[Awareness of the health and defecation tendencies among college students by location of domicile].

In order to compare the food habits and defecation tendencies by region, a questionnaire survey was conducted of 1722 college women (18-20 years of age) living in Sapporo (146), Sendai (183), Osaka (1214), and Kumamoto (179). (1) When questioned about food habits, less than 58.5% of the respondents in the four groups considered their food intake to be sufficient to maintain their health. In regard to knowledge about their food intake requirements, the positive response was the highest in Sendai (85.8%), followed by Kumamoto (58.2%) and Osaka (50.9%) with the lowest in Sapporo (41.1%) (p < 0.01, among the four groups). (2) The students in Sendai, Osaka, Kumamoto and Sapporo, 96.2%, 93.5%, 92.9% and 92.5%, respectively, considered that constipation could affect their health (p < 0.05, among four groups). The percentage of those with regular bowel movements every day, tended to decrease in the order of Osaka (22.2%), Sapporo (21.2%) and Sendai (20.8%), with the lowest in Kumamoto (12.3%). Bowel movements of less than three times a week were reported by 24.7% in Sapporo, 24.0% in Sendai, 23.2% in Osaka and 22.3% in Kumamoto (p < 0.01, among the four groups). (3) Of those who defecated every day, in terms of time of day, the percentage was high between waking and after breakfast, with the highest percentage in Kumamoto (72.8%) and the lowest in Sapporo (61.2%) (p < 0.05, among the four groups). For subjects that responded that they should have a bowel movement every day, the highest percentage was in Osaka (91.0%) and the lowest was in Sapporo (83.9%) (p < 0.05, among the four groups).

A butter diet induces higher levels of n-3 PUFA and of n-3/n-6 PUFA ratio in rat serum and hearts than a safflower oil diet.

The effects of a 47-week diet of butter or safflower oil as fat in combination with casein or soy protein as protein were observed for the serum concentrations of lipids and fatty acid compositions in rat serum and heart. Serum total cholesterol (Chol) did not differ among the four experimental diet groups. In the butter groups, significantly higher low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-Chol and lower high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-Chol were observed than in the safflower oil groups (p<0.005, respectively). Higher levels of α-tocopherol were found in the butter groups than in the safflower oil groups (p<0.05) and in the casein groups than in the soy protein groups (p<0.01). In comparison with the safflower oil groups, the butter groups showed higher n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) contents and lower n-6 PUFA contents in serum and the hearts (p<0.005). The ratios of n-3/n-6 PUFA in the butter groups in serum, 0.26 and 0.18, and in the hearts, 0.37 and 0.36, (butter-casein diet and butter-soy protein diet, respectively) were higher than those of the safflower oil groups of under 0.01 in serum and 0.02 and 0.03 in the hearts (safflower oil-casein diet and safflower oil-soy protein diet, respectively) (p<0.005). In the soy protein groups, higher n-3 PUFA contents in the hearts were found than those of the casein groups (p<0.05). This study suggested that the butter diet induces higher levels of n-3 PUFA and a higher n-3/n-6 PUFA ratio than the safflower oil diet in rat serum and hearts over a long feeding period.

Energy Dispersive X-Ray Microanalysis of Element Distribution in Amaranth Seed.

Energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis in combination with scanning electron microscopy was used to examine the distribition of mineral nutrients in amaranth seed. It was found that P, K, and Mg were exclusively localized in embryonic tissue (cotyledons and radicles), but not in procambium. Since phytin globoids occur in cotyledons and radicles in the seed, it is conceived that these elements are associated with phytate. Sulfur was evenly distributed in the embryonic tissue including procambium, which might be derived from sulfur-containing proteins. Calcium was mostly present in seed coats and the boundary between the perisperm and embryo, suggesting that Ca is associated with pectins that constitute the network structure of cell wall.

[Health consideration and defecation tendencies of elderly people].

Elderly people (males 742, 65-91 years old; females 371, 65-84 years old) were asked to answer a questionnaire on health and defecation tendencies. 1. Ninety-four percent of the males and 95% of the females considered their food intake sufficient to maintain their health (no difference between sexes). As for their food intake requirements, 68% of the males and 70% of the females answered that they knew about them, while 9% of the males and 6% of the females answered that they did not (no difference between sexes). 2. Of those with regular defecation every day, there were more males (68%) than females (49%). Seventeen percent of the males and 35% of the females defecated from four to six times per week, while 14% of the males and 13% of the females did so less than three times per week, with the difference between sexes being significant (p < 0.001). Both males (93%) and females (92%) tended to consider that constipation could affect their health condition. When asked about defecation, 92% of males and 83% of females answered that they should do so every day. The time for defecation was between when they arose and after breakfast for 76% of the males and 53% of the females. More females (25%) than males (8%) defecated irregularly (p < 0.001, difference between sexes). 3. Of those who did not have defecate every day, the percentage for those who answered that they should do so every day was low, whereas the percentage of those who answered that regularity did not matter was high. A significant relationship between awareness and degree of defecation was found for both males and females (p < 0.001 in both sexes). Those who regularly defecated every day did so in the time between when they arose and after breakfast, while those with irregular defecation did not defecate at a set time. A relationship was found between the time of defecation and the degree of defecation (p < 0.001 in both sexes).

Cholesterol, phytosterol and polyunsaturated fatty acid levels in 1982 and 1957 Japanese diets.

The dietary intake of cholesterol, phytosterol and PUFA in Japanese was investigated to obtain information on dietary parameters related to coronary artery disease. Three daily menus for both 1957 and 1982 were prepared based on the daily per capita consumption of foods and nutrient intakes from national surveys. From 1957 to 1982, the average daily intake of cholesterol rose 2.1-fold from 183 to 376 mg while that of phytosterol remained at about 373 mg. Daily intakes of total fatty acid (19.2 g), PUFA (7.3 g), MUFA (5.8 g) and SFA (6.1 g) in 1957 increased in 1982 to 48.7 g, 11.9 g, 19.5 g and 17.3 g, respectively. The ratio of PUFA/SFA decreased to 56% from 1.23 in 1957 to 0.69 in 1982 and the PUFA/MUFA ratio also decreased to 48%. The PUFA/cholesterol ratio was lower in 1982 (31.8) than in 1957 (42.6), and the decrease in the phytosterol/cholesterol ratio to 46% was greater than that in the PUFA/cholesterol ratio (which only fell to 75% of the 1957 value). Thus, comparison of the 1982 and 1957 intakes indicated the increase in risk factors, cholesterol and SFA intake, and the decrease in the ratio of PUFA/SFA in the Japanese population during the past few decades.