We have isolated a new strain of Lactobacillus plantarum from Japanese pickles produced by a farmer in Hokkaido, and have named the strain HOKKAIDO. Our investigation of HOKKAIDO strain revealed several characteristics. The strain exhibits digestive juice tolerance and can survive in the intestine. The strain strongly adheres to human enterocyte-like Caco-2 cells, and cells of HOKKAIDO strain competed with E. coli O-157 cells for adhesion to Caco-2 cells. From several examinations with human dendritic cells, this strain may act to improve immune function. It was found that HOKKAIDO strain is superior in the fermentation of vegetables, fruits, and cereals. These characteristics were exploited to produce foods such as fermented soybean milk, alcoholic beverages using sake lees, and fermented carrot drink. In addition, HOKKAIDO strain as a probiotic was contained in commercial products such as yogurt and a milk substitute for calves.

Advanced technologies have been presented for optimum freezing and storage conditions based on the relationships between ice crystal morphology and food qualities such as color and sensory score. An improved method using cryo-adhesive film was proposed for quick measurement of ice crystal size and shape in frozen foods. The formation of ice crystals could make products less appealing and affect the sensory score of texture and palatability. Thus, relationships among freezing rate, ice crystal size, and color have been assessed quantitatively to investigate a temporary whitening effect on the surface of salmon fillets during freezing. Then, the size of ice crystals in frozen cooked rice was highly correlated with palatability score. Prediction methodologies for the optimum temperature conditions and inhibition temperature conditions of recrystallization to maintain the quality of frozen cooked rice have been proposed using artificial neural network models based on the size and fractal dimension of ice crystals. The quantitative analysis of ice crystals in foods provides useful information to demonstrate the effects on food quality and design practical models for optimum freezing and storage temperature conditions.

本研究では真正眼点藻Nannochloropsis含有脂質を対象に種々の抽出手法（含浸抽出，超音波含浸抽出および超臨界流体抽出）を検討した．まず，含浸抽出ならびに超音波含浸抽出を行った結果，溶媒種では両親媒性溶媒が有効であることが示された．また，超音波効果による脂質収量ならびに脂質割合の増加が確認され，概括的に藻体内の脂質組成を明らかにした．超臨界流体抽出法について検討した結果，CO₂にエタノール添加することにより脂質の抽出率は増加するもののその増加量は小さく，細胞壁破砕処理の必要性が示された．EPAに着目し，各抽出手法における収率を検討したところ，Folch溶媒での回収率が高かったが，それ以外では20mol%のエントレーナ（エタノール）を含む超臨界CO₂抽出により効果的に回収が行える可能性が示された．

高アミロース米は，血糖上昇が穏やかな機能性米としての利用が期待できるが，その米飯は硬く粘りが少ないため，日本人の嗜好性に適さない．そこで，高アミロース米「越のかおり」について，好ましい食味が得られる炊飯方法について加水条件を中心に検討を行い，次の結果を得た．

(1）浸漬温度の相違（20℃または40℃）に関わらず，30分の浸漬時間で十分な吸水が認められた．

(2）米飯の水分含量は，同加水率ではコシヒカリよりも低値を示したが，加水率の増加に伴い水分含量も増加し，加水率1.8倍以上の高加水条件ではコシヒカリよりも高値となった．

(3）米飯の物性は，加水率の増加に伴い「硬さ」と「こし」が低下し，「付着性」と「粘り」が増加した．コシヒカリ米飯を基準とした好ましい物性を得るためには，加水率1.8∼2.2倍の加水条件が適切であると考えられた．

(4）米飯の官能評価では，加水率2.2倍で炊飯した米飯の評価がコシヒカリに最も近かったことから，越のかおりの炊飯時の加水率は，米重量比2.2倍が適切であることが明らかになった．

The conventional approach to preventing the onset of food allergy has been to prohibit pregnant/ lactating women and infants from consuming highly allergenic foods such as hen’s egg, cow’s milk and wheat. However, it has been shown that the avoidance of such foods by pregnant/ lactating mothers has no effect on preventing food allergy in infants. Furthermore, recent research suggests that early introduction of allergenic foods in the weaning diet prevents the onset of food allergy. We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in which the subjects were infants with atopic dermatitis, and demonstrated that early introduction of hen’s egg at six months of age prevents the onset of egg allergy.

Recent years, many people have wanted to be healthier and paid attention to vitamin rich foods. However, vitamin contents in foods shown in tables of food composition do not always correspond to vitamins available for body, because dietary B-group vitamins exist as free-, cofactor- and bound-forms and human cannot completely digest and absorb the bound-form B-group vitamins. This manuscript shows our recent works to develop evaluation of vitamin nutritional status and bioavailability of B-group vitamins in diets and foods using urine samples as nutritional biomarkers. Especially, our results showed that eggs contained enough amounts of bioavailable pantothenic acid and biotin. Evaluation of bioavailability of B-group vitamins in foods and intake of foods such as eggs containing high bioavailable B-group vitamin is important to maintain health.