Hot pepper is a spice favored all over the world, especially in many Asian countries. For exampie, the Korean food, Kimuchi, contains much red pepper. Because of the wide usage of red pepper, it is important to find whether an excess intake is harmful to the gastrointestinal tract. This study demonstrated the effect of capsaicin, the major compound in hot pepper, on the stomach and small intestine of rats.
1) When capsaicin (0.14 or 1.4mg per day) was infused into the stomach for three days, rats with infused capsaicin displayed much more stomach content than the control rats (fasted for 24hr, no capsaicin). The stomach peristaltic movement may be inhibited by capsaicin.
2) Two hours after one gram of chow had been given, the dry weight of the stomach content and its nitrogen and lipid levels were much greater than those of the control rats, suggesting that the chyme in the stomach could not be spontaneously transferred to the duodenum. In the fasted condition, the dry weight of the stomach content was less than that of the control rats though capsaicin infusion showed no effect on the nitrogen and lipids of the stomach content. On the other hand, the dry weight of the small intestinal content and its nitrogen and lipid levels were much greater than those of the control rats.
3) Scanning electron microscopy was used to observe the stomach and duodenum of rats given stomach infusion of capsaicin for three days (1.4mg per day), Distinct abnormal ultrastructure of the stomach surface cells was observed. The villi of duodenum also showed a different structure from that of the control.

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The effects of chronic administration of 5% ethanol and 5% sucrose in drinking water on growth and various blood parameters of Fisher rats were investigated for nine months. The rats administered either ethanol sucrose decreased their feed intake by the amount equivalent to the energy in drinking water in comparison with the control. As a result of this, the amounts of energy consumption per day agreed precisely with each other among the three groups of rats. Neither the ethanol group nor the sucrose group showed any increase in their blood pressure. In a previous study, we showed that even the administration of NaCl could not raise the blood pressure of Fisher rats. Therefore, we concluded that Fisher rats which seldom became obese were difficult to become hypertensive.
We carried out the measurement of hemoglobin, hematocrit and the following eighteen parameters in serum: total protein, albumin, GOT, GPT, alkaline phosphatase, LDH, glucose, BUN, creatinine, uric acid, total cholesterol, triglyceride, calcium, inorganic phosphorus, iron, sodium, potassium and chlorine. In the ethanol group, GPT and chlorine were significantly decreased and alkaline phosphatase, BUN, Fe and potassium were significantly increased. In the sucrose group, hemoglobin, hematocrit, A/G ratio, GOT, GPT, alkaline phosphatase, uric acid, triglyceride and calcium were significantly decreased, as compared with the control group.
These results show a tendency of the administration of ethanol to damage the hepatic and renal regions and that of the administration of sucrose to decrease functional activity of whole body.

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“Okara” which is rich in protein and fiber, is a by-product of soy milk and soybean curd. In this stuay, the effects of “Okara” on cholesterol metabolism in rats were examined. For 4 weeks, male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed with a cholesterol-rich diet containing 10-30% of dried “Okara” or 2.2-5.6% of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) which was prepared from “Okara. ”
Supplementation of “Okara” accelerated food intake and body weight gain of rats. As compared with control rats, the animals given “Okara” showed significantly lower levels of plasma cholesterol, and the ratio of HDL-cholesterol to total cholesterol of plasma was increased significantly. The triglyceride and phospholipid contents of plasma were decreased by “Okara” feeding. The cholesterol and triglyceride contents of liver were tended to increase after supplement of “Okara. ” Fecal excretion of cholesterol was not affected by the feeding of “Okara. ”
The effect of dietary NDF was quite different from that of “Okara. ” NDF did not affect the levels of plasma cholesterol, while the fecal excretion of neutral sterols was increased after the NDF feeding.
From these results, “Okara” was found to have a property to restrain the increase of plasma cholesterol, However, NDF was not shown to have such an effect. The hypocholesterolemic effect of “Okara” is regarded to be originated from the coexistence of soya protein and fibers, especially water-soluble ones.

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Requirement of nonessential amino acids by animal was investigated with two mouse myeloma cell lines (MPC-11 and NS-1) and a human globular glanule cell line (K562) cultured in vitamin B6-deleted serum-free medium. All cell lines did not show any requirement for such 7 amino acids as alanine, asparagine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, glycine, proline and serine in the presence of vitamin B₆. When vitamin B₆ was deleted from the medium, MPC-11 cells required strongly alanine, serine and glycine, in that order, whereas NS-1 and K562 cells required only alanine and serine. These results suggested that the effect of vitamin B₆ on amino acids metabolism differed according to the kind of cells and verified the usefulness of serum-free cell culture method for the investigation of cellular nutrition.

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Hydrogenation of soybean phospholipids was investigated to improve their stability against oxidation. Hydrogenated soybean phospholipids were easily prepared under the conditions described below; 5 or 10% Pd/C as a catalyst, hexane-ethanol (4: 1) as a solvent, hydrogen pressure at 10kg/cmcm², reaction temperature ranging from 50 to 55°C and reaction time for 2-4 hr. Soybean phospholipids having any hydrogenation ratio could be obtained by adjustment of catalyst amounts.
Soybean phospholipids with various hydrogenation ratio were subjected to autoxidation for a long period at the room temperature (10-23°C), 40°C and 60°C in the dark and at 60°C under UV lamp.
Those autoxidation behavior were monitored by the measurement of peroxide value (POV) and carbonyl value (COV) with the passage of time. As a result, 50% or more hydrogenated soybean phospholipids were markedly improved in their oxidation stability as compared with non-hydrogenated sample. As for these samples, the brown discoloration, a well-known phenomenon of oxidized or heated soybean phospholipids, was inhibited sufficiently during the autoxidation period.

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After heating the decrease of the oxidative stability by tocopherol (Toc) degration was larger for olive and high oleic safflower oils than for soybean or corn oils. In this paper, the inhibition effect of each additive on the thermal oxidation of Toc in olive oil by heating was investigated. Olive oils containing natural α-Toc 9.1 and γ-Toc 1.9mg% were heated with ar without each additive in a glass tube for AOM test at 180°C for 10hr, and the percentage of remained Toc and the oxidative stability measured by weighing method were estimated.
The preventive effects of additives on the thermal oxidation of Toc in olive oil were in the order of gallic and thiodipropionic acids>cystine>homogentisic acid>tryptophan>phenothiazine>lecithin, but not observed for oryzanol, adenine and cytosine. Gallic and thiodipropionic acids showed the great preventive effects on the thermal oxidation of Toc in olive oil by heating at the concentration of 0.03%. Consequently, the oxidative stability of heated olive oil was considerably improved with the addi- tion of gallic and thiodipropionic acids.

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The degree of the texture involvement in the sensory evaluation for food varies depending upon the nature of food. So far as an apple is concerned, either sweetness as gustatory stimuli or crispness as physical characteristics is generally recognized to be the major factor affecting the sensory evaluation. Present studies were conducted to examine the relation between the physical and chemical properties and the organoleptic evaluation by panels, in order to clarify the contribution of taste sensation and texture of an apple to consumer's preference.
Three cultivars of apple fruits (Kogyoku, Alps Otome and Oregon Spur) were measured instrumentally for shage, color, sugar content, acidity and texture. In parallel with physical and chemical measurement, sensory tests were performed on the same parameters and the relation between the evaluations, instrumental and organoleptic, was investigated for each parameter. The regularity in relation to the preference for an apple was studied by comparing the results, obtained by the Scheffes paired comparison method, with data from physical and chemical measurement.
The differences in shape and color among these three cultivars were distinct visually and instrumentally. The skin color of the three cultivars was essentially red but each tone was specific. In particular, the skin color of Kogyoku and Alps Otome, which had a deep red color and high chroma, was highly evaluated by panels.
The acidity and sugar content were significantly correlated with the sensory evaluation for sweetness. The sweetness ratio was confirmed to be a good measure of the degree of sweet flavor. The result from the Scheffe's paired comparison method suggested that the acidity was specifically potent to influence the preference of sweet flavor rather than the sugar content. The strong correlation between the intensity of sweetness and the total evaluation was obtained. It was postulated that the intensity of sweetness was the most major factor affecting the acceptability of an apple.
Both firmness and crispness, determined by the texture profile method showed the remarkable correlation between the sensory evaluation and the texturometric measurement. As regards juiciness, however, no correlation between the results obtained organoleptically and instrumentally was found. Among factors influencing the palatability of an apple, the intensity of sweetness was the most influential one, and the texture could also contribute to its preference.

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Storage protein in black matpe which is employed as a material for “Moyashi” (bean sprouts) was extracted and fractionated. The percentage of globulin (NaCl soluble fraction) and albumin (water soluble fraction) was 70% and 28%, respectively, of the total protein. Amino acid analyses of globulin and albumin indicated that two fractions had similar amino acid composition characterized by high contents of glutamic acid and asparatic acid and by extremely low contents of cysteine and methionine.
Crude globulin fraction was separated into four fractions (α, β, γ; and δ) by column chromatography on Sephadex G-150. β-Globulin (M.W., 160, 000) was the main protein of the globulin. The β-globulin was eluted as one sharp peak by ion-exchange chromatography on a DEAE-Sepharose column. However, this peak was separated into three bands on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.
Following the germination, a gradual decrease in protein contents, and increase of soluble nitrogen and soluble amino acid were confirmed. The following changes were also observed for protein; the decrease of bands migrated to anode by polyacrylamide gel electrophorsis, the increase of bands of lower molecular weight's proteins by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and the changes of elution profiles at lower molecular weight areas to be more broad by column chromatography on Sephadex G-150 and ion-exchange chromatography on DEAE-Sepharose.

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Seasonal variation of tocopherol (Toc) contents in several tissues of carp was investigated on the cultured fish caught in March, July and December and the wild one in March by high performance liquid chromatography. Also, the contents of vitamin A and D in the same tissue were compared with Tocs.
1) In the composition of Tocs in carp, the percentage of non-α-Toc in the tissue rich in fat was higher than that in the lean tissue.
2) The contents of Tocs in carp tissues had a tendency to increase with the gonadial development, and especially the tendency was remarkable in the gonad and fatty tissue surrounding brain of the wild fish, which had the greatest gonad. In the above two tissues of the carp in March, corresponding to a gonadial developing season for spawn, significant differences in the contents of Tocs between male and female were observed, but such difference was not observedin any tissue of the carp in July and December, out season of spawning.
3) The contents of vitamin A and D in tissues were suggested to have essentially no seasonal variation, but the contents of two vitamins in tissues of the cultured fish in March were generally lower than that of the other three groups.
In any tissue of carp, no correlation between the content of Tocs and that of vitamin A or D was observed.

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