Dietary and drinking habits of 277 male renal stone patients and the same number of their coworkers, who served as age- and sex-matched controls, were investigated to clarify the effects of dietary habit on stone formation. The results were compared with those for 4, 386 age-matched healthy male Japanese. We found that the stone formers had dietary habits underirable for prevention of stone formation. On the other hand, their co-workers also had more unbalanced dietary habits than the healthy Japanese, and their dietary habits were intermediate between those of the stone formers and the healthy subjects. This investigation revealed that the socio-economic conditions of both the stone formers and their co-workers may play some part in stone formation, and that their co-workers who are in a social situation similar to that of the stone formers may themselves become stone formers eventually if they continue their poor dietary habits such as unbalanced diet and over-eating. It is speculated that greater public awareness of the importance of diet habits is necessary for reducing the risk of renal stone formation.

View full abstract

A galacto-oligosaccharide, manninotriose (Mnt), obtained by hydrolysis of soybean stachyose, was examined for its effect on human intestinal bacteria. In vitro assimilation tests with 111 strains of intestinal bacteria showed that Mnt is selectively utilized by Bifidobacterium (excluding B. bifidum) but hardly utilized by other microorganisms. These results are consistent with previous observations for other soybean oligosaccharides, stachyose and raffinose. In an ingestion test conducted with seven healthy adult volunteers (males, 5; females, 2) ingesting 3g/day of Mnt for one week, there was a significant increase (p>0.01) of fecal bifidobacteria, and a significant decrease (p>0.05) in clostridia.

View full abstract

Mice fed with a diet containing yoghurt until the age of 121 weeks showed a longer average survival time than mice fed with a commercial diet or a diet containing skim milk. As a second step to confirm these findings, other mice were prepared and fed with a diet containing one of three treated milk diets: group 1) skim milk, 2) yoghurt, 3) cultured milk of bifidobacteria until 97 weeks old. The levels of some serum constituents in the mice from groups 2) and 3) were significantly different [UA; higher in 2) (p<0.01), BUN; lower in 2) (p<0.05), creatinine; lower in 2) and 3) (p<0.05)] from those in mice from 1). The normality and survival rate of mice from 3) were both highest for all mouse groups. These results suggest that these fermented milk products may act to maintain the functions of the kidney and suppress the development of diseases such as tumors, thus prolonging the survival time of the mice.

View full abstract

Male spontaneous hypertensive rats (SHR) 7 weeks old were divided into four groups of 6 rats each. Two groups were fed with a low-protein diet (10% soybean protein; 10% group) and the other two groups wers fed with a high-protein diet (40% soybean protein; 40% group). Both diet groups were divided into the non-exercise groups (10NE ond 40NE groups) and exercise groups (10E and 40E groups). Rats in the 10E and 40E groups were trained by forced treadmill running (15m/min for 30 min, 3 times a week) for 9 weeks. Body weight, blood pressure, urinary volume and urinary constituents were measured every week. Constituents in blood of rats at the end of the experiment were also measured. The results obtained were as follows; 1) The 40% group showed a heavier body weight and lower blood pressure than the 10% group. Concentrations of plasma protein, plasma albumin and urinary kallikrein were higher in the 40% group than in the 10% group, while those of plasma aldosterone, plasma total lipid and plasma total cholesterol were lower in the 40% group. 2) The 40E group tended to show a heavier body weight than the 40NE group. Essentially, there were no differences in blood and urinary constituents between the 40E and 40NE groups. 3) Growth of rats in the 10E group was impaired and body weight in this group was lighter when compared with those in the IONE group. The 10E group showed higher blood pressure, a higher concentration of plasma aldosterone, a lower concentration of plasma potassium and lower excretion of urinary kallikrein than the IONE group. 4) Aggravation of hypertension in rats in the 10E group might have been caused by a decrease in urinary kallikrein as a result of feeding with the low-protein diet and the stress of forced treadmill running.

View full abstract

The effects of processing defatted oat bran in a twin-screw extruder were examined with regard to both compositional changes of its dietary fiber fraction and hypocholesterolemic activity in cholesterolfed rats. Insoluble and soluble dietary fiber contents in the raw material and the extruded product were measured using an enzymatic-gravimetric method. Redistribution of insoluble to soluble dietary fiber was observed in extruded defatted-oat bran. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the cell walls of the extruded product were thinner than those of the steamed one, and that its honeycomb-like structure was disordered. Male Sprague-Dawley rats, aged 5 weeks, were fed diets containing extruded or steamed oat bran for 10days. Both extruded and steamed oat bran suppressed the elevation of serum cholesterol and liver cholesterol accumulation, but serum cholesterol concentrations were lower in the former than in the latter (not statistically significant). The present results suggest that extrusion cooking of oat bran is effective for modifying its dietary fiber composition and hypocholesterolemic activity in rats.

View full abstract

Ovoinhibitor (OI) was separated from raw egg white, and from soft- and hard-cooked egg whites by affinity column chromatography. The recovery of OI protein and its antiproteolytic activity were both highest in raw egg white, and lowest in hard-cooked egg white. Heat treatment of purified OI under the same conditions as for cooking of eggs gave similar results. Raw egg white exhibited the lowest digestibility by pepsin, whereas no noticeable difference was observed between the others. With regard to digestibility by trypsin, hard-cooked egg white was the best, but the others showed low digestibility. With regard to digestibility by chymotrypsin, hard-cooked egg white was the best, followed in order by soft-cooked and raw egg whites. With regard to the digestibility by trypsin after predigestion with pepsin, the same results as those described above were observed. Furthermore, inhibition of human pancreatic chymotrypsin by OI was shown. These results demonstrate that the increase in digestibility of egg white with heating is partially ascribable to inactivation of OI in the egg white.

View full abstract

By employing a cultivation test of ‘Delicious Bantam-90’ (super sweet type) in 1983, 1984 and 1985, changes in chemical components including flavor precursors of kernels of this sweet corn during maturation were investigated. S-methyl methionine sulfonium salt (S-MMS) was analyzed as the precursor of dimethyl sulfide, which is a key characteristic flavor compound of heated sweet corn. 1) The quantitative changes in chemical components of kernels of this sweet corn during maturation were slower than in other sweet corns. 2) At the optimum maturation stage of this sweet corn, the moisture contents of its kernels was 73-77g/100g-wet basis, the free sugar content was 28-34g/100g-dry matter basis (85% sucrose), and the starch content (including phytoglycogen) was 40g/100g-dry matter basis. The high sucrose and low starch contents were a distinct characteristic of this sweet corn, which has a strong and pleasant sweet taste. 3) S-MMS content of the optimally mature kernels was 1-2μmol/gdry matter basis. Also the maximum amount of S-MMS for all kernels (on the part of 10cm from sweet corn cobs) was checked at approximately the optimum maturation stage. 4) The weather conditions in 1983, 1984 and 1985 had considerable effects upon the maturation speeds, and thus quantitative changes in the chemical components of the kernels. 5) The chemical composition of the optimally mature kernels was mostly clarified, and the relation between this and taste was discussed.

View full abstract

A series of studies was done to determine the effective ingredients, i. e. vitamin C and polyphenol, present in persimmon leaves. Specimen persimmon leaves obtained in June, July, September and October were examined. Three different drying methods were employed: simple drying, drying after steaming, and vacuum-freeze-drying. Our findings were as follows: 1) The largest quantity of vitamin C was found in the raw leaves obtained in July. The value recorded was 485mg/100g. 2) The vitamin C content of leaves obtained in September was substantially lower. It was observed that the quantity of vitamin C in the harvested leaves decreased as winter approached. 3) Young leaves appearing in October were found to contain much more vitamin C than older leaves which had been growing since the previous spring; the amount of hydroascorbic acid in these young leaves was 63% of total vitamin C. 4) The polyphenol content gradually increased as winter approached. 5) A smaller quantity of vitamin C was found in persimmon tea, compared with that found in the leaves examined, regardless of the drying method employed. 6) There was a positive direct correlation between the quantity of vitamin C and that of polyphenol in extracts of persimmon tea.

View full abstract

Analysis of chemical components of nutritional importance in dry seeds or germinating seeds (alfalfa sprouts, prepared in the dark or under light illumination) was performed. The content of crude fat was determined to be about 11% for dry seeds, 0.64% for germinating seeds (dark) and 1% for germinating seeds (light). Analysis of fatty acid composition revealed unique characteristics of this plant, i. e. the two major fatty acid components were linoleic acid (about 44%) and α-linolenic acid (about 33%), the ratio of α-linolenic acid to linoleic acid being high in comparison with those for any other sprouts. Futhermore, eicosapentaenoic acid was detected at a level of 1.3% in dry seeds, 1.8% in germinating seeds (dark) and 1.6% in germinating seeds (light). Vitamins A, B₁, B₂, C and E were measured, and the contents of these vitamins, when estimated as dry weight, increased during germination. It is especially interesting that a-tocopherol was detected at almost the same levels in dry seeds of soybean (1.8mg%).

View full abstract