This paper reviews the development of soaring food prices in 2006-2008 world food price crisis. In particular, it focuses upon high wheat prices from a short-term perspective with the attention upon how it has occurred since the late 2006 and also upon its background from a long-term perspective through looking at the effects of agriculture and trade policies of the past in China and India on the current level of world wheat stocks. And it suggests that international policy dialogue be strengthen on agricultural and trade policies of each country in terms of international food security in order to keep the appropriate level of world food stocks. At the same time, it proposes that the international release system of emergency food stocks and its international cost sharing system be established in the near future. Furthermore, it observes the changes in wheat export structures of EU and United States after the market integration of EU and the conclusion of NAFTA in the early 1990s. Since the market integration, their wheat export structures have become focused on EU members and Latin America, especially Mexico, which raise concern about the uneven distribution of agricultural trade goods and its relationship with high food prices in world food crisis. At the end of this paper, it illustrates the fragile nature of food security in Egypt as an example of a food importing country during the poor harvest in agricultural exporting countries and compares it with the situation in Japan.

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  The major cardiovascular diseases affecting Japan and other developed countries have atherosclerosis at their core. Progression of atherosclerosis is remarkably affected by diet and can be approached by dietitians or nutritionists. Pathogenesis of atherosclerosis is multifactorial. And the risk factors include hypercholesterolemia, glucose intolerance/diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome. Postprandial hyperlipemia and hyperglycemia may also be new targets because most of a day is spent in a postprandial state in these countries and the recent evidence suggests that these conditions in fact promote atherosclerotic processes. The preventive measures including dietary approaches must be started as early as possible in life because the bud of atherosclerosis may begin in fetuses. Improving diet and lifestyle should be the central strategy for the prevention of atherosclerotic diseases.

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  In recent years, although lifestyle-related diseases have continued to increase, escalation in medical-treatment expenses persists. To create a society of vital, peaceful, and healthy people, the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare made a policy called “healthy Japan 21”, making the health of the nation a priority. However, an intermediate evaluation of lifestyle-related diseases did not show a trend toward improvement that was intended by the policy. Therefore, in 2008, a new health check-up, which was substituted for the conventional medical check-up and health guidance, was instituted to prevent metabolic syndromes. The new health guidance, which is conducted by a doctor, a national registered dietitian, and a public-health nurse consults a subject dividing into three different categories : positive support, incentive support, and offering information. The Aichi dietitian society supports the training for a national registered dietitian and performs specific health guidance under the management of the Aichi nutrient care station. However, at present, there is little hope for patients to benefit from the health guidance because most do not cooperate. It is necessary that the person in charge working on a subject to effectively employ the specific health guidance. We believe that the administration and private enterprise should unite to make the new health check-up system more effective.

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  The purpose of this study is to examine the lexis used to express visceral sensation with regard to feeling of satiation. The 53 subjects of the focus group were invited to describe freely their visceral sensation before and after partaking of a standard meal. We drew up a questionnaire touching on the subjects’feeling of satiation or hunger accompanied by VAS, and the time elapsed since completing their meals. Thereafter, 340 university students were invited to describe their visceral satiation. The results of the factor analysis of search and visceral sensation were threefold, namely factorI : volume and weight (ex. ‘swell’ ‘heavy’), factorII : movement of digestive organs (ex. ‘shrink’ ‘kyurukyuru’)., factorIII : feelings of marked discomfort (ex. ‘seem to vomit’‘pain’). Finally, results were obtained from a multiple regression analysis of levels of satiation related to the above mentioned factors Iand II.

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[in Japanese]

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  The purpose of this study was to investigate the awareness of ‘Nihongatasyokuseikatsu’ and the dietary lifestyle. The data were collected using a questionnaire.
  The 56-item questionnaire included items about the ‘Nihongatasyokuseikatsu’, lifestyles, dietary habits, food safety, use of local products from home towns, and food culture. The participants included 304 college students from the Hyogo prefecture.
  The study results were as follows :
1) 60.7% of participants showed interest in ‘Nihongatasyokuseikatsu’.
2) The level of awareness of
‘Nihongatasyokuseikatsu’ increased after education.
3) The level of awareness of nutrition, health, food safety, and food labeling was higher in the group with more interest in ‘Nihongatasyokuseikatsu’ than the group with less interest. The use of Japanese and seasonal ingredients were also higher.
4) Only very few participants were living up to the ‘Nihongatasyokuseikatsu’. However, over half of the participants were willing to carry out the ‘Nihongatasyokuseikatsu’ after an education session.

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  In order to develop simple and accurate methods for the estimation of the ash content in plant foodstuffs from the contents of several minerals, we analyzed 854 plant foodstuffs based on the standard tables of food composition in Japan. The following results were obtained :
1. The average ash content (±SD) was 2.1±3.8g and the ash contents of 616 foodstuffs, which accounted for 72% of all plant foodstuffs, ranged from 0 to 1.5g.
2. Both the sum of 9 minerals and that of 5 minerals significantly correlated with the ash contents.
3. Based on the multiple regression analysis, it was indicated that the ash content can be estimated from the sum of 5 minerals, i. e. , sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium and phosphorous, in foods. The regression equation is as follows :
Predicted ash value (mg) =2.18×the sum of 5 minerals−110 .
4. There were considerable differences between the ash contents and the sum of the 5 minerals. Although the ash values from the standard tables of food composition did not show the sum of each mineral, they were reflected by their total contents.

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  A study was conducted to determine the effects of differences in storage (using different containers and temperatures) on total coffee acid content, caffeine content, chlorogenic acid content, color and foaming.
1) Total acid content increased starting on day 7 when stored in an aluminum pouch at room temperature, and starting on day 14 when stored in a glass bottle at room temperature or when stored in a glass bottle while refrigerating. In contrast, increases in total acid content were not observed for either type of container in the case of frozen storage.
2) Chlorogenic acid content was high following frozen storage and low following storage at room temperature regardless of the type of container.
3) Caffeine content was observed to not be affected by storage.
4) With respect to changes in color, luminosity (L^*) and chromaticity (b^*) decreased slightly starting on day 7 of storage in a glass bottle at room temperature. However, differences were subsequently not observed.
5) Foaming was low for room temperature storage regardless of the type of container, and was extremely low in the case of storage in an aluminum pouch at room temperature in particular. Although well-defined differences were unable to be obtained with respect to refrigeration and frozen storage, foaming tended to be somewhat high in the case of frozen storage.
6) It was determined that the shelf life of ground coffee can be extended by wrapping individual servings in plastic wrap, placing in a tightly sealed container and storing in a freezer.

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  Regarding the five ingredients listed in the graph of the ingredients, the frequency usage of the food between Korea and Japan was evaluated. The evaluation was grouped into four categories of [often used] , [sometimes used] , [hardly used] , and [never used] . The result to the survey is shown below.
1. The vegetables both Korea and Japan [often used] were lettuce, radish, cucumber, spinach, and etc. In Korea, vegetables grouped as [often used] were asparagus, cauliflower, and etc. However, in Japan, they were grouped as [hardly used] .
2. The mushrooms both Korea and Japan [often used] were paengi mushroom, pyogo mushroom, mahngadak mushroom, agaric mushroom. For seaweeds, there was the brown seaweed, and for beans, there were the red bean, soybean, and tofu. The vegetables grouped [hardly used] in Japan but [often used] in Korea, were found to be sea lettuce seaweed, laver grown on the underwater rock, mung beans, and etc. In addition, a bundle of layer was [hardly used in Korea] but [often used] in Japan.
3. The fish both Korea and Japan [often used] were red snapper, flounder, tuna, squid, abalone, and etc. Grouped [hardly used] in Japan but [often used] in Korea, were small shrimps, yellow carvina, leatherfish, and etc. Grouped [hardly used] in Korea but [often used] in Japan were oceanic bonito, lobster, and etc.
4. The meat, eggs, dairy both Korea and Japan [often used] were beef, pork, chicken, livers, milk and etc. [Hardly used] in Japan but [often used] in Korea were the by-products like hearts, livers, and viscera. There weren’t any food grouped [hardly used] in Korea but [often used] in Japan.
5. The spices, seasoning both Korea and Japan [often used] were sesame oil, hot peppers, garlic. [Hardly used] in Japan but [often used] in Korea were worcester sauce, tomato puree, and Chinese flavor gravy. Also, gravy of the slices of dried bonitoes was not used in Korea.

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