The textural properties of food taking different forms, classified on the basis of the eating functions of the elderly, were measured at the Nursing Home S in Kanagawa Prefecture for the elderly. The results demonstrated that the forms of food that require little mastication efforts, and have a texture most easily lumped together within the oral cavity, were food that were soft and high in cohesiveness. These results indicate the importance of measuring the textural parameters of the food served at hospitals and nursing homes for the elderly, for identifying whether or not an individual with deteriorated eating function will be able to take in food in a safe way.
  In the case of beverages such as water that are smooth-flowing, the front-end speed of the bolus at the pharynx is high, which means that people with impaired swallowing functions have a high risk of aspiration. To safeguard people with swallowing difficulties, efforts are being made on improving the textural aspects of food, such as adding thickness to liquid food when they are served. Accordingly, the physical properties of semi-liquid foods thickened with the commercial thickening agents, containing xanthan gum, guar gum and processed starch as main ingredients, as well as their relations with muscle activities during swallowing were investigated. The outcome of the study revealed that, in samples ranging from yoghurt-like hardness to tomato ketchup-like hardness, differences exist in the relation between the physical properties of samples and muscle activities, between xanthan gum or starch samples, whose solid-like structures results in long relaxation time, and guar-gum type samples, whose liquid-like structures in short relaxation time. The outcome of this study suggests that safer swallowing can be secured through good understanding of the thickening ingredient contained in the commercial thickening agents.

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  Dead′occurring earthquakes occurred 8 times every 14 years from Hanshin-Awaji (Kobe) Earthquake (January 17, 1995) to Iwate and Miyagi inland type earthquake (June 14, 2008) in Japan.
  The personal suffering due to the earthquake reached not only casualties but also lives in the refuge. 317,000 people did inconvenient life by in the refuge in Hanshin-Awaji (Kobe) Earthquake, 100,000 people in the Mid Niigata Earthquake, and 12,000 people in Niigata Chuetsu-oki Earthquake.
  As for the meal offer in the refuge, it was suggested that the meal considered to vulnerable people such as the aging people, the baby and people having the swallowing function trouble or and dietetic treatment of the struck weak, and foreigners who had the food taboo in the reason of the religion etc. Qualitative correspondence in the meal offer when struck seemed in the future. I think that it is important examine three aspects of “Object person”, “Food”, “ Substitution of the lifeline”, and two systems “Self-help, mutual assistance, and public assistance”, and “Savings and rescue”.

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  In Japan, the food inspection is carried out by the country and various municipalities in order to secure the safety of the circulating food in accordance with the Food Sanitation Law. Various microbiological, physical and chemical examinations are performed on imported foods at quarantine stations, and on circulating foods within the country at Regional Public Health Institutes in each administrative division as food inspection,
  The metropolitan government of Tokyo has an Institute of Public Health, which is responsible for inspecting pesticide residues, food additives, food contamination by aflatoxins or food allergens, food developed through genetically modified organisms and other various standard examinations on food, and apparatus and containers wrapping examination etc. The inspection number for Tokyo for the fiscal year of 2007 was 54,118, amongst those, the violation number was 100 and the violation rate was 0.18%. The main violations fell under Articles 11 and 19 of the Food Sanitation Law.
  It is necessary that the administrative inspections continue to secure the safety of food for consumption, although a more efficient system of inspection is required for the future, such as the selection of the inspection item and of the targeted food referring to the risk assessment.

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  Objective: To contribute to the health care of female students.
Subjects and methods: Healthy female students majoring in nutrition and health, aiming for managing nutritionists (kanri-eiyoshi), were enrolled and divided into two groups, i.e., the forced exercise group (n=9) and the free exercise group (n=10).
Results: The following results were obtained;
1) For the health assessment, the waist, resting heart rate, and LDL-cholesterol concentrations improved after the exercise period in both groups.
2) Nutritional intake (%energy ratio) improved in the forced exercise group, but not in the free exercise group, after the exercise period. However, both groups were deficient in the intake of calcium, iron, vitamins and dietary fibers, even after the exercise period.
3) After the exercise period, the number of steps was more than 10,000/day in the forced exercise group, but less than 10,000/day in the free exercise group. However, the ratio of strenuous movement and brisk walking increased in both groups.
Conclusion: The exercise, especially the forced exercise program, is useful for the improvement of the health conditions, nutritional intake and the number of steps/day of female students.

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  To obtain relative judgment data on eating habits of university students in Japan, comparative studies were performed with students living in Korea, who have a common cultural view of the self as people from Japan. The eating habits of 403 Japanese and 178 Korean students were investigated, with the result that the ratio of those taking each meal (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) was invariably higher for student living in Japan than in Korea. Also, the variety of foods that are eaten more than three or four times a week was higher for Japanese students than for Koreans. A factor analysis of the awareness of eating items extracted the following five factors : Healthy eating, Interest in foods, Convenience, Impulsive eating, and Dieting. The examination of this analysis showed that the mean scores of Healthy eating and Convenience factors were higher for Koreans than for Japanese. Students who had a higher score on the factor Healthy eating showed a tendency to eat a variety of food through a balanced diet. It can be assumed that Japanese students have been practicing more desirable eating habits than Koreans, but their awareness toward Healthy eating is lower than that of Korean students.

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  We examined the effects of olive leaf powder on cholesterol metabolism, using the rats fed on high cholesterol diets. The olive powder was treated by steam explosion. Besides a group of rats fed on a control diet (AIN93G), we made three groups fed on different kinds of high cholesterol diets : the basic one, the one containing the olive leaf powder (1.5% add), and another containing olive leaf extract (0.25% add).
  Through feeding the rats during the test period, the values of total bile acids and total lipids in the feces decreased significantly in the group fed on the olive leaf powder and that fed on the olive leaf extract. The values of total cholesterol in the feces and triglyceride in the liver decreased significantly in the group fed on the olive leaf extract. These results indicate that the olive leaf powder facilitates the lipid absorption and the bile acid reabsorption in the ileum. This function may be due to oleuropein, the major polyphenol in olive leaves.

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  To investigate the influence of fat-feeding dams on the food choice and the growth of their pups after weaning two groups of dams were fed a lard diet (LD) or a fish oil diet (FD) during pregnancy and lactation. Immediately after weaning, all pups were placed on two-choice diet program of the LD and the FD for 3 weeks. Although dietary intake during lactation by dams fed the LD was higher than that by dams fed the FD, at the end of lactation, body weight of the LD group was lower than that of the FD group. Body and perirenal fat tissue weights, and plasma leptin and lipid concentrations in suckling pups of dams fed the LD were higher than those in suckling pups of dams fed the FD. These findings indicate that amount of energy transferred to suckling pups from dams fed the LD was higher than that transferred to suckling pups from dams fed the FD. At the beginning of the self-selection period, no significant difference in the amount of the LD and the FD intake was observed between both groups of pups. However, in both groups of pups, the ratio of the LD intake increased and that of the FD decreased from day 3 to 6. After day 6, the ratio of the LD and the FD intake of the pups was about 80% and 20%, respectively. S : M : P and n-3FA : n-6FA in the diet that both groups of pups self-selected after day 6 was 3.3 : 3.9 : 3.0 and 2.9 : 1.0, respectively. These data led us to conclude that rat have an ability to consume essential fatty acid adequately through internal fatty acid metabolism.

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  Ku-ding cha, a tea consumed in China′s southern region, is manufactured from the leaves of the family of Oleaceace, Aquifoliaceae, etc. “Ku” means bitter ; Ku-ding cha tastes much more bitter than green tea. In order to clarify the components, we have determined the contents of the free amino acids, minerals and total polyphenols in 14 kinds of Ku-ding cha, a green tea and mate. Twenty-two free types of protein amino acids and eleven non-protein amino acids in each leaf were analyzed using an amino acid analyzer. Theanine, a characteristic amino acid in green tea, was not found in Ku-ding cha. The free amino acid contents were quite different between the Ku-ding cha and green tea. As a result of the atomic absorption spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry analyses, most of the mineral contents in the Ku-ding cha leaves and infusion were similar to those of the green tea and mate. The total polyphenol content was analyzed using the Folin-Ciocalteu assay. Some Ku-ding cha was higher than the green tea regarding the total polyphenol content, while others were less than half that of the green tea. As a result of a sensory analysis using a scoring method, Ku-ding cha was evaluated to be bitter. Ku-ding cha contains a low concentration of bitter free amino acids such as valine and leucine, and bitter mineral such as magnesium. These results suggest that the bitterness of Ku-ding cha is derived not from the free amino acids or minerals, but from the polyphenols.

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  The presence of parabens and phenoxyethanol (PE) was investigated in 129 types of commercial lipstick products based on the ingredients listed on their labels. 55 products (42.6%) were labelled as containing parabens, and 30 (23.3%) were labelled as containing PE.
  50 commercial lipstick tubes were purchased, and the amounts of parabens and PE were assayed using HPLC. Parabens was detected in 43 tubes with an average value of 128mg/100g, and PE was detected in 16 tubes with an average value of 260mg/100g.
  A questionnaire survey regarding the use of lipstick was conducted among 28 female respondents. Based on the survey results, the quantity of paraben and PE ingested was estimated from their contents in commercial lipsticks. The average quantity of ingested parabens (of the total paraben content) was estimated to be 0.060mg/day, and that of PE was estimated to be 0.12mg/day. The maximum quantity of parabens and PE ingested in one day was estimated to be 0.953mg and 1.25 mg, respectively.
  Consequently, the paraben and phenoxyethanol daily intakes from commercial lipsticks are low, and it was concluded that they are not likely to present any problem with normal use.

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  Preferences of fish and shellfish and their eating frequency were investigated in 171 households in Hiroshima prefecture. They were divided into four groups by their living regions. These regions were Hiroshima city, suburban (local) cities, farming regions and farming or fishery regions. Data were analyzed by ANOVA and multiple linear regressions. There was relationship between frequencies of fish and shellfish intake and size of family members in all four groups significantly. Among four groups, frequencies of fish and shellfish intake were the highest in people who lived in Hiroshima city and the lowest that in suburban (local) cities. It showed that consumers choice of fish and shellfish might be dependent on their residence regions. People who live in Hiroshima city had taken advantage of their convenient environment and eaten variety of fish and shellfish dishes.

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