Shaw Watanabe

A Mainstay of Functional Food Science in Japan—History, Present Status, and Future Outlook

The development of food science in the near future probably depends on the advance in functional food science, the concept of which was proposed first in Japan nearly 15 years ago. The new science has been internationally distributed and accepted as conceptually being beyond nutrition. In Japan, however, it traced a unique path of progress in the form of a product-driven rather than concept-driven science. Actually, a number of substances and products with potential for disease risk reduction rather than simply for health maintenance have been investigated for their body-modulating functions. Some of them have been applied in practice to the industrialization of functional foods in terms of “foods for specified health uses” legally defined by new legislation. A variety of sophisticated methods have been introduced as well, including the so-called “XYZ” evaluation system, database construction for assessment of the function, and even the DNA microarray technique. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF) and the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MHW) also commenced their scienctific as well as political activity, with its spread to industries which almost simultaneously began to vigorously investigate functional food products for enlargement of the food market. With all of this as a background, the Japan Liaison of the international Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST) hold a function food science symposium on behalf of related scientific bodies including the Japan Section of the International Life Science Institute (ILSI). This paper is an overview compiled from 12 presentations made in the symposium, with the aim of internationally publicizing the activity of functional food science in Japan.

Epstein-Barr virus-associated gastric carcinoma in Japanese Brazilians and non-japanese Brazilians in São Paulo

The proportion of Epstein‐Barr virus‐associated gastric carcinoma (EB V‐GC) was examined in 149 Japanese‐Brazilian and 151 non‐Japanese‐Brazilian gastric‐carcinoma cases using in situ hybridization (ISH) assay to detect EBV‐encoded small RNA (EBER), and the results were compared with our referent Japanese data. We found that 4.7% of cases in Japanese Brazilians were EBER‐positive. This frequency was slightly lower than that of the referent Japanese, among whom 6.2% of 2038 gastric‐carcinoma cases were EBER‐positive. On the other hand, the non‐Japanese‐Brazilian series showed a significantly higher proportion of EBV‐GC (11.2%) than the referent group did (P=0.01). Although EBV‐GC was predominant in males among non‐Japanese Brazilians (M/ F=3.6, P=0.047), as was the case in Japanese (M/F=2.7), Japanese Brazilians did not show such a male predominance. The sex‐ratio difference between the Japanese Brazilians and Japanese was statistically significant (P=0.005). In conclusion, the present study in Japanese Brazilians and Japanese yielded no evidence suggesting any change in the frequency of EBV‐GC caused by migration, except the absence of male predominance, which was observed both in Japanese and non‐Japanese Brazilians.

Uptake of cadmium in meals from the digestive tract of young non-smoking Japanese female volunteers.

Uptake of Cadmium in Meals from the Digestive Tract of Young Non‐smoking Japanese Female Volunteers: Yuriko Kikuchi, et al. Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine, Keio University

Ketone Body Production and Excretion During Wellness Fasting

1Lifescience Promoting Association, Daikyo-cho 25-3-1004, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0015, Japan 2Otsuma Women’s Univerisity, Sanbancho 12, Chiyoda, Tokyo 102-8357, Japan 3AOB Keioh Group CORP., Kobuchizawa-cho 2961, Hokuto City, Yamanashi 408-8522, Japan 4ARSOA HONSHA CORP., Shibuya 3-26-8, Shibuta-ku, Tokyo 150-0002, Japan 5Tokyo Metropolitan University, Minami-osawa 1-1, Hachioji City, Tokyo 192-0397, Japan Research