The daily intake of various kinds of lipids by 100 Japanese school children (average age: 9.4 years) was measured directly by the duplicate portion method. The average daily intake of total fatty acid was 39.7g, and there were no significant differences in the amounts and fatty acid compositions between obese and non-obese children. Saturated fatty acid accounted for about 35.1%, and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid for 3.3%. The average daily intake of IPA, DPA and DHA was 297mg/day, and 50% of the school children took 100mg/day or less. The daily intakes of cholesterol and plant sterol amounted to 255mg and 137mg, respectively, and there were no significant differences in these intakes between obese and non-obese children.

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Sodium alginate oligosaccharide (Na-AO) was prepared from sodium polyalginate by cleavage with alginate lyase, and the effects of Na-AO on serum lipids, serum minerals and urinary minerals were investigated in rats. Na-AO was administered orally to rats by gastric tube at 0.3 and 0.6g/rat/day for 31 days. Blood samples were obtained at 14, 21 and 32 days. Serum total cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol in the 0.6g/rat/day group were significantly lower than in the other two groups on all sampling days. In addition, on the final day, the serum apoA-I level was also significantly low, accompanied by a tendency for a low serum triglyceride level. All other serum and blood parameters were within daily variation, and there were no significant differences among the three groups. Urinary sodium excretion was dose-dependently increased by Na-AO administration, and conversely urinary calcium excretion tended to decrease. These results suggest that Na-AO administration at 0.6g/rat/day has a hypolipidemic effect without any changes in serum minerals, and that this effect is due mainly to a decrease in HDL containing apoA-I.

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Generally, fermented soybean products posses antioxidant activities. To fully utilize fermented defatted soybeans with Neurospora intermedia (D-ontjom) as a food, the antioxidant activity of D-ontjom was estimated. In vitro radical scavenging activity of a methanol extract of D-ontjom was stronger than that of a corresponding hexane extract. The hexane extract contained a trace amount of γ-tocopherol and small amounts of β-carotene and α-carotene. The methanol extract was considerably rich in isoflavone-aglycones (diazein and genistein). These results suggest that the radical scavenging activity of D-ontjom in vitro would be mainly attributable to the components in the methanol extract. To estimate the antioxidant activity of D-ontjom in vivo, rats were fed diets deficient in vitamin E, containing D-ontjom or defatted soybeans (DSB) and oxidized oil. In the rats fed the DSB diet, body weight gain was smaller, the contents of both thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) in the serum and liver were higher, and the serum α-tocopherol level was lower than the corresponding values for rats fed the control diet. However, no difference was found in terms of body weight gain between rats fed the D-ontjom diet and rats fed the control diet, and TBARS in both the serum and liver, and the serum α-tocopherol level were slightly lower in the D-ontjom group than in the control group. These results suggest that some components of D-ontjom suppress lipid peroxidation in vivo in rats. Isoflavone-aglycones and carotene would collaboratively contribute to the antioxidant activity of D-ontjom.

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We conducted a survey on recognition of food labeling of consumers. The survey questionnaire was designed to test knowledge of food labeling, label contents, amounts of food components, utilization of food labeling, and consciousness of food labeling. As for food labeling consciousness, the subjects were found to be aware of the needs high in contents of energy, fats, dietary fiber, cholesterol, calcium, iron, vitamins, and minerals. Irrespective of sex and age, the subjects had high health consciousness, especially among those using food labeling. Around 20% of the subjects wanted to know their own recommended dietary allowances using food labels. Half of the subjects expressed a wish for more labeling of foods.

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