Kana Ioku

We analyzed the relationship between the dietary pattern and blood rheology in 34 vegetarian and 65 omnivorous middle-aged female volunteers. The vegetarian diet consisted mainly of unpolished rice, green vegetables, and tofu (bean curd), under a physician's guidance, and there were individual variations. The blood rheology was evaluated by measuring the passage time of whole blood with a microchannel array flow analyzer (MC-FAN). A cluster analysis was performed on the nutrient intake of each subject. Four clusters representing different dietary patterns could be readily identified. These were (a) a vegan diet, (b) vegetarian diet, containing only two omnivores, (c) eating moderately, all omnivores, (d) tendency to overeat, all omnivores. The intakes of Ca, Mg, Fe, Cu, vitamins K and B_1, and folic acid by the vegetarian group were significantly more than those by the other three groups. BMI, body fat percentage, waist circumference, and diastolic pressure of the vegan and vegetarian groups were significantly lower than those of the omnivorous groups. The serum folic acid level for the vegan group was significantly higher than that for the two omnivorous groups, and the plasma quercetin level for the vegan and vegetarian groups was significantly higher than that in the two other groups. The blood rheological parameters for the vegan and vegetarian groups tended to be higher than those for the two omnivorous groups. These data suggest that the vegetarian diet stimulated the blood rheology, and subsequently decreased the risk of impairing the microcirculation.

<BR>【目的】消費者パネルを用いたテクスチャーの官能評価において，用語は重要な役割を果たす．そこで，アンケートや文献調査等によって収集したテクスチャー用語445語（文献１）を用いて，消費者のテクスチャー語彙を調べた．<br>【方法】テクスチャー用語445語について，それぞれ「食表現だと思うか」「食表現として使うか」を質問した．回答者の負担を軽減し，かつ用語の順序効果を排除するため，445語を4群に分割し，任意に２群ずつ組み合わせて12通りの調査票を作成した．調査は2004年6月から10月にかけて実施し，首都圏および京阪神地区において，中学校，大学，高齢者向け市民大学，消費者勉強会等で3533人に調査票を配付した．<br>【結果】回収票は2582（回収率73.1％），うち有効票は2437であった．提示される配置によって回答が変化する用語は445語中16語と少なく，他の多くは配置による差が小さいことが確認された．50%以上の回答者が食表現であるとみなした用語は281語あった．また，90％以上の回答者が食表現であるとした消費者のテクスチャー語彙の中核的な用語は"かたい""クリーミー""サクサク""パリパリ""ねばねば"等66語で，他言語の調査データ（文献２）と比較すると，"crisp" "crunchy" "juicy" "soft" "creamy"に相当する用語は，言語間で共通して消費者パネルによく使用されるテクスチャー表現であることが推察された．1:早川他，日食科工，52，(2005)（印刷中）．2: Rohm, J. Texture Stud., 21, 363 (1990)