The most important factors for maintaining and promoting health are known to be nutrition, exercise and rest. Although there have been many studies on nutrition and immunity, or exercise and immunity, few studies have concomitantly investigated the effects of both nutrition and exercise on host immune functions. Since aging also has great effects on host immune functions, especially cellular immunity, this review covers the effects of nutrition and exercise not only on host immune functions but also the decrease of cellular immune functions in the aged. Animal models of aging have shown that vitamin E (VE) has an ability to restore cellular immune functions that have deteriorated with aging. Furthermore, VE also plays an important role in T-cell differentiation and maturation in the thymus. It has been demonstrated that a bout of treadmill exercise causes a transient decrease of cellular immune function immediately after exercise, which is thought to be related to changes in plasma prostaglandin E2, Iactate and glutamine concentrations. On the other hand, exercise training has been shown to have beneficial effects, both qualitatively and functionally, on celluiar immunity in the aged. From these results, it should be emphasized that appropriate nutrition and exercise training are beneficial for maintaining and promoting health in the aged.

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The Gidra-speaking people of lowland Papua New Guinea basically subsist on local foods by exploitation of sago, slash-and-burn horticulture, hunting, fishing, and gathering. To evaluate the trace element nutrition of the Gidra, trace element intakes were calculated, and the concentrations of trace elements in hair and serum were measured in four villages. The composition of the foods consumed in these villages differed according to their ecological conditions such as environmental availability, subsistence technology and purchasing ability. Accordingly, intake levels and hair and serum concentrations of trace elements differed among the villages. In comparison with developed countries, a conspicuous characteristic of trace element levels in hair and serum of the Gidra was lower zinc concentrations. On the other hand, although the pattern of trace element intake by the Gidra differed from that of developed countries, the level of zinc intake was not sufficiently low to explain the low hair and serum zinc levels. These contradictory results are attributable to the high intake of crude fiber and iron, which are known to inhibit zinc absorption.

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Male greenhouse farmers engaged in strawberry growing in a town near Kumamoto city were studied during the harvest and post-harvest seasons from 1985 to 1988. Dividing the subjects into two age-groups of 10 elderly (over 56) and 15 middle-aged (less than 55) individuals, relationships among age, physical characteristics, work load and food consumption were examined to clarify possible overloads on the elderly. Compared with the middle-aged group, the elderly group showed low values of body weight, percentage body fat and Body Mass Index (BMI). Householdor per capita cultivation area was also lower in the elderly group than in the middle-aged group. However, daily energy expenditure estimated by 24-h heart-rate monitoring did not differ in the harvest-season, being about 2, 700 kcal per day in the two groups. In the elderly, daily energy intake was lower than energy expenditure in the harvest season. Intakes of calcium, and vitamins B₁ and B₂ did not meet the daily requirements, although intake was balanced with requirement for iron, and vitamins A and C. The food consumption pattern in the middle-aged group was similar to that in the elderly group, with higher values for all nutrients. Accordingly, the rate of intake relative to requirement was inversely correlated with age for most of the nutrients. It is suggested that food consumption in the busy harvest season is independent of work load and controlled by socioeconomic factors such as the number of household members and work schedule.

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We studied the correlation between dietary carotenoid intake and the serum concentrations of six carotenoids in nine healthy young women and eight carotenodermic subjects. Carotenoid intake was estimated from food diaries for seven days, and serum carotenoids were analyzed concurrently every two months for one year. The total serum carotenoid concentrations were measured spectrophotometrically, and the carotenoids were analyzed in five fractions (β-carotene, α-carotene, zeaxanthin/lutein and lycopene) by HPLC. The total serum carotenoid concentrations were higher in the eight carotenodermics than in the normal subjects, and the serum concentrations of predominant carotenoids in each person were relatively constant in each individual for a year. Among these eight subjects, four consumed a lot of foods containing carotenoids, but the other four did not. In both groups, the large relative amounts of certain carotenoids obtained from some carotenoid-containing foods reflected the high concentrations of similar carotenoids in serum.

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The effects of casein composition on clot formation and digestibility were investigated. Bovine α-casein formed large clots when dissolved in an acid solution, whereas the clots formed by bovine β-casein and human milk casein were extremely fine. The digestibility of bovine β-casein was superior to that of bovine α-casein upon in vitro digestion with pepsin and pancreatin under the conditions found in the infant intestinal tract. In a rat model, bovine β-casein was digested and left the stomach more rapidly. These findings suggest that the high digestibility of β-casein is due to its tendency to form fine clots.

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The content of N-acetylneuraminic acid (NeuAc) in serum, urine and feces from breast-fed and formula-fed infants at 2-7 days after delivery was determined. The serum content of NeuAc in breast-fed infants was 41.2±8.58mg/dl and that in formula-fed infants was 37.0±5.45mg/dl, the latter being significantly lower (p<0.05). The ratio of NeuAc to creatinine in urine of breast-fed infants was 0.390±0.079 and that of formula-fed infants was 0.294±0.081 (p<0.05). The content of NeuAc in feces of breast-fed infants was 4.59±2.10mg/g fresh feces, and that in formula-fed infants was 2.36±1.00mg/g fresh feces. The amount of NeuAc excreted into urine and feces was 18.6mg/day and 45.9mg/day in breast-fed infants, and 14.0mg/day and 23.6mg/day in formula-fed infants. High-performance thin-layer chromatography revealed little 6′-sialyllactose in urine and feces of formula-fed infants. These differences may be because human milk contains more NeuAc than infant formula.

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The effects of zinc deficiency on the responses of rats in selecting dietary protein were investigated in growing rats. Two diets of 10% and 20% demineralized soy protein were given simultaneously to rats for 11 days after feeding then with either a zinc-adequate (25ppm Zn) or a zinc-deficient diet (≤0.3ppm Zn) for 10 days. Rats in the zinc-adequate group selected the 20% protein diet more frequently than rats in the zinc-deficient group. No differences were found between zinc-adequate and zinc-deficient rats in selecting the 10% protein diet. Zinc-deficient rats showed a reduced tendency to select the 20% protein diet. When zinc-deficient rats were offered a choice between 0% and 20% protein diets, they ate preferentially the non-protein diet 9 days after presentation of the diets. Zinc-deficient rats that selectively fed on these diets survived longer than those that fed on either the 0% or 20% protein diet alone. Serum alkaline phosphatase activity and the femur zinc concentration in zinc-deficient rats were decreased to a lesser extent in the group allowed to select the diet than in the group given the 20% protein diet. These results suggest that rats may regulate their intake of dietary protein to maintain their body zinc status.

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The effects of oligosaccharide containing theanderose (TR-32) on fecal microflora and properties were studied in healthy volunteers, who consumed TR-32 containing 4.0, 3.0 or 2.0g theanderose daily for 21 days. No significant change was observed in fecal moisture content, but a slight change occurred in the fecal pH value during intake of theanderose. Fecal microflora examination showed that the counts and the ratio of Bifidobacterium were significantly changed by a daily intake of 4.0 or 3.0g theanderose. A tendency for an increase of fecal Bifidobacterium was observed during administration of 2.0g of theanderose.

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Globulin proteins were isolated from a 0.5M NaCl extract of tartary buckwheat, then separated by column chromatography on Sephacryl S-300 and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The results Showed that the tartary buckwheat globulins contained two kinds of globulin, with molecular weights of 679, 000 and 443, 000, respectively. Quantitatively, the latter was the major tartary buckwheat globulin. This major globulin had several bands on SDS-PAGE, which appeared as a single peak with a molecular weight of 178, 600 on gel filtration with 6M guanidine hydrochoride. These results provide evidence that the major globulin from tartary buckwheat is composed of two or three polypeptides, each with a molecular weight 178, 600, and linked with hydrogen bonds.

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We determined the amylographic characteristics of various rice specimens to clarify the degree of gelatinization of hot water-treated rice (abnormally cooked rice obtained by prolonged steeping at 75°C for 8-18h). The maximum viscosity of the rice specimens tested decreased in the following order: warm water-treated rice (rice steeped at 60°C for 24h), raw rice, hot water-treated rice, aged rice (cooked rice stored at 5°C for 48 or 96h), cooked rice, pressure-cooked rice, and alkaline-gelatinized rice. There was an inverse relationship between the maximum viscosity and the degree of gelatinization. We proposed a tentative scale based on the maximum viscosity to estimate the degree of gelatinization. We adopted values for warm water-treated rice and alkalinegelatinized rice as gelatinization standards of 0% and 100%, respectively. Using the new scale, the degree of gelatinization for hot water-treated rice was estimated to be 30-47%, while that for cooked rice was 67-75%.

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