From the trip for the production of the trip program of the NHK radio for 3 years, I focused on “a meal” and thought about “a Japanese trip and meal”. It is so-called gourmet to introduce the custom prevalent among many parts of the country. The program also includes the thing which came up in the history and classic thing, for the activation of the town, these days of interview is various. I described each story and photographs about each place on the earth.

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　Anserine （beta-alanyl-N-methyl histidine）, which is one of the dipeptides, found in the skeletal muscle and brain of mammals. The muscle tissues of bonito and tuna contain anserine in greater quantities than the muscle tissues of other fish. Bonito and tuna begin swimming the oceans at the age of two years, and swim continuously night and day. Furthermore, when they are in pursuit of a food source, it is said that they reach speeds of 60 kilometers per hour or more. Anserine may have functions to reduce muscle fatigue because of an anti-oxidative effect and buffering capacity due to the presence of an imidazole group. In recent years, we have also found a new healthy function of anserine, which is lowering effect on uric acid value.

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　We conducted a questionnaire survey about the health and dietary habits of 5,300 community people living in a rural area of Kumamoto. Of these response, 2,045 (644 men and 1,401 women) were valid (valid response rate 38.6%).　We examine the relationships between the frequency of side dish consumption and health and dietary habits with the use of the data. The community people were divided into two groups on the basis of their frequency of side dish consumption as follows: high frequency of side dish consumption and low frequency of side dish consumption with the genders divided. In statistical analysis, multiple logistic regression analysis were used.　As a result, the frequency of side dish consumption was associated with the frequency of family dinners in men. On the other hand, the frequency of side dish consumption was associated with five factors in women as follows: satisfaction in their dietary life, the frequency of meal preparation, the frequency of breakfasts, the frequency of soft drink consumption, and their like and dislike for vegetables. The frequency of side dish consumption was associated with the frequency of home-meal replacement, stages of change for vegetable dish intake, self-efficacy for vegetable dish intake, knowledge of ichiju-sansai ( one soup and three side dishes ), and the frequency of vegetable dish intake at home for both men and women.　Therefore, it is necessary to provide more nutritional education about these factors to increase frequency of side dish consumption. Based on these results, specific measures for the promotion of side dish consumption should be considered.

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The physical properties and sensory characteristics during chewing of jelly foods prepared using three kind of commercial gelling agents, here designated “A”, “B”, and “C”, were examined. Commercial gelling agents were dissolved in milk, miso soup, rice porridge, orange juice, and green tea and then cooled, according to the instructions of each supplier. Physical properties and sensory characteristics for each jelly food varied widely based on the gelling agent used, although the trends in the physical properties of each sample tended to be similar to the trends of the sensory characteristics for each gelling agent. The differences between sensory evaluation values for a given gelling agent reported by young people were larger than those reported by elderly people.Evaluations of texture and sensory characteristics revealed that commercial gelling agents “A” and “B” resulted in harder foods than did “C” in milk, miso soup, orange juice, and green tea. Rice porridge made with “C” was softer, less sticky, and easier to swallow. These results suggested that the components in gelling agents “A” and “B” are similar to each other and different from those in “C”, which possibly contains a starch-digesting enzyme. This study demonstrated the importance of using specific commercial gelling agents for the food in question to obtaining suitable physical properties and sensory characteristics.

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Silk is mainly used in the textile industry. Recently, the use of silk has expanded to cosmetic and food industry. However, basic research on the nutritional effect of silkpowder has little conducted. Previously, we reported that silk fibroin from Bombyx mori lowers the serum cholesterol level. But the effect of silk powder on lipid metabolism and the difference of Bombyx mori or Antheraea pernyi were not clear, Therefore, we examined the effects of silk powder from Bombyx mori or Antheraea pernyi on defecation and fecal fat excretion, using the SD rats fed on high fat diets. We made three groups fed on different kinds of high fat diets: the basic one, the one containing the silk powder from Bombyx mori (5% add), and silk powder from Antheraea pernyi (5% add).There were no significant differences in the body weight or food intake among the3 groups. The plasma total cholesterol and triglyceride level have no significant effect.Interestingly, in the group fed on the silk powder, the feces and fecal triglyceride and bile acid increased significantly, and color of feces was white, suggested silk powder has effect on fecal excretion.These results may explain the effect of Silk protein on lipid metabolism.

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OBJECTIVE: We should understand the perceived individual motives for food choices by the elderly when developing health promotion programs. The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between the food choice motives, the personal attributes, the vegetable score and the self-rated health in order to promote vegetable intake.SUBJECTS AND METHOD: The participants were 304 elderly females with a higher-level of functional capacity. Data collection was conducted using the questionnaire survey method. FCQ-E （Food Choice Questionnaire for the elderly; 9 factors, 27items） was used to measure the motives. The structural equation modeling was used for the analysis.RESULT: “Nutrition balance” was affected by any personal disease, the living arrangement, age, and the study years. “Physical well-being” was affected by their disease, the living arrangement, and age. “Economical efficiency” was affected by their disease, the study years, and the self-rated chewing. “Nutrition balance”, their disease, and their experience which included special learning, were important predictors of the vegetable score. For the vegetable score, “Physical well-being”, and “Economical efficiency” were important predictors of the self-rated health.CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggested that promoting vegetable consumption of elderly people could be done by motivating “Nutritional balance” and “Economical efficiency”.（Goodness of Fit Index），AGFI（Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index），CFI（Comparative Fit Index），RMSEA（Root

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The objective of this study is to clarify the eating characteristics among elderly residents in a nursing home who are self-aware of their rapid eating behaviors and propose a method for preventing such a habit. We evaluated the eating time and number of chewing strokes using a video recording method.The subjects were twenty-four elderly residents in a nursing home. They were interviewed for the self-awareness of rapid eating. The subjects were categorized into two groups in accordance with the self-awareness of rapid eating behaviors; i.e., fast eating group and slow-eating group. We observed the eating behaviors of the elderly using the video observation method, including total chewing time, total muscle activity time, total number of chewing strokes, etc. The analysis of the differences between the fast-eating group and slow-eating group was assessed using the t-test. In addition, a discriminant analysis using the stepwise method was conducted with each measurement item as the independent variable, and the self-awareness of rapid eating behaviors as the dependent variable. Furthermore, the relevant measurement item of each of the two groups was analyzed by Pearson’s correlation coefficient.Significant intergroup differences were observed regarding the total chewing time and total muscle activity time. The discriminant analysis showed significant differencesin the total chewing time and total muscle activity time. The boundary value of the total chewing time in this study was 806 seconds and the determined predictive value was 79.2%. In the fast-eating groups, there was a correlation in relation to the total chewing time and total muscle activity time, total number of chewing strokes, the number of times of putting food into the mouth, and the weight of food remaining in the mouth.As a method for preventing such eating, the elderly was instructed to increase the time of the meal, and increasing the chewing frequency proved effective.

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This paper investigates the present situations of the catfish foods in Japan and the world, and summarizes the traditions related to catfish foods and the eating of catfish in Japan and the world. Although it is a familiar freshwater fish and eating habits are common, especially in the western part of Japan, the environmental condition of the river got worse during the economic high-growth era, and catches of natural catfish have decreased. However, the catfish dishes remain common in some areas of Japan as local culinary specialties.Many other parts of the world also have catfish traditions and cuisines, and the fish catch of cultured catfish is markedly increasing in Asia and United States. Ifdevelopment of catfish farming technology progresses also in Japan and the stable supply becomes possible, an expansion of catfish food consumption will be expected, because catfish has the nutritional merit such as high protein, low fat, and low cholesterol, which meets the needs and tastes of modern consumers.

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