Background: We designed a data-based semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire to clarify the relationship between food intake and lifestyle-related diseases among middle-aged Japanese. Methods: A total of 351 middle-aged individuals were recruited to a one-day weighed diet record survey in 1994. In all, 586 foods were consumed. Intake of 31 nutrients including energy, protein, fat, carbohydrate, vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber by food was computed by multiplying the weight of food consumed by its nutrient content. First, 252 foods with up to 90 cumulative % contribution to nutrient intake were selected. Of these, foods having apparently the same/similar nutrient content were combined into 206 foods by research dietitians. Next, 183 foods with up to 0.90 cumulative multiple regression coefficient and 90 cumulative % contribution were chosen. At this stage an additional food grouping was made. Results: Finally, 102 foods/recipes were included in the questionnaire: rice (2 items), bread and noodles (11 ), eggs, milk and dairy products (10), soybean, soybean products and other beans (7), meat including beef, pork and chicken (12), fish (5), other fish, shellfish and fish products (10), green-yellow vegetables (8), other vegetables and mushrooms (7), edible roots (2), seaweeds (3), seeds (2), fruits (8), beverages (7) and confectioneries (8). The frequencies were classified into eight categories. Portion size was calculated for the respective foods largely from the one-day weighed diet record. Conclusions: The developed semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire substantially covered the intake of 31 nutrients and may be competent to rank middle-aged Japanese efficiently.
Background: Word finding difficulties are common complaints among healthy elderly persons. Recently, both cross‐sectional and longitudinal studies have demonstrated a decline in naming ability, particularly in subjects 70 years old or over. It is unclear which cognitive mechanisms cause this reduction of lexical retrieval ability with advancing age. Methods: Based on their performance in the Picture Naming Test, normal elderly subjects, predominantly in their 70's were divided into two groups, namely, good and poor namers. The two groups did not differ significantly with respect to age, education, or Mini‐Mental State Examination (MMSE) test score. We administrated a comprehensive neuropsychological battery involving a verbal and non‐verbal memory task, semantic memory task, and attention task. The performance in each test was compared between the two groups. Results: Significant differences between the two groups were demonstrated in only two tasks, the Trail Making Test (part B) and the Stroop Colored Word Test. Conclusion: Set‐switching and inhibitory processes in attentional control, as reflected on by the results in the Trail Making Test (part B) and the Stroop Colored Word Test, may contribute to lexical ability in normal aged people. There is little evidence that verbal and non‐verbal memory or semantic memory are associated with naming ability. Poor performance in naming tasks of elderly people may be attributable to their inability to suppress inappropriate responses.
Objective: To examine reproducibility of assessed intake of foods and nutrients according to a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (SQFFQ) in Japanese female dietitians. Subjects and Methods: An SQFFQ was self-administered to 106 (21 male and 85 female) Japanese dietitians in Aichi prefecture in autumn 1996 and the same questionnaire was repeated in autumn 1997. Reproducibility was evaluated in terms of consumption of 15 foods and energy and 30 macroand micro-nutrients based on the SQFFQ from 84 Japanese female dietitians. Results: For intake of foods, Pearson's correlation coefficients (CCs) with log-transformation and energy adjustment (minimum median maximum) ranged from 0.35 (beverages) - 0.61 - 0.71 (dairy products). ANOVA intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) with log-transformation and energy adjustment ranged from 0.49 (beverages) - 0.74 - 0.82 (dairy products). Spearman's rank CCs with energy adjustment ranged from 0.43 (confectionery) - 0.57 - 0.76 (dairy products). Weighted kappa statistics with energy adjustment ranged from 0.34 (confectionery) - 0.49 - 0.71 (dairy products). For consumption of nutrients, Pearson's CCs with log-transformation and energy adjustment ranged from 0.23 (zinc) - 0.55 - 0.74 (insoluble dietary fiber). ANOVA ICCs with log- transformation and energy adjustment ranged from 0.37 (zinc) - 0.70 - 0.84 (insoluble dietary fiber). Spearman's rank CCs with energy adjustment ranged from 0.25 (zinc) - 0.56 - 0.74 (magnesium). Weighted kappa statistics with energy adjustment ranged from 0.25 (zinc) - 0.50 - 0.68 (insoluble dietary fiber). Conclusions: Substantially high reproducibility of consumption of foods and nutrients was attained from an SQFFQ self-administered to Japanese female dietitians. J Epidemiol, 2002 ; 12: 45-53
We aimed to identify food sources of selected trace elements (Zn, Cu, Mn, I, Se, Cr, Mo) and biotin in the Japanese diet and to assess usual dietary intakes based on the ratios of within-person to between-person variance. Subjects were 98 middle-aged dietitians living in central Japan who participated in a survey of four-season 7 consecutive day weighed diet records. Based on the latest Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan published in 2010, food sources of selected nutrients were located according to a contribution analysis, and computed usual dietary intakes. Dietary intakes were checked with the Dietary Reference Intakes for Japanese 2010. Prevalence of inadequacy in a group was determined using the Estimated Average Requirement cut-point method. The major contributors to selected trace elements and biotin were not only meat and milk, but also traditional Japanese food items, including rice, tofu and tofu products, fish, seaweed, chicken eggs, fermented soy bean seasonings, and green tea. Medians of usual intakes were estimated for Zn (men 8.9 mg, women 8.4 mg), Cu (1.32 mg, 1.21 mg), Mn (3.73 mg, 3.76 mg), I (312 μg, 413 μg), Se (97 μg, 94 μg), Cr (10 μg, 9 μg), Mo (226 μg, 184 μg), and biotin (51.7 μg, 47.6 μg). The prevalence of inadequacy of dietary intakes was high for Zn, Cu and Cr. Regarding I, the proportion above the Tolerant Upper Level was overestimated based on the crude mean value. We first identified food sources of selected trace elements and biotin in the Japanese diet, and assessed the usual intakes.
