Although it is founded on a modern and progressive basis, Japan’s food education initiative, locally known as Shokuiku, has met with limited success since its inception in 2005. In response to this stagnant situation, so-called an “evidence-based” approach, in which the educational programme is improved through a system of impact evaluation, was recently re-emphasised by food education researchers in Japan. One of such evidence-based models, l’éducation sensorielle (sensory or taste education), has been visited by a growing number of researchers in Japan, however past studies on taste education in Japan are largely characterised by an ad hoc impact evaluation, i.e. an impact evaluation for only this programme. Among these, only Ueda (2017) developed the impact evaluation system based on the past studies in Europe and proved its educational impacts on children’s dietary behaviours. In this recent research the three challenges in improving the educational impacts were elucidated : (1) optimisation of its evaluation system on “food curiosity”, (2) extension of its programme duration and (3) refinement of the existing educational programme based on related academic discourse.

In order to escape from the ad hoc evidence-based approach prevailing in taste education research in Japan and ameliorate the existing programme, the aim of this study is to address these three challenges proposed in Ueda’s study (2017). The first step was to integrate theoretical perspectives of educational psychology and thus to redevelop the impact evaluation system of “food curiosity”, one of most important indicators for the development of children’s dietary behaviours. Secondly, in order to respond to the other two challenges, the existing taste education programme, together with suggesting additional content for the school lunch programmes, was refined based on academic discourse on food education research. Lastly, this upgraded programme was tested on 10- to 12-year-old children (intervention : n=22, control : n=21) to evaluate its educational impacts. The updated programme was shown to have more extensive educational impacts on the cognitive and attitudinal aspects of children’s dietary behaviours than the initial programme. This study could propose the improved evaluation system and upgraded programme of taste education as well as making an effective methodological orientation for the taste education research in Japan.

To clarify factors influencing stages of changes in food intake, questionnaires were carried out in 143 university student athletes. A logistic analysis revealed that, in male athletes, longer sleep times and regular players were positive factors for promoting stages of changes. In female athletes, experiences of nourishment supports and less problems of eating habits were positive factors. The average evaluation rates for main dish, side dish, and full meal were higher in later stages of changes than in earlier stages in female athletes. In male athletes, the average evaluation rates for dairy products was higher in later stages of changes. These results suggest that consideration of a gender-related difference is necessary to implement a transtheoretical model (TTM)-based dietary education program for university student athletes.

Hypertension is one of the critical risk factors of dementia and cerebrovascular disease which shorten healthy life expectancy. Salt reduction is the most effective approach for prevention and improvement of hypertension. However, it is difficult to make it a habit because salt reduction makes the diet taste worse. Glutamic acid abounding in tomatoes is known to lower the threshold of saltiness. Therefore, we developed “Tomato low-salt diet” in which salty Japanese seasonings such as soy sauce and miso (fermented soybean paste) were replaced by tomatoes or tomato ketchup and assessed the effect and substitutability as a low-salt diet.

We conducted a randomized parallel-group trial in 33 healthy Japanese women (aged 21.5±1.1 years). The tomato low-salt diet or the control diet of which sodium content were 2,415±194 and 3,376±397mg/day (mean±SD), respectively, were consumed for 14 days. One person dropped out the study because of poor health condition and the another one were excluded from the statistical analyses by insufficient compliance for food intake. Consequently, statistical analyses were performed for 31 subjects (n=15 ; control diet, n=16 ; tomato low-salt diet). Continual intake of the tomato low-salt diet for 14 days significantly decreased urine Na/K ratio compared to before the intervention (p<0.01) and the amount of decrease was significantly larger compared to the subjects consumed the control diet (p<0.01). Regarding acceptability, almost all dishes of the tomato low-salt diet was easy to cook and 90% of the subjects evaluated the tomato low-salt diet delicious although the score in continuity in daily diet was low. In conclusion, the tomato low-salt diet has the salt-reduction effect and the dishes might be useful as a variety of low-salt diets.

Sensory analysis (n=51, female, age : 19year±0.56) was conducted on breads, salad dressings, and soups to evaluate the effect of spices (yuzu, anise, cumin, celery, mace, basil, lemongrass, oregano) that suppress GAD67 activity on saltiness and deliciousness. Specifically, the association between GAD67 activity and the effects of salt reduction in cooking was investigated. Sensory analysis results did not support the results of basic research as no association was observed between the GAD67 activity of spices and salt reduction in cooking. Thus, when GAD67-inhibiting spices were used in cooking, the addition of saltiness-enhancing spices in basic research did not necessarily result in salt-reducing effects being exhibited. Our results, however, indicated that the salt-reducing effects of adding spices into cooking could be evaluated by utilizing GAD67 activity as an indicator.

We examined bone mass measurements and the results of a questionnaire survey in fifth- and sixth-grade elementary school students (n=176) in Tokyo, and analyzed the association with the physical fitness. There were positive correlations between the bone mass and grip strength, standing long jump, or score of the grip strength and standing long jump. In addition, belonging to a sports club and the kind of physical activity on school days or holidays were associated with the score of the grip strength and standing long jump. Furthermore, the amount of calcium intake and frequency of milk or yoghurt intake were also associated with the physical fitness. It is necessary to examine other physical fitness measurements and the frequency of other food intakes, and we hope to generate useful data for the prevention of locomotive syndrome in the future.

Rice as a staple food in school meals is recommended about 3.5 times per week, but it is reported that milk offered daily is inappropriate as a part of Japanese food culture. To that end, there are municipalities that are considering temporarily discontinuing However, it is unknown how the children who consume the milk feel. Furthermore, if we think that it is undesirable as a part of food culture, it is possible to give it as a drink outside lunch time. However, there have been limited researches to date on this question. Therefore, we conducted two studies to clarify the issue. In Study 1 we examined whether milk provided daily as part of the school lunch is liked by children and in Study 2 we tried to determine children’s opinions about when they preferred to drink milk. In Study 1, pictures of nine typical school lunches were incorporated into a questionnaire and children were asked to select one of five preferences (good, slightly better, neither, slightly bad, bad). Survey subjects were a total of 1947 children from 3^rd to 6^th grade in Tokyo (329 children), Niigata prefecture (632), and Fukuoka prefecture (986) who agreed to cooperate in the study. In study 2 we investigated the best time to drink milk for 415 children in Tokyo. For the 5 menus with rice as the staple food, 57% of the children rated them favorably (the sum of ‘good’ and ‘slightly good’) and 27% unfavorably (the sum of ‘slightly bad’ and ‘bad’). For the 4 menus without rice as the staple (noodles or bread), 61% rated them favorably and 24% unfavorably. The times at which children preferred to drink milk were 12 AM (52%), 8AM (16%), 3PM (13%), and 10AM (11%). Most of the children suggested that rice as a staple food and milk were not an inappropriate combination, and the most desirable time to drink milk was lunch time.

The aim of this study was to investigate and analyze the breakfast contents (amount of foods consumed, consumption habits of miso soup), lifestyle rhythm, learning motivation, and health condition. A sample size of 17 elementary schools (5th n=864 , recovery rate 99.5%), and 8 junior high schools (8th n=654, recovery rate71.5%) in Kumamoto prefecture was investigated. Based on the analysis, students who consumed a variety of food items ate with adults, tended to have better lifestyle rhythms and were more alert with higher levels of learning motivation (p<0.01). In addition, students who had a habit of eating miso soup ate many kinds of foods (p<0.01), had higher self-esteem (p<0.05) and tended to complain lesser (p<0.01).

It can be inferred that a variety of food for breakfast greatly affects the body and mental health of the students. Eating miso soup is effective in conjunction with the consumption many kind of foods. However, many families did not make miso soup for breakfast, and it can be said that the Japanese style of eating habits are changing.