The relations between sulfhydryl contents and rheological properties of cooked rice were investigated with using farinograph. The consistency in farinogram increased with the addition of oxidizing agent, which meant that the hardness of cooked rice increased when oxidative transition of sulfhydryl groups to disulfide groups occured.
It is generally accepted that the hydrogen sulfide is one of the indispensable component of cooked rice aroma, and also was reported that the hydrogen sulfide, in general, generated from the sulfhydryl groups of protein. The amount of hydrogen sulfide in the cooked volatile of rice was found, in this report, richer in the rice stored at 5°C than stored at 40°C.
Therefore, it is conceivable that the decrease of sulfhydryl groups during rice storage contributes to both texture deterioration and aroma change.
Considering the interaction among lipid, protein and starch, the mechanism of storage deterioration of polished rice was discussed and provisional scheme was presented in this report.

View full abstract

The level of blood cholesterol is considered to be influenced by the diet sterols, but the content and the composition of sterols in vegetable foodstuffs remains obscure as compared to those in animal ones.
The sterol content equivalent to that of β-sitosterol was determined in unsaponified matters obtained from edible vegetable oils. The content of free sterols and sterol esters was determined by fractionation with silica gel column. The content and the composition of sterols in hexane extracts of saponified lipids were determined by gas-liquid chromatography.
Sterol content in 1g of edible vegetable oils was found to be several mgs, while that of the oil sold as “sesame oil A” and rice oil was significantly higher (49-51mg). Nearly equal content of free sterols and sterol esters was found in most of the oils tested, while “sesame oil A” and rice oil contained sterol esters five times as much as free sterols. Gas-liquid chromatographic analysis revealed: 1. β-sitosterol and campestereol were contained in all of the samples, 2. stigmasterol was not found in salad oil B and C, and 3. the content of β-sitosterol was most abundant among those of three kinds of sterol.

View full abstract

In the present report, the influence of ultrasonic irradiation on enzyme activities of some vegetables and fruits, especially on the activities of β-amylase and of proteinases such as ficin and papain were observed, and the results are summarized as follows:
1) As to β-amylase, ultrasonic irradiation during enzyme action (20K, C 10 minutes) resulted in a marked fall of the activity to degrade starch. The addition of L-cysteine to β-amylase after the fall of the activity through ultrasanic irradiation failed to restore the activity.
2) β-amylase activity in raw extract of a water melon, tomato, sweet potato and potato showed little fall after ultrasonic irradiation (20K, C 60 minutes). In raw extract of radish, however, some influence was noted. Especially α-amylase activity of radish juice showed a marked decrease.
3) Ficin and papain was activated by reducing agents such as KCN. Activation with KCN after the treatment by ultrasonic irradiation (20K, C 60 minutes), resulted in a considerable augmentation of enzyme activities of ficin and papain. On the contrary, ultrasonic irradiation after activation with KCN resulted in a considerable fall of activity of ficin, but little influence was noted with papain.

View full abstract

Effect of goitrin upon thyroid function was investigated in body weight gain and nitrogen balance with both immature rats weighing about 80g and mature rats about 240g. Various amounts of goitrin, 1 to 20mg per rat per day, were administered orally for a period of 14 days.
Thyroid weight increased and plasma PB¹³¹I decreased proportionately to the quantity of goitrin administered and suppression of thyroid function was observed. Body weight gain of immature group administered with 20mg goitrin was depressed but mature group administered with 20mg goitrin showed a tendency to increase. In other groups, administration of goitrin gave no effect on body weight gain.
It was decreased in nitrogen retention of immature rats but showed a rising tendency in mature rats by goitrin administration. Though correlation between nitrogen retention and thyroid function was observed to be insignificant in this experiment, weight and nitrogen content of liver increased in the goitrin administered groups and significant correlation was observed between liver nitrogen and thyroid function.
Differences of thyroid function, body weight gain and nitrogen retention were discussed between immature and mature rats.

View full abstract

Mature soybean seeds (var. Kyûshû No. 12) were fractionated into the 3 parts (Cotyledon, Hull, and Hypocotyl) and analyzed (Table 1). As the free sugars, only glucose was detected as the monosaccharide, and sucrose, raffinose, stachyose, and verbascose were determined in the three parts (Table 2). It was found that all of the three parts contained 0.2-0.4% of cold-water soluble polysaccharide, whose component sugars were galactose, glucose, mannose, arabinose, and xylose (Table 3). The hull contained 33.5% crude fiber (93% α-cellulose), while the cotyledon and hypocotyl contained about 2% crude fiber consisting of α-, β-, and γ-celluloses (Table 4). Even α-cellulose showed the presence of galactose, arabinose, mannose, and xylose besides glucose after hydrolysis, while β-cellulose consisted mainly of galactose and arabinose (Table 5). The hull contained only 0.01% starch, while the other two parts contained about 0.3% starch, as determined by enzymatic and colorimetric methods (Table 6). The hull and hypocotyl contained 3-4% pectic substance, while cotyledon contained only 1%. After hydrolysis these pectic substances gave not only galacturonic acid, galactose, and arabinose, but also fucose, xylose, and mannose in varying ratios according to the part of the seed (Table 7). Thus the methods for analyzing soybean carbohydrates have not yet been established.

View full abstract

Sourness threshold values (S.T.V.) of four inorganic acids and twenty five organic acids were determined and the correlation between their structure and S.T.V. was discussed.
1) S.T.V. of inorganic acids were related with their dissociation constants.
2) S.T.V. of the saturated straight chain monobasic acids decreased as their carbon number increased. S.T.V. of the branched chain monobasic acids were higher than those of the straight chain monobasic acids.
3) S.T.V. of the aliphatic dibasic acids increased with increase in the carbon number and these were related with their dissociation constants.
4) The organic acids to which another polar group such as -OH or -Cl was attached had a slight tendency to have higher dissociation constants and lower S.T.V. than the aliphatic acids.
5) S.T.V. of the polybasic acids were related with the first dissociated hydrogen ion.
These results suggest that the dissociation constants and the balance between hydrophobic and hydrophilic group affect S.T.V. of organic acids.

View full abstract

The free sugars and starch were determined in the three different parts (cotyledon, hull, and hypocotyl) of the ripening soybean seed. In order to investigate the carbohydrate contents of unripe soybean eaten as a vegetable and the metabolic changes of free sugars and starch during growth.
The soybean, Kyûshû No. 12, was sown in July, 1969, and harvested before the sunrise of every fourth day during the months of September till November. The seeds harvested were separated mechanically into the three parts.
For the determination of free sugars, the sample was extracted with 80% boiling ethanol and then with cold water. The extract was separated by paper chromatography and each sugar extracted with cold water from the respective partition of chromatogram was subjected to the determination by four conventional colorimetric methods. Starch was determined with the glucoamylase and glucose oxidase -peroxidase method.
Free sugar content in hypocotyl was increased up to 44% of total solid matter as a transient phenomenon and decreased in parallel with the growth. The reducing sugar content was 3.5% in the early stage of growth, and it rapidly decreased to a trace. Although reducing sugars, glucose, galactose, fructose, maltose and maltotriose, were detected from the early stage through defoliating stage, only glucose was detected in the latest stage. Nonreducing sugars, sucrose, raffinose and stachyose, were detected through all the stages during growth. In cotyledon, they were gradually detected during growth, i. e., sucrose→raffinose→stachyose→verbascose. In hypocotyl, a high content of starch, nearly 68%, was temporarily determined however, starch content was maintained rather low during growth.

View full abstract

Fetal development is accompanied by extensive changes in maternal body compositions and metabolism, and the severe anemia during pregnancy also has great influences not only upon the mother but also upon the fetus and the newborn. It is clear that clinical standards considered “normal” for the non-pregnant women cannot be used as standards for pregnant women because of the big hemodilution in pregnancy. By our observations, the hemoglobin concentration decreased on average by 14.0%, while the plasma volume and blood volume increased on average by 49.8% and 23.3%, respectively.
In an attempt to make a hematological standard for the gravid Japanese woman, measurments of the total hemoglobin and red cell mass were made on 112 pregnant women (IIIrd trimester) without any selection of cases, who were residents of Tokushima City. By using the statistical analysis, anemia of the gravid woman was defined as follows: the total hemoglobin below 9.0g/kg, and the red cell mass below 25ml/kg, taking a range of 2 S.D. from the mean. But these standards seemed not too convenient for the practical use for group examination of pregnant women.
Accordingly, the hemoglobin concentration less than 10.0g/dl in the venous blood was designed as anemia in pregnancy, since the highest correlation was found on it with the total hemoglobin and red cell mass. On the other hand, the red cell count and the hematocrit were found less usefull for the indicators of anemia in pregnancy. The incidence of anemia in pregnancy by this standard was 16.9% (35 women out of 206), and the anemia was of the normocytic, hypochromic type and was accompanied by low serum iron values.

View full abstract

In order to investigate the new aspects of processing properties of the fruits of “Ume”, peach and cherry, the contents, chemical properties and gel-formation of their pectic substances were studied:
1. Quantitative determination of pectic substances as anhydrogalacturonic acid.
2. Comparison with some chemical properties between pectic substances extracted from each fruit and a commercial pectin preparation.
3. Characteristics of pectin-sugar-acid-water jelly which are shown by Okada gelometer and curdmeter.
As the result of the experiments, the pitted fresh fruits contain anhydrogalacturonic acid of 0.33% in “Ume”, 0.35% in peach and 0.42% in cherry.
All these pectic substances had good gel-forming properties and were therefore suitable for cooking and processing purposes.

View full abstract

To compare the nutritive value of strawberries on the market, between those by off-season culture and those by normal culture, the vitamin C content at their respective seasons were estimated.
The crop-moving season of the strawberries by off-season culture is divided as follows: Oct. -Apr. (items: normal culture for fall production, Oct. -Nov., forcing culture, Dec. -Feb., and semi-forcing culture, Mar. -Apr.), and May-mid-June, the crop-moving season of those by normal culture.
The vitamin C content in the strawberries by off-season culture is 82.6mg% (mean value), which is considerably higher than that in those by normal culture, 57.9mg%.

View full abstract