[Applicability of the dietary record by cooked dishes method for estimating dietary intake of populations in the areas other than where the database was developed].

Objectives: The Dietary Record by Cooked Dishes (DRcd) method, which enables simple assessment of food and nutrient intake, is unique because it uses a nutrient database of cooked dishes. Although this method has been validated among the rural Japanese populations for which the database was developed, the applicability of the DRcd for other populations is unclear. In this study, we have examined the applicability of DRcd among an urban population.

Distribution and major sources of flavonoid intakes in the middle-aged Japanese women.

We estimated the intake of individual flavonoids in a cross sectional study and clarified the major sources contributing to the flavonoid levels in the middle-aged Japanese women by a 24-h weighed dietary record study. The subjects included in the study were 516 free-living women. Each subject completed a 24-h weighed dietary record and received a health check-up.

Food safety and epidemiology: new database of functional food factors.

More than 600 functional non-nutrient food factors (FFFs) in vegetables and fruits are considered to be effective for health promotion and disease prevention. However, phytochemicals studied thus far have failed to yield predicted results in randomized intervention studies. To assess the health effects of phytochemicals, a breakthrough in epidemiological methods was necessary.

The effect of dietary and plasma fatty acids on platelet aggregation in senior generation of Japanese women.

Dietary factors that influence platelet aggregation have not been fully clarified in humans. 63 Japanese women, aged 40-70 years old, completed one-day weighted dietary records, and received physical and laboratory examinations. Platelet aggregation was measured by 1.

[Associations between dietary intake and urinary excretion of sodium, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and calcium].

Objectives And Methods: The associations between dietary intake and urinary excretion of sodium (Na), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and phosphorus (P), and the major dietary sources derived from the urinary minerals were studied in a nutritional survey of 219 Japanese females aged 27-84 years, who completed anthropometric measurements, a one-day dietary record, and a 24 hr urine collection.

Results: The minerals excreted in the urine were significantly and positively correlated with each other, in which Na excretion was correlated with K and Ca excretion (r = 0.490 and r = 0.

[Phytoestrogen and cancer prevention].

Phytoestrogens are defined to be plant chemicals that modify estrogenic effects in the body by binding to the estrogen receptors in mammals. Isoflavones, coumestane, lignan, and prenylflavones are examples of these, with isoflavones from soy foods and lignans from rye being a major dietary contribution. Mechanisms of cancer prevention by these phytoestrogens are reviewed, and human epidemiological studies, especially for breast and prostate cancers, are summarized and the results discussed.