehyde is rapidly adsorbed to foods, the intake by eating is also possible. Therefore, evaluation of the transfer of formaldehyde to food is important for the public hygiene. When casein, starch, and soybean oil were exposed to formaldehyde, the amount of adsorbed formaldehyde was the largest in casein, followed by starch, while it was very small in soybean oil. The adsorption of formaldehyde to casein and starch was increased till 96 hours without reaching the maximum, and suggesting that their adsorption can continue in long-term storage. The concentration of formaldehyde in the atmosphere was increased with the rise of temperature, and the amount of adsorbed formaldehyde was correlated with the rise of temperature. The adsorption of formaldehyde was less in the wrapped samples than in the unwrapped samples. Polypropylene-wrapping provided higher protection against formaldehyde than polyethylene-wrapping. About 80%formaldehyde was removed by boiling, but almost all formaldehyde remained in the samples such as powdered milk that are dissolved.

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  Using a near infrared measurement device, we measured brain activity during cooking, and proved that cooking stimulates the prefrontal cortex. This means that by cooking one has the possibility of developing and improving brain functions which are controlled by the prefrontal cortex such as communication, self-care, creativity etc.
  With a near infrared measurement device (optical topography system), weak near infrared light is illuminated onto the head from optical fibers attached to the scalp. This light passes through the skull and reaches the cerebral cortex. The light is partially reflected back through the scalp. The reflected light back on the scalp contains information about activities of the cerebral cortex-where physical exercise, senses, recognition, linguistics, and consideration are controlled.
  In this study the brain activity of 15 female adults was measured while they performed the following cooking tasks-planning a menu for dinner, cutting ingredients, frying the cut ingredients with gas, and dishing up. Measurements proved that prefrontal cortices of both the right and left hemispheres were active during each task.

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  To identify eating habit-related health problems in female students, and to clarify effective educational approaches to encourage their self-care skills, we conducted a survey regarding overall dietary patterns and eating habits. Results obtained from a total of 577 first-and second-year students were summarized as follows: (1) at the nutrient level, calcium, iron and dietary fiber intakes tended to be insufficient, while the amount of total fat exceeded recommended values; (2) food group intake was characterized by marked deficits in all groups except added sugars, sweets and snacks, fats and lipids, eggs and meats; (3) only a small percentage of students had an adequately balanced diet consisting of grain foods, such as a bowl of rice or slices of bread, a protein-rich main dish and vegetable side dishes in each meal; (4) food combination assessment indicated that students who practiced healthy dietary patterns showed sufficient nutrient and food group intakes, proper eating habits and good health conditions; and (5) eating habits of the students had a strong basis in either interest levels toward foods and nutrition or self-management skills.
  These results suggest that dietary behavior can be effectively improved through an educational approach focusing on both overall dietary patterns, which can be assessed at the diet level, and other eating habit-related factors along with self-control or self-monitoring intervention.

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  Minced diets can be prepared in two different way using 11 kinds of vegetables, that is, in one way the vegetables are minced to a smaller size beforehand and then boiled. In another way, the vegetables are out into the regular size, boiled and then minced to a smaller size. We determined and compared the lose of 7 major types of minerals in these 2 types of minced vegetables. Furthermore, we examined the influence of the mineral content in the water used for boiling on the prepared minced vegetables. The obtained results were as follows.
  (1) The vegetables that were minced to a small size and then boiled had a greater mineral content loss, but with a few exceptions, than those obtained by cutting into a regular size, boiled then minced.
  (2) The mineral content in the vegetables that increased along with the increased water hardness was only the Mg, which was high from the beginning, when the change in 5 kinds of minerals including Na, K, Ca, Mg, and Fe were examined by boiling the 5 kinds of vegetables in water of different hardness, i.e., 100, 500, 1000, and 1500, prepared from deionized water and commercially available bottled deep-sea drinking water with a hardness of 1500.
  (3) When tap water was used as the water for boiling, it appeared that the mineral in the tap water hardly affected the mineral loss in the minced vegetables.
  (4) When the vegetables obtained by draining after boiling with the water of hardness 1500 prepared from the bottled deep-sea drinking water and MgCl₂ and those obtained by draining after boiling and rinsing with the deionized water were exmined. The Mg content in the latter was lower than in the former, but higher than that in the control even after rinsing with water. Taking into account these findings, there in the possibility that the increase in the Mg content might have been partly due to the absorption of Mg into the vegetable tissue as well as adhesion.

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  In order to utilize the whole adzuki bean powder as a food material, the physical properties of three materials (A: untreated whole adzuki bean powder, B: Material A was soaked in distilled water and then ultrasonicated for 15 minutes, C: Material A was only soaked in distilled water for 16 hours) were assessed. The effects of the three materials were then examined by adding them to cookies.
  The average yield of the whole adzuki bean powder was 85.0%. The water-holding capacity and oil absorption of the whole adzuki bean powder were 3.3 times and 1.6 times higher than those of soft wheat flour, respectively. The whole adzuki bean powder contained a large amount of functional components such as protein, dietary fiber, and a mineral compound. The tissue observations by scanning electron microscopy indicated the hastening of starch gelatinization on the surface of the whole adzuki bean powder treated by ultrasonication (Material B) compared to the untreated whole adzuki bean powder (Material A), proving the refining effect of ultrasonication.
  The soft wheat flour in cookies was substituted by Materials A, B and C up to 20%. Compared with the control cookies (no whole adzuki bean powder added), the cookies with up to 20% of the wheat flour replaced by the whole adzuki bean powder had the hue of adzuki beans, larger spread factor, higher specific volume and higher rate of water absorption, was softer and had a more preferred taste and overall rating. Moreover, it showed favorable results in the preservation test. The addition of the whole adzuki bean powder thus enhanced the quality of the cookies.

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  This experiment was conducted to verify that a lower salinity was required by making the best use of both the cooking characteristics of the Usukuchi Soy Sauce and its nature of being in good harmony with 'dashi' (soup extracted from ingredients such as seaweeds or dried bonitos). The results showed that it was possible to reduce the salinity by cooking with Usukuchi Soy Sauce and obtaining the original flavor of 'dashi.' It was also reassured that Usukuchi Soy Sauce can make flavor and fragrance of 'dashi' richer and also can make the simmered dish mellow and its after taste better. Admiring the good flavor of 'dashi' and having a rich dietary experience in every day life by making the best use of the characteristics of the Usukuchi Soy Sauce leads to reducing the salinity in dietary life.

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