After the implementation of the Fundamental Law of Nutrition Education, specific items for “instruction in nutrition” were incorporated in school education; this was the beginning of health and nutrition education in schools. Reports on the eating habits of youth indicate that they have an unbalanced diet; they prefer western food and dislike vegetables. They are unhealthy because they eat irregularly, i.e., they skip breakfast, or eat alone. It has been confirmed that eating breakfast is related to sleep and wake-up times, appetite in the morning, attitude toward the importance of breakfast, self-esteem, social skills, and good nutrition behavior among family members.
  Life skills that according to the WHO are an essential part of the health education of young people can build self-esteem. The life skills comprise: decision-making skills that involve the ability to identify problems, obtain information, and predict results; goal-setting skills that involve the ability to set an attainable goal, achieve and practice it; communication skills; and stress-management skills.
  We developed and popularize a Life skills-based nutrition education program for children. The aim of this program was to modify the unhealthy eating behavior of skipping breakfast and consuming unhealthy snacks. Children are taught to prepare snacks by themselves and plan a healthy breakfast; they are also taught to brainstorm, role-play, and case studies in order to gain and strengthen their life skills. Thus, the children develop healthy behavior through repetitive training and can learn to solve problems by themselves in real life. It is believed that this learning helps children strengthen their self-efficacy by teaching them to find solutions by themselves to problems. Working together also helps children develop bonds with their team-mates by recognizing each other's positive attributes and abilities and then they form positive self-concept.

View full abstract

  Observations were made, from the aspects of safety and texture, on meals intended for the elderly who have swallowing difficulties arising from various factors.
  1. The study first examines the relationship between eating functions (mastication, swallowing) and food; more specifically on what types of food are difficult to swallow and how they differ from those that are easier to swallow.
  2. It then turns to hydrocolloids that are utilized to facilitate the safe swallowing of food, and explains the features and application of gelling agents for preparing jelly, as well as food thickening agents that are added to liquids to increase their viscosity.
  3. It goes on to outline specific measures taken to improve the texture of food, which is one of the challenges of preparing meals for the elderly whose eating functions are deteriorating.
    1) How to make meat products softer for easier mastication and swallowing
    2) How to make minced food safe for eating
  4. The study ends by describing the textural properties of meals actually being served at special nursing care facilities for the elderly.

View full abstract

  Some phosphate ester groups are known to link to glucosidic residues in starch molecule. We have prepared phosphoryl oligosaccharides (POs) from potato starch hydrolysates. POs were composed of two fractions, PO-1 and PO-2. The PO-1 fraction was the main fraction, and it was composed of maltotriose, maltotetraose, and maltopentaose to which one phosphoryl group was attached. The PO-2 fraction was predominantly composed of maltopentaose and maltohexaose to which at least two phosphoryl groups were attached. POs had the ability to form a soluble complex with calcium. Based on the function of the POs, we developed the POs of calcium (POs-Ca) for a food ingredient. POs-Ca was an advantageous food ingredient as a soluble calcium source and relatively high absorption in the intestinal tract. Relating to prevent of dental caries, POs cannot be fermented by cariogenic microorganisms, mutans streptococci, and reduces the plaque pH fall in vitro by mutans streptococci. Moreover, POs-Ca was effectively enhanced remineralization of early caries lesion. Although relatively higher pH in stimulated saliva is not suitable for Ca and phosphate (P) to be solubilized, POs-Ca would aid to maintain their solubility in oral environment. In results, the salivary Ca/P ratio can increase nearly up to the rate of hydroxyapatite (1.67) and enhanced enamel remineralization. Thereby, POs-Ca could be a beneficial material for oral health.

Abbreviations :
POs, phosphoryl oligosaccharides; POs-Ca, phosphoryl oligosaccharides of calcium; Ca, calcium; P, phosphate; 6³-phosphoryl maltotriose, O-6-phosphoryl-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-D-glucopyranose; 6²-phosphoryl maltotriose, O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-O-6-phosphoryl-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-D-glucopyranose; 6³-phosphoryl maltotetraose, O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-O-6-phosphoryl-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-D-glucopyranose; 6⁴-phosphoryl maltopentaose, O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-O-6-phosphoryl-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-D-glucopyranose; 3³-phosphoryl maltotetraose, O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-O-3-phosphoryl-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-D-glucopyranose; 3⁴-phosphoryl maltopentaose, O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-O-3-phosphoryl-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-D-glucopyranose.

View full abstract

 Soy sauce is a traditional fermented seasoning of East Asian countries and is available throughout the world. In Japanese soy sauce (shoyu), soybeans and wheat are the two main raw materials, used in almost the same quantity. Proteins of the raw materials are completely degraded into peptides and amino acids by microbial proteolytic enzymes after fermentation, and no allergens of the raw materials are present in soy sauce. In contrast, polysaccharides originating from the cell wall of soybeans are resistant to enzymatic hydrolyses. These polysaccharides are present in soy sauce even after fermentation and termed shoyu polysaccharides (SPS). Soy sauce generally contains about 1% (w/v) SPS and SPS exhibit potent antiallergic activities in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, an oral supplementation of SPS is an effective intervention for patients with allergic rhinitis in two double-blind placebo-controlled clinical studies. In conclusion, soy sauce would be a potentially promising seasoning for the treatment of allergic diseases through food because of its hypoallergenicity and antiallergic activity.

View full abstract

  Recently, food has become very abundant, and it is now possible that food with a significant value added can be chosen from the taste for the consumer. However, youths men have become very concerned with their living habits, stress and disease. In this study, it was examined that how youth are making use of functional foods for disease recovery, and health maintenance. The awareness and food behavior by youths regarding their use and purchasing are considered.
  The results include that (1)the purpose of using functional foods is for the mineral supply and intestinal disorders, (2)increasing the number of uses is for the bifidus, the xylitol and the polyphenol, (3)the purchase of functional foods is high in supermarkets and convenience stores, (4)the source of information is from TV commercials, newspapers and taste, (5)the reason for no purchase is that nutrients are missing from the meal or has no effect on bad conditions and the price of the functional food is very high.

View full abstract

  O/W type emulsions were prepared with 2 different commercial edible oils using a lipid (containing DG or TG) and egg yolk as an emulsifier to study the effects on the emulsifying and oxidative stability of a mayonnaise-like emulsion. The median diameters of the oil particles in the emulsion prepared with DG oil were greater than those prepared with the TG oil using a hand-held mixer. The emulsifying stability of the DG oil's emulsion was lower than the TG oil's one, but the oxidative stability based on the COV and POV were not different between the two oils after cold storage for 30 days. Three different mayonnaise-like emulsions were prepared with either the DG oil or TG oil using a blender. The oil particle size was smaller in both oils compared to those using the hand-held mixer, and the emulsifying and oxidative stability were higher than those of the hand-held mixer after the 30-days cold storage. The sensory evaluation using the TG oil tended to be higher than those of the DG oil except for the sour taste.

View full abstract

  When seasoning nimono¹, it is considered best to add sugar, salt and shoyu in that order. To simplify preparations, however, it is possible to combine these seasonings and add them all at once. Ten different kinds of nimono using both this method and the traditional order preservation method were prepared and compared using the sensory evaluation method. The following results were obtained.
  Looking at potato, taro, pumpkin, eggplant, lotus root, bamboo shoot, dried daikon, hijiki seaweed and pork belly nimono dishes, no difference was detected between the two seasoning methods. In the case of scarlet runner beans, it was gauged that preserving the order set down for the addition of seasonings resulted in a slightly better result than was seen when the seasoning were added all together. It could be suggested that this was due to the appearance of the dish being significantly better when the seasoning order was preserved.

View full abstract

  In a present study, we investigated the variation in the composition of γ-aminobutyric acid and free amino acids, which are regarded as gustatory and functional components, during the growing process of the soybean sprouts. We also evaluated the variation in the general components and fatty acid composition in lipid.
1. The amounts of the proteins and lipids decreased during the growing process of the soybean sprouts. The percentage of the proteins and lipids in 100 g of dried soybean sprouts on the day of shipping was 45.2-47.7% and 12.5-16.8%, respectively.
2. The levels of amino acids contributing to the sweetness, thet included threonine, serine, glycine, alanine, proline, and valine, and those contributing to the bitterness, that inculded valine, methionine, isoleucine, leucine, tyrosine, phenylalanine, histidine, and arginine, increased during the growing process of the soybean sprouts.
3. The levels of the functional amino acids including γ-aminobutyric acid, arginine, and branched-chain amino acids (valine, leucine, isoleucine) increased during the growing process of the soybean sprouts. Particularly, high levels were observed in the soybean sprouts grown from domestic soybean grains.
These results suggest that soybean sprouts are a highly nutritious food. Since we observed increases in the levels of the free amino acids possessing secondary and tertiary functions, particularly those of the functional amino acids including γ-aminobutyric acid, arginine, and branched-chain amino acids (valine, leucine, isoleucine), ingestion of soybean sprouts could possibly to allow the functions of such components to be eflectively utilized.

View full abstract

  In order to provide a sound diet for nursery school children and also find measures for alleviating the burdens on guardians in charge of cooking meals, the authors surveyed the guardians’ involvement in the diet of nursery school children. A questionnaire survey was conducted, targeting 1,653 guardians of nursery school toddlers attending 18 facilities in the Miyagi Prefecture. 985 guardians answered the questionnaire (collection rate: 59.6%), and 980 guardians were analyzed (effective collection rate: 59.3%). The author first classified the nursery school children into the Junior Group and the Senior Group, and conducted an analysis, and then obtained the following results : 1) For both groups, more than 95% of the mothers were in charge of cooking the meals, but the ratio of fathers who cook meals was 19.3% for the Junior Group and 7.4% for the Senior Group. Other than the parents, maternal and paternal grandmothers often cook meals. 2) Among the guardians who cook meals, 51.6% complained of mental stress for the Junior Group and 39.6% for the Senior Group. 3) In the space for describing “Troubles with the diet of young children,” 31.3% wrote something about the Junior Group and 36.6% about the Senior Group. 4) 36.3% of the guardians who cook meals complained of mental stress about cooking meals for nursery school children. 5) For both groups, the guardians paid careful attention to nutrition, seasoning, and other items regarding the diet of nursery school children, and taught their children about diet based on the age of the children.

View full abstract

  The mineral content of homemade tofu varies depending on the method of preparation used. The purpose of this study was to determine whether differences in the preparation processes between kinugoshi-tofu and momen-tofu affect their mineral content. In addition, the mineral content of homemade tofu was compared to that of commercial tofu.
  The contents of Zn, Fe, Mn, Ca, and Mg were found to be higher in momen-tofu than in kinugoshi-tofu. No difference attributable to preparation was found in the mineral content of kinugoshi-tofu versus momen-tofu, although the variation in minerals added as coagulation agents was large. Similar trends were observed in commercial tofu.
  The mineral contents of commercial-tofu were higher than those of homemade momen-tofu.

View full abstract

  The objectives of the present study were to determine the predictive factors for health and long life. We studied a survey on the food intake and eating behavior from community-dwelling elderly women living in Okazaki city in Aichi prefecture. Thirty six subjects were involved in this study. We evaluated the food intake utilizing the Japanese Food Guide Spinning Top (Japanese Food Guide ST). The countable numbers describing the approximate amount of each dish or food served (SV) of fish and meat dishes were similar to the Japanese Food Guide ST. The fish and meat dishes had good balance that included meat, fish, egg and soy-bean dishes. The respective points of rice, bread, noodles, and pasta (grain dishes), vegetable dishes, milk products (milk) and fruits were lower than that in the Japanese Food Guide ST. All subjects had a regular eating behavior.

View full abstract