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This article examines the experiences of a group of Japanese study abroad students in response to the purposeful replication of a Japanese environment by the New Zealand-based institution where they studied. Data were collected from 12 students via interviews spread over approximately 20 months, and revealed that management provided specifically for the Japanese students, isolating them from other groups within the college in different ways, which is contrary to frequently cited study abroad objectives. Some initial resistance by participants gave way to acceptance, demonstrated through personal activities which propagated the institution's Japaneseness and an appreciation of management's efforts to provide them with a familiar living and studying environment. The study provides insight into a specific study abroad site unusual in the overtly placed limitations on processes of integration, and subsequent participant responses to that. In doing so, it contributes to the recognition of the diversity of ways in which study abroad may occur.

Increased food selectivity among children with autism spectrum disorder may lead to nutritional inadequacy. We designed this study to examine the prospective relationship between autistic traits in children and subsequent nutrient intake in later childhood and whether this relationship changes over time. We utilized longitudinal data obtained at two time points from the Shika study, an ongoing population-based study conducted in a rural area of Japan. Participants were 759 Japanese children aged between 7 and 12 years at baseline and between 10 and 15 years in the follow-up. The results obtained showed relatively lower intakes of sodium, calcium, magnesium, iron, vitamin D, vitamin B2, and vitamin B12 among children with than without autistic traits. Interactions were observed among autistic traits and time points for iron, vitamin B2, folic acid, and pantothenic acid. The results of this study suggest the importance of screening the nutrient intake of children with autistic traits across childhood in order to reduce the risk of restricted intake.

Food selectivity in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a serious issue in special needs schools, and special education teachers face various difficulties in their management of the problem. The aim of this study is to investigate the difficulties that special education teachers face in managing food selectivity in children with ASD. Data were obtained from 12 special education teachers in 2018 via semi-structured in-depth interviews. Thematic analysis was used to identify key conceptions of the participants' experiences, while qualitative analysis of the interview data revealed three major themes. Their personal and professional thoughts and hopes regarding eating habits in children, feelings of uncertainty about their practice, and their interactions with the children and their parents were the key factors behind the difficulties they experience as special education teachers. The findings improve our understanding of the challenges experienced by teachers managing food selectivity in children with ASD. A different conceptualisation of the problem may lead to difficulties in collaboration among the people who are tasked with solving the problem.

Objectives: This study investigated the impact of a peer support intervention on the breakfast habits of university students in Japan. Both breakfast frequency and breakfast composition were assessed. Design: The study adopted a combination of convergent and intervention designs and used a mixed-methods approach. Setting: College-based peer-support intervention taking place in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. Method: Questionnaires on demographic characteristics and breakfast habits were administered to participants (n = 27) before the online workshop, immediately afterwards, and at 3 and 6 months after the peer support intervention, coupled with a 4-week breakfast status report. Semi-structured interviews were then conducted with 17 participants to gain a more detailed understanding of the impact of the intervention. Results: Quantitative results showed that immediately after the intervention, breakfast intake frequency and breakfast composition improved significantly; however, post-intervention, there was a difference in persistence between frequency and composition. In the qualitative element of the study, 'peer stimulation' and 'coercion' were identified as drivers of the changes identified. In addition, 'changes in awareness and behaviour' and 'realisation of the need for breakfast' were noted by participants. Conclusion: Peer support interventions can improve the breakfast habits of university students. A follow-up intervention within 6 months for breakfast frequency and within 3 months for breakfast composition following the intervention may help sustain the observed beneficial effects.

Making the most out of a short-term study abroad program is vital for students who are investing in an experience they hope will benefit them personally and academically. This study explores participants' counterfactual understandings of a three-week short-term study abroad program focusing on content and English as an additional language learning for Japanese undergraduate students at a university in British Columbia, Canada. It identifies what participants wish they had known about where they were going and what they would have done if they had known that information. Qualitative methods were used to gather written narrative data from 37 participants and analyze that data for themes emerging from the participants' counterfactual reflections. Results point to six themes related to the participants' unexpected short-term study abroad experiences: food and drink, facilities, money matters, shopping, climate and geography, and community characteristics. On reflection, if the students had known more about those themes, they may have prepared differently for their trip and they might have had different experiences during the program. To prepare students to get the most out of a short-term study abroad program, pre-departure activities making use of inquiry and task-based/experiential learning are recommended.

This article develops an emergentist theory of children's agency. To make this claim, it first identifies the following two predicaments that scholars have faced in children's agency research: (1) social ambiguity in distinguishing children's learning from adults' guidance; and (2) causal uncertainty between children's cognitive development and the affordance of their social contexts. Then, this article discusses "tedate," a type of instructional scaffolding that uses these predicaments to foster agency in classrooms. It explains "tedate" through a two-step process: (1) situating students as liminal beings who use everyday objects as a heuristic for solving problems and a pivot to enter imaginary worlds; and (2) developing students' reflexivity by helping them articulate everyday objects as signs of their literacy. In doing so, this article puts forth an emergentist theory that argues "tedate" helps children develop their capacity for agency by introducing everyday objects in subject lessons that build their reflexivity and literacies.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the effects of nutrition education programme using the Convenient, Attractive, Normative (CAN) framework to facilitate changes in mindset, attitudes and behaviours towards food among high-school male baseball players. Design: Quasi-experimental design. Setting: Two public high schools in Osaka, Japan. Methods: Students in two high schools (mean age±SD, 16.6±.5years) participated in the study. One school served as an intervention group (n=28) and received the CAN nutrition education programme. The other school served as a control group (n=22), and students within it did not receive the intervention. Students in the intervention group received three nutrition lecture sessions and face-to-face individual nutritional guidance over a 4month intervention period. Before and after the intervention, all students were asked to record their food and beverage intake by taking food pictures, recording portion weights and sending these to the project dietitian. They were also asked to develop a dietary behaviour plan for meeting their goals. At the end of the intervention, they were asked about their experiences. Results: Students in the intervention improved their food intake, dietary balance and athletic performance. Bat swing speed was significantly faster following the intervention. Body weight increased without changing lean body mass in both groups. Conclusion: Results suggest that a CAN nutrition education programme may be effective in increasing motivation and promote dietary behaviour change among male adolescent athletes. Future interventions should examine these motivational processes and investigate the factors contributing to well-balanced meals.

In order to motivate ESL students and engage them in different tasks effectively, it is necessary to make the tasks novel to the students. As one possible way of introducing novelty in the course, films could be used advantageously. In this study, a writing course integrated with videos of movies and cultural festival of different regions of the world including that of author's country were used as a novel activity and students' attitudes were investigated through questionnaire and open-ended comments. The students belonged to second year undergraduate course of food and nutrition sciences of a Japanese private university. In addition to the film videos as part of listening activity, students were introduced to writings of different genres such as autobiographical, general description, procedure and argumentative writings using a genre-based approach. Students were first introduced to a model writing followed by deconstructing the model writing based on a set of questions. Next, students were asked to write based on the questions to make an outline of their own writings. Following making an outline in the classroom, students constructed their own one paragraph essays. Effects of learning were assessed through students' engagement in writing and in class questionnaire on the video. It was found that students showed real interest in watching film and cultural festivals videos. With cultural festivals, students were made to make comparison with their own and report describing the interesting feature of the festival. The students were also asked to critically reflect on the festivals themselves. Because of the novelty, students actively engaged in the class making the class interesting to the students. In future, a more detailed curriculum using festivals from different parts of their country along with festivals from different parts of the world could be worth considering.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate associations of dietary intake including vitamin D, folate, and n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in pregnant women with broad autism phenotype (BAP). The Japan Environment and Children's Study is a government-funded birth cohort study. All complete data of 92,011 were analyzed. The Japanese version of the Autism Spectrum Quotient was used to assess mothers' BAP level, and a food frequency questionnaire was used to estimate their dietary intake. Mothers with BAP consumed less vegetables, fruits, and fish and shellfish, and they consumed lower folate, vitamin C, vitamin D, and n-3 PUFA than their counterparts. Dietary intervention should be considered for pregnant women with high BAP scores.

Although bioaccumulation-related concepts are important scientific knowledge, a study on whether high school textbooks include appropriate explanations has not been conducted. The present study investigated science and biology textbooks from Korea, Japan, and the U.S., focusing on how bioaccumulation-related concepts were defined, what types of bioaccumulative substances were discussed, and the properties of these substances. The textbooks of these countries tended to focus on biomagnification. While the textbooks from Japan and the U.S. present synthetic organic compounds as examples of bioaccumulative substances, metallic substances were used as examples in all Korean textbooks. However, the discussion about the properties of bioaccumulative substances was brief in the textbooks. Moreover, the bioaccumulative properties of metals and organic compounds were not distinguished. The limited explanations in the textbooks might cause students to have misconceptions about the processes of bioaccumulation and bioaccumulative substances, and negative perceptions toward essential trace metals.

Japan's Basic Law on Food Education (Shokuiku kihonho) was enacted in June 2005 as a response to various concerns related to food and nutrition, such as food scandals, an increase in obesity and lifestyle-related diseases and an assumed loss of traditional food culture. The Law defines food education (shokuiku) rather vaguely as the acquisition of knowledge about food and the ability to make appropriate food choices. In this paper, my focus is the impact of shokuiku on discourses about food safety in relation to the nuclear disaster. I will address the following problems: Firstly, the assumption that "domestic food products are the safest in the world"; secondly, the power relations between municipal authorities, producers and consumers in Japan; and thirdly, the question of whether food pedagogies can adequately address food safety concerns after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. I argue that, although the Basic Law offers a holistic approach to food in theory, with its focus on nutrition and the emphasis on domestic food, food pedagogies, practiced according to the Basic Law cannot adequately deal with the food safety problems that Japanese consumers face after the Fukushima nuclear accident. Because of the ignorance regarding food safety issues from official sides, Japanese consumers are left with a lack of awareness for these issues. Therefore, stakeholders who are not included in the state's shokuiku campaign, such as consumer co-ops and Civil Radioactivity Measurement Stations try to provide knowledge about food to enable Japanese consumers to make appropriate food choices.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effect of an educational intervention to increase vegetable consumption by university students. Design/methodology/approach: This study is an open, parallel randomized controlled trial for 25 weeks. University students aged 18-24 years were divided into an intervention group (n=52) and a control group (n=52). Vegetable intake was assessed using a questionnaire. Findings: On investigation, the results indicated that the vegetable intake of the intervention group was well maintained at the end of the study, whereas that of the control group was significantly decreased by the seasonal change. This research showed that using three educational projects could significantly improve the vegetable consumption of university students. Research limitations/implications: These results suggest that the educational approach is a promising method to improve the vegetable consumption status, particularly the consumption of green and yellow vegetables, by university students. Originality/value: This parallel randomized controlled study investigated intervention via educational approaches, including a lecture on the nutritional significance of vegetable intake, a tour of an agricultural farm, and learning of cooking skills, focusing on increasing the consumption of vegetables by university students. Although there have been many intervention studies aimed at improving intake of vegetables in the world, there have been no intervention studies on the vegetable intake of young adults in Japan.

Japan once was a country suffering from undernourishment due to the shortage of food supply during and right after World War. Within a half century, however, Japan became one of the most developed industrial counties and, during the process of the economic development, adopted Western life style and eating habit: the Japanese have, with sufficient food supply, the intake of far more animal protein and lipid today than before the War. It is true that the increased intake of animal food has contributed to the nutritional improvement and physical development of Japanese people; but its excessive intake has also led to obesity and life style-related diseases such as diabetes mellitus. Excess energy is deposited and saved as subcutaneous and visceral fat, and prepares the body for starvation; but fat deposit in the well-nourished body becomes prevalence of obesity. This is one serious problem which the world faces today. Another seriously nutritional problem is that more than 13% of the world population is suffering from under-nutrition. Under-nutrition beyond nutritional adaptation is a risk factor leading to death. We have to deal with two contrasting issues: the control of food intake which meets the needs of the body in developed countries and the challenges to malnutrition resulting from inadequate food supply in developing countries. Nutritional education in individual countries should be regarded as imperative. (Contains 5 tables and 23 footnotes.)

Two influential tragic incidents in 2011 are discussed in connection with the cultivation of morality in Japan. One is the suicide of a junior high school student due to bullying in his school--a scandal which eventually led to the country's redefinition of the status of moral education in the school curriculum. The other is the huge earthquake and tsunami in Tohoku. Observing the affected area, foreign media reporters wondered why there was no looting in Japan. In order to shed light on this question small-scale research was conducted on perceptions of the practice of unattended vegetable stands (UVSs), as an index of the moral level of some Japanese people. Responses of various groups involved in this study suggested that the well-disciplined behaviour of Japanese people, indicated by this practice, is not necessarily only a product of school moral education. Rather, they considered that conduct in daily life, social solidarity, and education at home are the major components of the moral upbringing of Japanese people. In order to improve moral education in schools, the importance of focusing on children's experiences in daily life and making good use of them from the perspective of children's moral growth are emphasized.

Recent studies indicate the need to investigate the sources of toddlers' understanding of another person's pretense. The present study is a cultural and longitudinal extension of the work of Lillard and Witherington (2004), who claimed that mothers modify their behaviors during pretense and that the some of these behavior modifications help their toddlers understand maternal pretense. Experiment 1 investigated whether mothers would change their behaviors during pretense with a sample of 31 Japanese mother-infant pairs. Experiment 2, with a subsample of 20 mother-child pairs who had participated in Experiment 1, examined whether the maternal behavior modifications at 18 months predicted their toddlers' understanding of pretense at 24 months. The results of Experiment 1 indicated that Japanese mothers smiled more frequently, gazed at their toddlers longer, used sound effects more frequently, and engaged in more frequent snack-related actions in a "pretense condition" than in a "real condition." In addition, some of these behaviors were significantly related to their toddlers' apparent understanding of pretense. Experiment 2 showed that both the frequency of maternal smiles and the number of sound effects in the pretense condition at 18 months predicted toddlers' understanding of the pretense enacted by a strange adult at 24 months. This research indicates the impact of maternal behavior modifications during pretense on the development of symbolic thought in the 2nd year of life.

Objective: This study examined Japanese mothers' satisfaction with food-safety education in primary schools, compared the characteristics of mothers who were not satisfied, and identified topics that should be included in food-safety education, according to mothers. Design: An online survey was conducted in March 2011 in Japan. The questionnaire included topics related to food-safety education and satisfaction regarding food-safety education. Setting: Japanese mothers with children attending primary school were asked to complete an online questionnaire. Method: A total of 1,300 mothers completed questionnaires. The sample was divided into two groups according to median scores for satisfaction with food-safety education, and chi-square tests were used to compare data related to other questions. The numbers of mothers who selected each topic for inclusion in food-safety education were calculated. Results: Participants were divided into two groups; high satisfaction ("n" = 796, 61.2%) and low satisfaction ("n" = 504, 38.8%). The low-satisfaction group consisted of mothers who described government action related to the food-safety problem as "inadequate" ("n" = 305, 60.5%) and who disagreed with the notion that food items can be 100% safe ("n" = 146, 29.0%). More than half of the mothers endorsed "judging freshness", "reading food labels", and "food additives" as important topics to include in food-safety education. Conclusion: Japanese mothers who were not satisfied with food-safety education were more likely to consider government actions inadequate and to disagree with the notion that food items can be 100% safe. Mothers wanted schools to teach not only the prevention of food-borne illnesses but also other topics related to food safety. (Contains 3 tables.)

Purpose/Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify the aspects of the Theory of Planned Behavior with the greatest relevance to plate waste (PW) among elementary school children in Tokyo, Japan. Methods: A total of 111 fifth- and sixth-grade students at an elementary school in Tokyo, Japan responded to a self-report questionnaire. The questionnaire focused on the associations among attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and PW behavior. Differences based on gender, grade level, height, and weight were considered. Pearson's correlation coefficients (r) and multiple regression analyses were used to examine the factors contributing to PW. Results: Scores for attitudes toward PW were higher among girls ("p" less than 0.05). Perceived behavioral control ("r" = 0.535, "p" less than 0.001) was associated with PW. Perceived behavioral control had an impact on PW (standardized ß = 0.593, "p" less than 0.001, adjusted "R"superscript 2] = 0.332). Application to Child Nutrition Professionals: Although nutrition education directed at reducing PW in Japan has focused on attitudes, this study suggests that perceived behavioral control is also important for helping children reduce PW.

Objective: To identify whether university students who have both food-safety knowledge and beliefs perform risk-reduction behaviors. Design: Cross-sectional research using a questionnaire that included food-safety knowledge, perceptions, risk-reduction behavior, stages for the selection of safer food based on the Transtheoretical Model, and demographic characteristics. Setting: Four universities in eastern Japan and 2 universities in western Japan. Participants: University students (n = 799). Main Outcome Measures: Food-safety knowledge, beliefs, and risk-reduction behaviors. Analysis: Answers on measures assessing risk perception and food-safety knowledge were combined to form 4 groups of participants. Relationships among demographic characteristics, the 4 groups, risk-reduction behaviors, stage of change, and severity and susceptibility were assessed. Results: The proportion of students who had more knowledge of food safety and a belief that "there are no 100% safe food items" was high in the group that frequently performed risk-reduction behaviors, as it was in the group who had taken a basic class about food or health care and who had, or were working toward, a food or nutrition qualification. Conclusions and Implications: University students who thought that there were no 100% safe food items and who had more knowledge about food safety were more likely to confirm food-safety information when selecting food. (Contains 1 figure and 3 tables.)

Voluntary food certification systems have emerged as a prominent mechanism of food governance in recent years. However, critics have exposed certifications' inability to secure independence, quality, consumer trust, and costs. Recent criticism is even more pointed in that some theorists have critiqued "alternative" systems such as Fair Trade as neoliberal window-dressing. What is curious about this emerging literature is how little has been said about the role of citizens. Although most of the certification literature has assumed that food certification resides in the exclusive realm of "experts" and that technical sophistication is equated with improvement, I argue that democratization is possible and desirable. This paper draws on a case study of a Japanese consumer cooperative which has conducted a laywomen's food certification system for past ten years. By proposing at least two parameters of evaluation of food certification--redistributive effect and the degree of democratization, the paper expands the imaginary of "politics of the possible" in food governance while acknowledging tension of gendered participation. (Contains 3 tables.)

Discussions of socioeconomic liability and compensation must necessarily start from an understanding of the socioeconomic, legal, and scientific basis for identifying, assessing, managing, and apportioning blame for hazards related to innovations. Public discussions about the nature of the liability challenge related to genetically modified (GM) crops and other modified organisms have focused less on direct, traditional health, public safety, technical, or environmental failures (e.g., innovations that generate hazards directly for users or indirectly to bystanders) and more on socioeconomic concerns, such as comingled product that offends product quality standards. This article examines the theoretical and legal underpinnings of the current risk analysis framework used in most Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries and uses it to assess two areas of significant controversy--the release of herbicide-tolerant canola and flax varieties in Western Canada. The article offers lessons for the management of liabilities arising from the introduction of GM crops. (Contains 1 figure, 4 tables and 6 notes.)

Background: The aims were to use Japanese data from the Rome Foundation Global Epidemiological Study (RFGES) to test the hypotheses that severity of gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and psychosocial disturbance are ordered as Rome IV irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) > Rome III IBS > DGBI, not IBS > others. Methods: Subjects were 2504 Japanese in the RFGES. We assessed DGBI/IBS diagnoses with Rome IV/III, IBS Symptom Severity Scale (IBS‐SSS), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) for anxiety/depression and non‐GI somatic symptoms, PROMIS‐10 for quality of life (QOL), Work Productivity and Activity Impairment (WPAI) Questionnaire, parts of Self‐reported IBS Questionnaire (SIBSQ) for meal effect and stress effect, Food Frequency Questionnaire, and medication questions. Key Results: The prevalence of Rome IV DGBI was as follows; IBS‐C 0.5%, IBS‐D 0.8%, IBS‐M 0.8%, IBS‐U 0.1%, unspecified functional bowel disorder 10.7%, postprandial distress syndrome 2.2%, and epigastric pain syndrome 0.3%. Rome III IBS prevalence; IBS‐C 3.0%, IBS‐D 3.1%, IBS‐M 2.7%, and IBS‐U 0.6%. Comparison among Rome IV IBS (n = 54), Rome III IBS (n = 197), other DGBI (n = 746), others (n = 1389) revealed significant order as Rome IV IBS > Rome III IBS > other DGBI > others in IBS‐SSS, anxiety/depression, activity impairment, non‐GI symptoms, physical QOL, mental QOL, exacerbated symptoms by meals and perceived stress (all p < 0.001). Conclusions & Inferences: These findings support the study hypotheses. Data from Japan as a culturally homogenous country suggest Rome IV IBS is more severe and hence has more gut–brain psychobehavioral involvement than Rome III IBS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the author's fieldwork in China and Japan, literature research and the study of specimen materials and video data on weddings of ROK, Japan and China, which are collected by the Japan National Museum of Ethnology (or Minpaku), this paper attempts to explore the cultural symbolic significance that humans bestow on food, and to further reveal the cultural diversity in East Asia and the common structure of human mind by comparing the flow of food and the ways and scopes in which the wedding foods are consumed in East Asia. In East Asia wedding customs, expectations through food for the bride's fertility and her belonging to her husband's patrilineal family are very common. However, the food and eating behaviors that express expectations for the groom are rare, only slightly visible in the dry bonito at the time of engagement in Japan and the 12 bowls of rice that the groom will eat on the day of the Yao wedding in China. Dried bonito signifies virility and victory of men, reflecting the features of Japanese maritime culture and the influence of samurai culture in history. East Asian wedding rituals are diverse in form, but the commonality among them can also be seen, that is, human beings find cultural meanings in different natural environments that correspond to human society, and then internalize the natural attributes through homophonic pun, imitation and other ways. Food is used in weddings to express people's best wishes for the happiness of the newlyweds' families, to have descendants and longevity of their marriage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The current study aimed to evaluate policies and actions for food environments by the Japanese Government using the Healthy Food Environment Policy Index (Food-EPI).Design: Public health experts rated the extent of implementation of food environment-related Policy and the Infrastructure-support components, compared with international best practices. Subsequently, the experts proposed and prioritised future actions to address implementation gaps in an online workshop.Setting: Japan.Participants: A total of sixty-six experts rated policy implementation by the Japanese Government and twenty-three participated in the workshop on future actions.Results: The implementations of regulations on unhealthy foods and non-alcoholic beverages were rated low in the domains of Food composition, Food labelling and Food promotion, Food prices and Food retail in the Policy component. The implementations of several domains in the Infrastructure-support component were, overall, rated at a higher level, specifically for monitoring and intelligence systems. Based on the rating, reducing health inequalities by supporting people, both economically and physically, was the highest priority for future actions in both components.Conclusions: The current study found that Japan has a robust system for long-term monitoring of population health but lacks regulations on unhealthy foods and non-alcoholic beverages compared with international best practices. The current study confirmed the importance of continuous accumulation of evidence through national monitoring systems. Developing comprehensive regulations to restrict food marketing, sales and accessibility of unhealthy foods and non-alcoholic beverages is needed to improve the health of food environments in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genome editing technologies such as CRISPR/Cas9 have been developed in the last decade and have been applied to new food technologies. Genome-edited food (GEF) is a crucial issue with those new food technologies. Thus, each country has established GEF governance systems to maximize benefits and minimize risks. These emphasize the importance of communicating about GEF to the public. The key concerns are understanding various viewpoints and value perspectives (framings) in science and technology and encouraging and opening communication with the public. Thus, it is essential to understand differences between the public and experts' interests and discuss various framings and effective communication with regard to GEF. Accordingly, this study involved administering a questionnaire to analyze the public's attitudes in Japan and identify gaps between these and expert opinions on GEF. A total of 4000 responses from the public and 398 responses from GEF experts were collected. The study found that the Japanese public has a "wait-and-watch" attitude toward GEF, and the demand for basic information on it is quite high. Moreover, they are apprehensive about proper risk governance systems for GEF. This is despite experts' emphasis on the adequacy of the mechanism, necessity of technology, and trust in the scientific community. Understanding gaps between the public and experts' opinions on and interests in GEF provides essential insight for effective communication and acts as the basis for appropriate governance of emerging science and technology., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Shineha et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Objective: A new motion capture system was developed to verify the hypothesis that "during food intake, head motion changes according to the properties of the food.", Design: Twenty healthy males and 20 healthy females with right-handed and normal occlusion participated in this study. The motion capture system used consisted of a Microsoft Xbox One Kinect Sensor® and a newly-developed program. Meatballs (solid), yogurt (paste), and water (fluid) were used as food samples. Head motion distance, head turning angle, and head forward angle were measured during food intake. Unpaired t-tests were used to analyze each head motion and compare the sexes. A one-way repeated measures analysis of variance was used to analyze each head motion for different food samples., Results: Head motion distance was significantly smaller in females for the meatball and yogurt, but not for water. There were no significant differences between the sexes for head turning angle or head forward angle. Head motion distance and head forward angle were significantly larger for water than for meatballs and yogurt. The head turning angle was significantly smaller for the meatball than for yogurt and water., Conclusions: The results indicated that females tend to consume food without moving their heads when eating solid and paste foods. As the fluidity of the food increased, the head moved in a turning motion to avoid spilling the food, and the heads tilted forward. The motion capture system used in this study was also effective in analyzing head motion during eating., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

To the best of our knowledge, changes in mothers' dietary behaviors or perceptions of dietary intake during the COVID-19 pandemic have not been extensively discussed. Therefore, the present study aimed to clarify how the dietary behaviors of mothers living with their children changed during the pandemic in Japan. Ordered probit and interval regressions were applied to individual data for mothers living with children under 18 years of age from five independently conducted Surveys of Attitudes toward Food and Nutrition Education (Shokuiku in Japanese). The estimation results showed that although mothers were more likely to eat dinner with their families during the pandemic, attention to healthy dietary practices, frequency of eating nutritionally balanced food, and dietary practices for preventing lifestyle-related diseases were negatively affected by the pandemic. In conclusion, mothers were more likely to decrease their commitment to a healthy and well-balanced diet during the pandemic than before it. Further research based on the latest datasets with detailed information over the long-term is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined whether the frequency of purchasing local agricultural products and the intake frequency of self-cooked meals were related to healthy eating habits. A cross-sectional study was conducted using anonymized data from the "Survey on health promotion and food-and-nutritional education" conducted in 2021 in Tamamura, Gunma, Japan, targeting residents aged 20–65. Logistic regression analyses were conducted using the purchasing frequency of local agricultural products (often/sometimes/rarely) and the intake frequency of self-cooked meals (almost every day/not every day) as independent variables. The dependent variables were the frequencies of breakfast (every day/not every day), balanced meal (two times/day or more/fewer than two times/day), and vegetable intake (two times/day or more/fewer than two times/day). The purchasing frequency of local agricultural products was positively related to the frequency of balanced meal and vegetable intake. Additionally, the intake frequency of self-cooked meals was positively related to the frequencies of breakfast, balanced meal, and vegetable intake. In conclusion, significant positive relationships of the purchasing frequency of local agricultural products and the intake frequency of self-cooked meals with healthy eating habits were confirmed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study examined the global association between the Traditional Japanese Diet Score and suicide rate.Methods: Average food supply and energy supply by country were obtained from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Statistics Division database (FAOSTAT). Traditional Japanese Diet Score (TJDS) was calculated from food group classifications. Age-standardized suicide rates per 100,000 people by country were obtained from the Global Burden of Disease 2017 database. The 26-year associations between TJDS and suicide rates were examined controlling for covariates using a mixed-effects model in 138 countries with populations of 1 million or greater.Results: A significant negative association was found in the analysis of the relationship between TJDS and the prevalence of suicide [β (se) = -0.126 (0.031), p < 0.001]. The interaction term between TJDS and year was also significant [β (se) = -0.011 (0.003), p < 0.001]. The change in the effect of TJDS on suicide rates by year was examined. The effect of TJDS was not significant from 1991 to 1999 but became significant after 2000; the slope of the TJDS to suicide rate in 2017 was -0.270 (95% confidence interval -0.382, -0.169, p < 0.001).Limitations: This was a national ecological study and did not consider individual differences in sex, age, and lifestyle.Conclusions: TJDS may be is a protective factor for depression, which may prevent suicide. The association between TJDS and suicide rates became stronger over time and was inversely associated with suicide rates after 2000. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When disasters occur, affected people in evacuation shelters may experience health problems, such as exacerbation of chronic diseases or development of new diseases. This study examined the factors contributing to sudden illness in evacuation shelters used for the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake. The subjects were evacuees of the Kumamoto Earthquake who were transported to hospitals from evacuation shelters by ambulance. Data on patients transported from evacuation shelters were obtained from emergency transport records at the Kumamoto City Fire Department and from medical institutions. The assessment of the living conditions in the shelter was obtained from the Emergency Medical Information System. A total of 576 patients were transported by ambulance from evacuation shelters in Kumamoto City. Of these, 300 patients for whom detailed information was obtained from medical institutions were included in the analysis. The median age was 71 years, and 213 patients (71%) were over 60 years old. There were 235 patients (78%) with pre-existing medical conditions. The most common reasons for emergency transport were falls and dyspnea, followed by fever, disturbance of consciousness, and abdominal pain. The most common final diagnosis at the medical institutions was trauma due to falls, followed by cardiovascular disease, infectious disease, and cerebral neurological disease. A survey of living conditions in the shelters identified problems with scarcity of space and provision of medical care and food. In order to prevent adverse health outcomes in evacuation shelters, the provision of appropriate living conditions and medical care is important from the acute phase of a disaster.

Background: Despite the hypoglycemic and antioxidant effects of manganese, only one recent Chinese study has investigated the association between dietary manganese intake and type 2 diabetes.Methods: We recruited 19,862 Japanese men and women in the Japan Collaborative Cohort Study. The participants completed a food frequency questionnaire at the baseline survey (1988 = 1990) and a diabetes history at both baseline and 5-year surveys. We calculated the odds ratios (95 % CIs) of the 5-year cumulative incidence of self-reported physician-diagnosed type 2 diabetes according to quartiles of dietary manganese intake.Results: Within the 5-year period, we confirmed 530 new cases of type 2 diabetes (263 in men and 267 in women) with a 5-year cumulative incidence of 2.7 % (3.6 % in men and 2.1 % in women). Higher manganese intake was inversely associated with the women's but not the men's cumulative risk of type 2 diabetes over the 5-year period. In a full model adjusted for the participants' characteristics, diabetes risk factors and a wide range of dietary variables, the multivariable odds ratios (95 %CIs) of type 2 diabetes across the increasing quartiles of manganese intake (Q1 to Q4) were 1.00, 0.97 (0.65, 1.43), 1.04 (0.67, 1.61) and 1.10 (0.64, 1.92), p-trend = 0.66 among men and 1.00, 0.74 (0.51, 1.06), 0.62 (0.41, 0.94) and 0.53 (0.31, 0.88), p-trend = 0.01 among women. The association was observed mainly for those with low iron intake in women, particularly premenopausal women.Conclusion: Strong inverse associations between dietary manganese intake and risk of type 2 diabetes were observed in women but not men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Life Science Symposium held by the Nutrition Research Committee of the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) Japan in 2018, "Fusion of Nutrition and Exercise Sciences Leading to Extension of Healthy Life Expectancy," covered current topics in the science of nutrition and exercise to address extending healthy life expectancy. Presentation topics included (1) lifestyle and gut microbiota; (2) how to use lipids in sports nutrition; (3) the effect and molecular mechanism of improvement of arteriosclerosis by exercise and nutrition; (4) physical activity and nutrition that support brain function; (5) skeletal muscles and food ingredients that support healthy longevity; (6) measures against sarcopenia by exercise and nutrient intake; (7) physical activity/exercise for disease prevention; (8) nutritional epidemiology research for the Japanese population; (9) new developments in health science in viewed from nutrition and intestinal flora; (10) why do Asians develop nonobese metabolic disease?; and (11) social implementation of the health promotion program by ILSI Japan. The speakers emphasized the promotion of research on exercise and nutrition interactions and encouraged social implementation of the research results in public and private sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sika deer Cervus nippon populations have been increasing on the Japanese archipelago. Their range is expanding to include the alpine zone in central Japan, where they stay during summer before descending to the lower areas during winter. No studies on dietary habits of alpine deer in mainland Japan have been conducted. This study assessed the composition of sika deer diets and compared nutritional quality between the low montane, subalpine and alpine zones. We analyzed sika deer fecal samples from Mt Yatsugatake (YT) and the Japanese South Alps (SA). In the lower mountain in YT, dwarf bamboo comprised 40–55% of the plant compositions in fecal samples, whereas dicots were mostly found in SA samples. In subalpine zones in YT, grasses are an important food item, comprising about 50% of the samples. In SA, monocots (10–20%) and dicots (10–20%) were both prevalent. In the alpine zone of both YT and SA, grasses were present the fecal samples (50% and 10–20%, respectively). Crude protein contents were higher at higher zones (15–20%) than at lower zones (8–12%) in both study areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this narrative review was to clarify the current status and issues of scientific evidence for functionality in the Foods with Function Claims system based on previous research. From the introduction of the system in April 2015 to January 1, 2023, there were 6606 notifications, of which 6297 (95.3) were systematic reviews (SRs) and 309 (4.7%) were clinical trials (CTs). SRs were identified the following problems: i) inadequate description based on the first version of PRISMA checklist, and ii) very low levels of quality assessment in the first version of AMSTAR checklist and AMSTAR 2. CT was reported to have the following problems: i) inconsistencies between the protocol and the content in the paper (non-compliance), ii) high risk of bias, and iii) not described based on the CONSORT 2010 checklist. Since SRs and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) often have low-quality notifications, it is necessary to correctly communicate this information to consumers in order to make appropriate purchasing decisions.

Animals must make route choices every day when moving through their habitat while foraging. Choosing an optimal route can be cognitively costly, and primates and other animals have been shown to use simple heuristics, "rules of thumb", to make foraging route choices. We investigated the potential use of heuristics among foraging free-ranging Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata) during solitary foraging trials. We also investigated the potential influence of individual variables (age and sex) and social variables (presence in the central group, presence of potential inter- and intraspecific competitors), on the use of heuristics, route length and trial time. We used a multi-destination foraging experiment with 6 platforms in a (4 m × 8 m) Z-array, completed by 29 Japanese macaques in 155 runs at the Awajishima Monkey Center in Japan. Our results showed that the macaques chose routes consistent with heuristics (e.g. nearest neighbour heuristic 19.4%, convex hull heuristic 4.5%) and selected optimal routes (shortest path in 23.9% of the trials). We also identified a potential new heuristic that was used most frequently, that we termed the "sweep heuristic" (27.1% of trials), which we interpreted as a strategy to deal with competitive foraging trade-offs - choosing routes to prioritize not leaving isolated food pieces behind. Age was significantly related to trial time; juvenile macaques were faster than adults and young adults, using speed to gain access to resources. Solitary trials with conspecifics present took significantly longer routes. Our results suggest that contextual factors led to variation in Japanese macaque decision-making, and we suggest that the preferential use of a sweep heuristic may have been a response to high intragroup competition., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Japan Monkey Centre.)

Sika deer Cervus nippon populations have been increasing on the Japanese archipelago. Their range is expanding to include the alpine zone in central Japan, where they stay during summer before descending to the lower areas during winter. No studies on dietary habits of alpine deer in mainland Japan have been conducted. This study assessed the composition of sika deer diets and compared nutritional quality between the low montane, subalpine and alpine zones. We analyzed sika deer fecal samples from Mt Yatsugatake (YT) and the Japanese South Alps (SA). In the lower mountain in YT, dwarf bamboo comprised 40-55% of the plant compositions in fecal samples, whereas dicots were mostly found in SA samples. In subalpine zones in YT, grasses are an important food item, comprising about 50% of the samples. In SA, monocots (10-20%) and dicots (10-20%) were both prevalent. In the alpine zone of both YT and SA, grasses were present the fecal samples (50% and 10-20%, respectively). Crude protein contents were higher at higher zones (15-20%) than at lower zones (8-12%) in both study areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: Dietary diversity is an indicator of diet quality. Dietary diversity has been suggested to result in good nutrient intake, but it can affect dietary cost. We examined whether dietary diversity correlates with nutrient intake and monetary diet cost.Methods and Study Design: We used data for 3985 individuals (age range: 20-64 years) from the 2014 Japan National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHNS). Dietary diversity was assessed using the food variety score (FVS; the number of foods) and dietary diversity score (DDS; the number of food groups, range: 1-14). Mean energy and nutrient intake from NHNS, and diet cost from the National Retail Price Survey were compared among FVS quartiles using the Kruskal-Wallis test, and between 2 groups with median DDS using the Mann-Whitney U test.Results: Mean (SD) FVS and DDS per day were 22.3 (7.2) and 9.8 (2.0), respectively. For most nutrients, intake per 4184 kJ was relatively high when FVS was high (p<0.001); however, carbohydrate intake was relatively high in the low-FVS group (p<0.001). For all nutrients with significant differences, intake was higher in the group with high DDS (≥10). Monetary diet cost was higher in the high-FVS and DDS groups compared with the low groups (p<0.001).Conclusions: Intake of a variety of food and food groups resulted in higher intake of various nutrients as well as higher monetary diet cost. Additionally, care should be taken to avoid excessive intake of nutrients such as sodium and SFA that may result from diverse diets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]