Nine healthy females aged 22 were studied in the morning after an overnight fast.
After feeding of fat (300kcal, 71% of energy from fat) with or without 2g of guar gum, the changes in the concentrations of serum lipids and plasma free amino acids were examined.
In the another experiment, after an overnight fasting blood samples were drawn and the concentrations of the serum lipids and plasma free amino acids were compared before and after feeding of 6g of guar gum per day for 4weeks.
1. Simultaneous intake of guar gum with fat had little effect on the concentration of serum lipids, and the concentrations of plasma free amino acids.
2. Long term feeding of guar gum depressed the concentration of FFA predominantly (p<0.05), and increased the concentrations of plasma free amino acids, especially Arg, Thr, Gly and Ileu (p<0.05).

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According to the market basket studies proposed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the same kinds of foods were collected at Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, Kofu, Nagano, Osaka, Wakayama, Matsue and Kitakyushu in November 1983. They were divided into 8 groups of foods and contents of 6 kinds of food additives were analyzed. Intakes of each food additives per capita per day were 1.57mg of sodium erythorbate, 0mg of methylcellulose, 7.47mg of sodium carboxymethylcellulose, 2.1mg of pyrophosphate, 2.0mg of tripolyphosphate and 5.2mg of hexamethaphosphate. The ratios of daily intakes of each food additive to ADI were 0-6.3%. Total daily intakes of 30 kinds of food additives determined which were described in this and previous reports was 97.7mg, and the contents of these food additives in foods purchased from local small supermarket were 2.6 times higher than. those from middle class supermarket.

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The present study was undertaken to investigate how lactulose and sorbitol influence on mineral utilization and intestinal microflora as compared to lactose.
Twenty-four male albino rats of Wistar strain with initial body weight averaging 75g were used in the experiment. After feeding of control diet for several days, the rats were randamly divided into four groups: lactose, lactulose, sorbitol and control groups. They were housed individually in metabolic cages. They were fed with respective diet for 46 days. Results are as follows: 1) Lactulose, lactose and sorbitol groups indicated higher calcium retention as compared with the control group. 2) Lactulose and sorbitol groups showed higher magnesium retention as compared with the control group. 3) Lactulose and sorbitol groups indicated lower pH value and higher weight of cecum as compared with the other groups. 4) No differences among counts of total bacteria and lactobacilli per one gram cecum content from the four groups were observed. But bifidobacteria of lactulose group increased significantly as compared with the other groups.

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The influence of krill feeding on iron absorption and hematologic factors related to iron nutrition was studied with male growing Wistar rats. Experimental diets containing 20% and 30% protein from freeze-dried raw or precooked krill were given to rats for 4 weeks. Control diets contained 20% and 30% protein from casein. The control diet of each protein level contained an almost equal iron level to that of a corresponding krill diet. The weight gain, count of blood cell, hemoglobin concentration and serum iron concentration were lower in both krill groups, especially in the precooked krill groups, than those as compared with the control groups. The apparent iron absorption rate during the last 9 days of the experimental period was estimated from ingested dietary iron and fecal iron contents. These rates in the raw krill groups were nearly equal to those of the control groups, but in the precooked krill groups these absorption rates showed a negative sign, indicating a remarkable inhibition of iron absorption. To confirm the relation between iron absorption and ingested exoskeleton, rats were fed a diet containing raw or boiled shrimp exoskeleton for 3 weeks, and the concentrations of hemoglobin and serum iron in these rats were compared with those of rats fed a control diet containing cellulose powder. Although these concentrations in the raw exoskeletongroup were similar to those of the control group, a significantly lower serum iron concentration was observed in a boiled exoskeleton group. The results indicated that the krill contained an inhibitory factor of dietary iron absorption, and it was postulated that the inhibitory factor was probably krill exoskeleton which might be activated by a heating treatment.

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The diurnal rhythm of rat intestinal disaccharidase activities was observed along the villus-crypt axis. Rats were raised for 2 weeks under artificial light (light; 18 : 00 - 6 : 00, dark; 6 : 00 - 18 : 00) and fed a laboratory chow (Oriental Yeast Co.) during the dark period (9 : 00-15 : 00). Water was given ad libitum. Activities of sucrase, isomaltase and lactase in duodenum, jejunum and ileum were de-termined at light (0 : 00) and dark (12 : 00).
The mucosal weight, the content of protein and DNA of each intestinal segment were not different between light and dark period. A typical diurnal rhythm, which was low in the light and high in the dark corresponding to the feeding period, was observed in the specific and total activities of sucrase, isomaltase and lactase in all intestinal segments. The amount of immunoreactive proteins against anti-sucrase-isomaltase complex in jejunum also showed the diurnal rhythm as observed in the activities of sucrase and isomaltase.
In serial tissue homogenate of jejunal villus-crypt axis prepared by cryostat sectioning, it was shown that sucrase and isomaltase activities (specific and total) of the middle and lower villus in the dark was significantly higher than those in the light. On the other hand, lactase activity in the dark was higher than that in the light rather in the upper and middle villus. All enzyme activities in the crypt region were increased in the dark.
From these results, it was suggested that the diurnal changes in disaccharidase activities occur in all regions of the villus-crypt axis, namely, both in the immature and mature enterocytes.

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Effects of administration of diets containing different nitrogen sources on the nitrogen metabolism in the rats subjected to gastrectomy or 75% enterectomy were studied. The nitrogen sources used were intact casein, its tryptic hydrolysate (NZ-Case, average peptide length 2-3), and amino acid mix-ture simulating casein (AA mix). No diets were given on the day of operation but water was supplied at all times. On the following day, 2.5g of the diet containing 20% of the nitrogen source was given. Subsequently the diet was increased gradually until day 6 and then given ad libitum from day 7 to day 14 after the operation. The weight gain, from day 7 to day 14, of rats fed AA mix diet in each operated group appered to be less than that of other dietary groups, but the difference was not sig-nificant. Relative weight of the caecum in the gastrectomized rats was more increased in NZ-Case and AA mix diet groups than in casein one, and the weight in the 75% enterectomized rats was more increased in AA mix than in other dietary groups. In addition to that, relative weight of the caecum in the 75% enterectomized rats was more increased than that in the gastrectomized animals regardless of the type of diets. There were no significant differences in relative weight of the kidney and the liver in any dietary groups. Hematocrit, A/G ratio, and plasma urea and total protein were similar in the same operated rats regardless of the type of dietary nitrogen sources consumed. However, between the operated groups, the concentration of plasma urea in the enterectomized rats was signifi-cantly higher than that in the gastrectomized rats. A similar positive nitrogen balance, measured for the last 3 days in the experiment, was observed in the gastrectomized rats but in the enterectomized animals, the nitrogen retention was the highest with NZ-Case diet. An increase of ammonia-N and a decrease of urea-N in the urine in the gastrectomized or the enterectomized rats fed AA mix diet were observed. These results indicate that small peptide form may be a useful dietary nitrogen source for short gut syndrome.

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The changes in physicochemical characteristics and chemical constituents of milled rice during storage of parboiled rice were investigated, and they were compared with those of unparboiled rice. Though parboiling affected the cooking qualities, lipid composition and free phenolic acids of milled rice, the changes in them of parboiled rice during storage were little as compared with those of unparboiled rice. The texture of cooked rice with or without parboiling similarly changed. Almost all volatile flavor components of cooked, milled rice increased in both parboiled and unparboiled rice, but the pattern of increase was different.

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