The daily intakes of many kinds of food additives from processed foodstuffs have been investigated using the Market Basket Method proposed by the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare. In this study, we tried to estimate to what extent food additives naturally present in foods are ingested daily from fresh foodstuffs. Following our list of foodstuffs based on the statistical values presented in “the National Nutrition Survey” and “the Statistical Yearbook of Food Industries, ” fresh foodstuffs were purchased in October, 1985, at nine locations in Japan, The foodstuffs collected were classified into six groups. Each group was analyzed with reference to 9 kinds of vitamins, 4 kinds of minerals and 12 kinds of free amino acids. Comparison of the daily intakes from fresh foodstuffs with those from processed foodstuffs suggested that most of the daily intakes of food additives investigated in the present experiments came from natural sources rather than from artificially added ones.

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According to the market basket method proposed by the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare, the same kinds of foods were purchased in Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, Yamanashi, Nagano, Nagoya, Osaka, Wakayama, Matsue, Takamatsu and Kitakyushu; processed foods in October, 1983, and fresh foods in October, 1985, and in May, 1986. Each of the food types collected was classified into 8 or 6 groups and subjected to analysis of the tocopherol homologue contents. The average daily intake of tocopherols per capita was calculated to be 17.12mg, comprising 31% α-, 8% β- 56% γ- and 5% δ-tocapherol. The intake of α-tocopherol equivalent per capita per day, therefore, was estimated to be 6.71 mg. There was a charaefieristic difference in the composition of tocopherols between fresh and processed foods, α-tocopherol and γ-tocopherol predominating in each, respectively. With reference to regional differences in daily intake of tocopherol, the maximum was 31.43mg, 2.9 times higher than the minimum. In the case of fresh foods, there was no seasonal difference with regard to the daily intake of tocopherol.

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The effects of Spirulina platensis on plasma and liver lipids were studied in 3-week-old male Wistar rats fed on a high-fructose diet. The rats were fed on high-fructose diets containing 0%, 5%, 10% and 15% dried Spirulina for 4 weeks ad libitum. The elevation in the plasma levels of total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, triglyceride and phospholipid caused by the fructose feeding was clearly reduced by Spirulina supplementation. However, Spirulina feeding had no effect on liver lipids. These results suggest that the dietary hyperlipidemia caused by the high-fructose diet was cured by Spirulina feeding.

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The effects of Chinese green tea and Oolong tea on blood pressure, plasma and liver lipid levels were studied in male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) (4 weeks old) and male rats (3 weeks old) fed a high fructose diet. The animals were supplied with Chinese green tea (CI), tea 5 times the CI concentration (CII), Oolong tea (OI) and tea 5 times the OI concentration (OII) in drinking water ad libitum. 1) In SHR supplied with tea for 8 weeks, the blood pressure decreased significantly. The level of plasma high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol was increased significantly by the administration of OII, while the corresponding levels of plasma triglyceride were decreased significantly by OI or OII. 2) When Wistar rats fed on a high-fructose diet were supplied with tea for 6 weeks, dietary hyperlipidemia was observed in the control group. However, the elevation of plasma total and HDL cholesterol was reduced significantly by administration of CII. The level of plasma triglyceride was reduced significantly by CII, OI or OII supplementation.

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The effect of long-term administration of trypsin inhibitor on the content of exocrine pancreatic enzymes and the in situ secretory responses to a secretagogue in the rat pancreas were examined. Male Sprague-Dawley rats 5 weeks old were used. Each rat received oral administration of leupeptin (50, 200 or 400mg/kg body weight) by orogastric tube once daily for 14 days. Trypsin inhibitor administration did not affect the body weight gain, though it led to a significant dose-dependent increase in pancreatic weight. In the enlarged pancreas, the tissue contents of amylase [EC 3.2.1.1] and trypsin [EC 3.4.21.4] were significantly increased. The changes in the enzyme contents were non-parallel, since the increase in trypsin was more marked than that of amylase. The secretory responses induced by caerulein in leupeptin-administered rats were significantly greater than those in the control rats. The basal flow of pancreatic juice in leupeptin-administered rats before stimulation was more than twice that of the control. However, the basal output levels of amylase and protein in the leupeptinadministered rats were similar to the corresponding values in the control. From these findings, it was concluded that trypsin inhibitor induces not only the secretion of CCK-PZ but also secretin.

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The effects of administration of a diet containing medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) on lipid metabolism in gastrectomized rats were studied, together with the effects on liver function and serum ketone bodies. The results obtained were as follows.
1) The concentrations of cholesterol (CHO), phospholigid (PL), triglyceride (TG) and non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA) in serum, and of CHO and TG in the liver, were significantly lower in the gastrectomized rats than in the normal rats when a diet containing 15% safflower oil (SO) was given.
2) The gastrectomized rats fed the diet containing 15% MCT showed increased concentrations of these lipids, especially TG and NEFA, in serum compared with the gastrectomized rats fed SO. Also, in proportion to the increase in MCT to SO ratio, the concentrations of these lipids in the gastrectomized rats were increased.
3) No significant differences in the results of liver function tests were observed among these groups. In the case of non-fasting, the concentration of serum ketone bodies was slightly higher in the gastrectomized rats fed MCT composed with those fed SO. However, after fasting, the concentrations of serum ketone bodies did not show any significant difference in any of the groups, and were remarkably higher than those in non-fasting rats.
These results indicated that MCT improved the lipid metabolism of gastrectomized rats and had no adverse effects on liver funtion and serum ketone bodies in gastrectomized rats.

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Different types of vegetable oil (soybean, cotton seed, olive, rapeseed and hardened rapeseed) with or without soya lecithin with different degrees of hydrogenation, iron (ferric chloride) and lecithin-iron mixture, were heated in Pyrex glass tubes (2.7×20cm) at 180°C for 10 or 15 hr using an oil bath. After heating of each oil, the residual tocopherol (Toc), coloring and oxidative stability were determined by HPLC, Lovibond colorimeter and the oven test at 60°C, respectively.
Lecithin suppressed the decomposition of Toc in each oil during heating. Hydrogenated lecithin (over 60%) showed a greater protective effect against the decomposition of Toc in olive oil than unhydrogenated lecithin. Iron accelerated not only the thermal oxidation of each oil but also the decomposition of Toc in soybean oil. However, lecithin-iron mixture did not show any accelerative reaction on oxidation or decomposition. A browning reaction of the oil due to heating was most pronounced in the mixture containing iron-hydrogenated (100%) lecithin than in those containing only iron, only hydrogenated (100%) lecithin or iron-unhydrogenated lecithin.

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The functions of fat in the process of cookie dough-making were analyzed by comparing the physical properties of a high-fat model dough with those of a high-water model dough. Pulsed NMR and differential scanning calorimetric analyses of the high-fat dough indicated that a major proportion of existing water was in a bound state, whereas the fat was in a free state. Texture parameters of the high-fat dough depended on the solid index of the fat used. Cryoscanning electron microscopy showed that the fat constituted a continuous phase. From these results it was concluded that the texture of cookie dough was highly dependent on the rheological properties of the constituent fat.

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In the cooking process of Igesu-ryori, the addition of rice bran extract is essential. The effect of this addition on the solubilization of agar was analysed by measuring the yield of the agar and the gel strength. We attempted to detect the substances gresent in the rice bran by measuring the molecular weight distribution of polysaccharide using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).
The addition of water-soluble extract of rice bran resulted in an acceleratian of agar solubilization and increased hardness of the agar gel, but the addition of fat-soluble extract of rice bran did not produce the same degree of coagulation. A difference in the molecular weight distribution of the two kinds of polysaccharides obtained by the above procedure was proved.

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