Daily energy expenditure and energy intake were estimated in twelve children living in Tokyo andnine children living in a rural mountain village. Activities of the children were recorded by directobservation for two days. For estimation of the daily energy expenditure, two methods were used: (1) Relative metabolic rate (RMR) of the child's activities reported by the Osaka City University studygroup (1967) and (2) Torún's energy expenditure rate (kcal/kg/min) for nine different categories ofactivity. The energy intake was calculated from the dietary record obtained by direct observation. The results were as follows: 1. In the rural children, energy expenditure by the RMR method waslarger than that by Torún's method. As for the urban children, there was no significant difference. 2. Energy expenditure in the rural children was larger than in the urban children. 3. Energy intakewas larger than energy expenditure in the rural children, irrespective of the estimation method used.

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The selenium content of foodstuffs (67 raw, 70 cooked or processed) and 83 cooked dishes wasmeasured by Watkinson's method and the values were compared with those reported in the literature. Daily intake per head for Japanese was estimated on the basis of the analyzed and reported values. (1) Among raw foodstuffs, fish, shellfish, meat and egg contain high levels of selenium. The discrepancy was remarkable between the analyzed and reported values for both raw foodstuffs and cookedor processed ones. (2) Noodles, egg dishes, meat dishes and fish dishes contain high levels of selenium, and on a per 100kcal basis, fish dishes contain the highest amounts of selenium. Furthermore, thepossibility of selenium being lost through cooking was noticed for some dishes. (3) Daily intake perhead for Japanese was estimated to be 104.2μg without taking account of cooking loss.

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Alterations in the serum and liver vitamin A contents, and steroid metabolism were investigated inmale Wistar rats by administration of squalene at a dose level of 0.1, 0.5 or 1.0ml/day for 28 days. The following results were obtained: 1) Seborrhea was observed in the rats administered 0.5 and 1.0ml/day of squalene. 2) No significant changes in vitamin A and cholesterol contents in the serumand liver were observed in any of the rats administered any dose of squalene. 3) The squalene contentsof the serum, liver and feces were clearly increased in proportion to the amounts of squalene administered. 4) Fecal excretion of cholesterol and coprostanol was decreased in rats administered 0.5 or1.0ml/day of squalene, while no such phenomena were observed in rats administered 0.1ml/day ofsqualene. 5) Increase in the fecal excretion of some types of bile acid was recognized only in ratsadministered 0.1ml/day of squalene.

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The changes in cellularity occurring during the development of obesity were investigated longitudinally in parametrial, perirenal and inguinal subcutaneous adipose tissues of mice with goldthioglucose induced obesity. Changes in the rate of increase in the three depots corresponded well withchanges of increase in body weight. However, an increase in fat cell number occurred earlier in theparametrial and perirenal depots than in the subcutaneous depot. In all three depots, the range of celldiameter increased with the development of obesity and bimodal distributions of fat cell size wereobserved when the fat cell number increased, possibly due to recruitment of newly observable fat cells. These results support the hypothesis of a “critical size” for adipocytes, in which there may be animportant interaction between fat cell size and fat cell number.

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Stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSP) were fed a diet based on Euglena drycells (Euglena gracilis z) as a protein source from 5 weeks of age, and observed until natural deathor sacrifice at 35 weeks of age in order to examine the effects of the diet on blood pressure, incidenceof cerebral stroke lesions and life-span. The results were as follows: (1) The Euglena diet had nosignificant effect on blood pressure, but obvious prolongation of life-span was observed. The incidenceof cerebral stroke and hypertensive vascular lesions was somewhat lower than in control rats. (2) Inthe Euglena diet group sacrificed at 35 weeks of age, a reduced incidence of cerebral stroke lesions, alower incidence hypertensive vascular lesions in the kidneys, testes and adrenals, suppressed elevationof plasma renin activity (PRA), and a less marked decrease in the elastin content of the aorta wererecognized. Moreover, this group showed fewer changes in electron microscopical findings in themesenteric arteries. (3) The lipid peroxide level (TBARS value) in the serum of the control groupshowed an increase after 15 weeks of age when cerebral vascular lesions began to develop, but thatin the Euglena diet group remained almost unchanged. These results suggest that the effect of a Euglena diet in prolonging the life-span of SHRSP might be due to delayed aging or destruction ofelastic fibers of the aorta.

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Leaf proteins (LPs) were prepared by heating the green juice from Italian ryegrass and alfalfa at 80-85°C and were compared with casein and soybean protein isolate for their hypocholesterolemic action in Wistar male rats. Each protein source was incorporated into a cholesterol-free, low-fat diet to provide a protein level of 20%. The values of serum total and LDL-cholesterol in rats fed Italian ryegrass and alfalfa LPs were significantly lower than those of rats fed casein and were comparable to those of rats fed soybean protein. p-Coumaric, ferulic and caffeic acids and coumestrol, which were presumed to be contaminants in LPs, had no lowering effect on serum total and LDL-cholesterol. In addition, it was shown that the ratios of Arg/Lys and Met+Cys/Gly of both the LPs were very close to those of soybean protein. These data suggest that both of the LPs tested appear to function in a similar way to soybean protein in their hypocholesterolemic action.

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Two kinds of fish oil (sardine oil : SA and squid oil : SQ) were given to rats fed a low-gluten diet (5%) for 4 weeks. The weight gains showed a decreasing tendency throughout the experimental period in the order of control (corn oil) group>SQ group>SA group. Serum protein, albumin and monoamine oxidase [1.4.3.4] activity were significantly higher in the SA group than in the control, although the iron content in the serum of both experimental groups decreased. Furthermore, total lipids and triacylglycerols in the liver of rats in the SA group were significantly lower than in the control. The level of TBARS (2-thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance) in the liver of rats in the SQ group was significantly lower than in the control and SA groups. Histologically, fatty liver was less severe in the SA group compared with the control and the SQ group. These hepatic histological observations corresponded to the biochemical results.

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C3H/He male mice have a high incidence of spontaneous liver tumor. It is recognized that this tumorigenesis is modified by the intestinal microflora. The effects of dietary fiber (cellulose, apple pulp, guar gum) on spontaneous liver tumorigenesis in C3H/He male mice and on comutagenicity induced by Trp-P-1 in the cecal contents were studied. Eight-week-old mice were fed either a fiber-free diet or a semipurified diet containing 5% dietary fiber for 44 weeks. The results obtained were as follows: 1) No differences in body weight were found among the groups throughout the experimental period. 2) The incidence of spontaneous liver tumor was high, above 90% in the fiber-free, cellulose and apple pulp diet groups. However, the incidence of liver tumor in the guar gum diet group was 62%, which was significantly lower than in the other groups. 3) The number of liver tumor nodules per tumor-bearing mouse in the guar gum diet group was significantly lower than that in the other groups. 4) Because no mutagenicity in the Ames test was recognized in cecal contents from C3H male mice, comutagenicity in the cecal contents induced by Trp-P-1 was studied. Comutagenicity was found in the cellulose and apple pulp diet groups, but not in the fiber-free and guar gum diet groups. Thus, the present study demonstrated that dietary guar gum inhibited spontaneous liver tumorigenesis in C3H male mice and that at least the comutagenicity induced by Trp-P-1 was not related to this inhibitory effect.

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A low-phenylalanine peptide mixture (LPP) was produced through enzymatic modification of a milk whey protein concentrate to examine its nutritional properties using normal rats in comparison with those of a simulated amino acid mixture (AAM). Time course changes in portal amino acid levels after meal-feeding, body weight gain, biochemical parameters of blood, weights of certain organs and intestinal flora showed no significant differences between the LPP and AAM diet groups, although the average food intake during meal-feeding was significantly larger in the LPP diet group than in the AAM diet group. The hair of AAM-group rats looked abnormal in comparison with that of LPP-group rats. Collating these results, we concluded that LPP was mostly similar to or sometimes better than AAM with regard to nutritional properties, as far as could be determined in the present experiment with normal rats.

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Lipids in potato starch and potato protein products were comparatively examined. 1. Potato starch and potato protein products were found to contain 0. 015% and 1. 470% lipid, respectively. 2. The ratio of neutral lipids to polar lipids was 60: 40 in potato starch and 70 : 30 in potato protein products. 3. Major neutral lipids were mainly composed of free fatty acids in both potato products, followed by diacylglycerol in potato starch and triacylglycerol in potato protein products. 4. The principal polar lipids in potato starch were sterylglycoside, diglycosyl-diacylglycerol as glycolipid and phosphatidyl-choline, and phosphatidylglycerol as phospholipid. On the other hand, those in potato protein products were similar glycolipids in large amounts, with a small amount of phospholipid. 5. The most abundant lipid component as a whole was free fatty acids in both products. 6. Among the constituent fatty acids, palmitic acid predominated in both total lipids and free fatty acids in both potato products.

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