The effects of a daily ingestion for 4 consecutive weeks of roasted tea containing 3g of galactosylsucrose (LS) on defecation were examined in 134 senile patients (30 males and 104 females with an average age of 82.0 years) living in a nursing facility. The 8-week experiment was divided into 4 consecutive periods: pre-ingestion period (2 weeks), ingestion period 1 (2 weeks), ingestion period 2 (2weeks) and post-ingestion period (2 weeks). During the LS ingestion period, defecation frequency and timing from 5.5 to 6.1 times per week (p<0.05) and from 3.7 to 4.1 days per week (p<0.01), respectively, as compared to pre-ingestion period. We investigated the influence of laxatives administration by dividing patients into 4 groups: Group I with patients who took a combination of a stimulating laxative and a saline laxative as a magnesium oxide, Group II where only a stimulating laxative was taken, Group III with patients on saline laxative, and Group IV with no laxatives at all. Consequently we found that LS ingestion increased significantly(p<0.05) defecation frequency in group I and III patients who took saline laxative, from 5.0 to 6.3 times per week and from 5.7 to 7.1 times per week, respectively, as compared to pre-ingestion period. Additionally, the effects of daily activity level were investigated by dividing the patients into 5 groups. Throughout the experiment, we found that defecation significantly increased (p<0.01) from 3.1 to 3.7 days per week as compared to preingestion period, especially in the group of patients who have a daily activity index of 1.1 (bedridden).These results demonstrated that the ingestion of a roasted tea containing 3g of LS in a day improved defecation in senile patients with constipation. They may suggest the possibility that LS could contribute to the improvement of QOL in the patients and reduce the burden of care workers.

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To investigate the influence of fat-feeding dams and weaning pups on preferential intake of high-fat diet (HFD) with cellulose added to maintain the same energy concentration as low-fat diet (LFD), each three groups of dams were fed LFD, control diet (CTD) or HFD, respectively during pregnancy and lactation. After weaning, pups nursed by dams fed LFD and HFD were placed on self-selection regimen of LFD and HFD, and pups nursed by dams fed CTD were divided into two groups and were fed either LFD or HFD for 4 weeks. All pups fed LFD or HFD were placed on self-selection regimen of LFD and HFD for 4 weeks. Immediately after weaning, ratio of HFD intake [HFD intake (g)/total intake (g)] for pups nursed by dams fed LFD and HFD was 75 - 80%. Although pups nursed by dams fed HFD continued to eat the same ratio of HFD, the ratio for pups nursed by dams fed LFD was rapidly decreased to 20% on week 3 and 4 after weaning. However, the ratio for both groups of pups nursed by dams fed CTD was about 25% during self-selection period. These findings indicated that (1) HFD preference of pups nursed by dams fed HFD was higher than that of pups fed HFD after weaning, (2)HFD intake of pups after weaning did not affect HFD preference of pups nursed by dams fed CTD and they would be deprived of their ability to eat adequately.

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Three-fold amounts of ordinary intake (2 pieces by 4-times) of sugar alcohol-containing chewing gum were ingested by 15 male and 15 female subjects 4-times in a day (total 24 pieces) for 1week, and the effects on blood biochemical parameters, urinary property, fecal conditions including fecal frequency and constituents and abdominal symptoms were observed. The study design was randomized single blinded placebo controlled crossover experiment. A total of 24 pieces of test chewing gum contained total sugar alcohols 21.9g (maltitol 14.4g, xylitol 7.2g and others 0.3g) and placebo gum was replaced with sucrose instead of sugar alcohols. No high osmotic diarrhea was caused in every subject. Fecal conditions including fecal frequency and constituents were not significantly different between test and placebo chewing gum groups. Abdominal symptoms were also not significantly different between test and placebo chewing gum groups, but flatus frequently occurred in test chewing gum group. Biochemical data and components of blood and urinary properties were not affected by ingestion of test chewing gum. These results are demonstrated that even 3-fold amounts of ingestion (24 pieces) of ordinary intake of sugar alcohol-containing chewing gum in a day does not induce harmful effects in healthy subjects and the ordinary intake of sugar alcohol-containing chewing gum is safe.

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