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SummaryThis study was aimed at evaluation of the validity and reliability of an alter native dietary measurement method that assists epidemiologic studies. We validated a handheld personal digital assistant with camera and mobile phone card, called Wellnavi, in which a 1-d weighed diet record was employed as a reference method. Twenty college stu dents majoring in food and nutrition participated in this study. They were asked to keep a diet record and to take digital photos of all these recorded food at the same time, then send them to the dietitians by the mobile phone card. In the reliability study, other twenty stu dents from the same college were asked to take digital photos of the same meal during a day by two same instruments under the same circumstances and to send these photos to the dif ferent dietitians electronically. With respect to validity, median nutrient intakes estimated by the Wellnavi method and the diet record method are comparable. Correlation coefficients between the median nutrient intakes estimated from these two methods ranged from 0.46 for monounsaturated fatty acid to 0.93 for vitamin B12 and copper (median r=0.77). With respect to reliability, our data show a good agreement between two Wellnavi instruments for most of the nutrients. Correlation coefficients between the nutrient intakes estimated from 2 instruments ranged from 0.55 for vitamin B1 and water-insoluble dietary fiber to 0.92 for vitamin B12 (median r=0.78). In conclusion, the results indicate this dietary assessment in strument can usefully measure individual dietary intakes for a variety of nutrients in an epi demiologic study. Key Words validity, reliability, dietary assessment, mobile phone card Recently, the relation between daily dietary intake and lifestyle-related disorders is receiving increasing at tention from both health professionals and the general public. National Health Promotion Movement in the 21st Century in Japan lays strong emphasis on increase of vegetable/fruit consumption and on intake of bal anced diet. This health promotion movement raises concerns about the needs of monitoring usual food con sumption patterns of target population. Several dietary assessment methods, for example, 24-h dietary recall, diet record and food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), are widely used to the collection of dietary information in the epidemiologic researches. Twenty-four-hour recall method is relatively simple, the results, however, greatly depends upon the respondents' memory and the trained interviewer; the diet record method is regarded providing most accurate dietary information but quite time consuming and burdensome to the participants; the FFQ method is easier for participants and inexpen sive, nevertheless, it is unable to supply precise informa tion of diet intake (1). Furthermore, currently available dietary assessment methods are rarely employed to col lect continuous dietary data of target population over multiweek time span, they unlikely reveal usual diet of the individuals (2-4). Therefore, a simpler an...

Summary This study was carried out to examine first, the validity of a new dietary assessment method, a handheld personal digital assistant with camera and mobile phone card (Wellnavi), in comparison with a weighed diet record as a reference method and second, the relation between obesity and underreporting in the Wellnavi method in 27 men and 48 women volunteers aged 30-67 y from the general population. On the validity, there were significant correlations (0.32-0.75) between the daily nutrient intakes measured by the Wellnavi method and the weighed diet record method in all the subjects except for some nutrients such as iron, magnesium and vitamin E. Results similar to those from the group of all the subjects were obtained in the men's group and the women's group. In all the subjects and the men's group and the women's group, the differences in the daily nutrient intakes between the two dietary assessment methods were statistically significant. However, good agreement of the differences between the two dietary assessment methods for many daily nutrient intakes was obtained in the nonobese men. The nutrient intakes estimated by the Wellnavi method in all the subjects and the men's group and the women's group were significantly lower than those values estimated by the weighed diet record method except for some nutrients such as sodium, iron and fat-soluble vitamins. With respect to the relation between obesity and underreporting, the obesity in women was not a factor of underreporting in the Wellnavi method, but the presence of this relation was undeniable in the obese men. The reason why the values of daily nutrient intakes in the Wellnavi method were lower than those estimated by the weighed diet record method seemed to be the low quality of the digital photo of the Wellnavi instrument. By improving the digital photo quality of this instrument, the Wellnavi method could become a useful new dietary assessment method to get accurate dietary information from people of a wide range of age and occupation, and a wide variety of physical situations of subjects from the general population. Key Words dietary survey, mobile phone card, weighed diet record method, validity, general population It has been clarified in several nutritional epidemiologic studies that there is a close relationship between daily nutrient intakes and lifestyle-related disorders ( 1 ). The dietary assessment method is indispensable in order to survey accurately daily nutrient intakes of a target population attending nutrition counseling. It is also for the sake of prevention of lifestyle-related disorders and for the development of research in nutrition science. The 24-h dietary recall, weighed diet record and food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) are widely used for the collection of dietary information on names of foods and amounts consumed by an individual ( 2 ). The accuracy of the daily nutrient intakes obtained from the 24-h dietary recall method is dependent on the ability of interviewer and the respondents' memory.As the weighed diet record...

Lactobacillus acidophilus, as a probiotic, is widely used in many functional food products. Microencapsulation not only increases the survival rate of L. acidophilus during storage and extends the shelf-life of its products, but also optimal size microcapsule makes L. acidophilus have an excellent dispersability in final products. In this paper, L. acidophilus was microencapsulated using spray drying (inlet air temperature of 170°C; outlet air temperature of 85-90°C). The wall materials used in this study were b-cyclodextrin and acacia gum in the proportion of 9:1 (w/w), and microcapsules were prepared at four levels of wall materials (15, 20, 25 and 30% [w/v]

This study demonstrated possible relationships between environmental, personal, and occupational factors and changes in the subjective health symptoms of 214 employees after the relocation of a hospital in a region of Japan. Eight indoor volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were detected in at least one of the 19 rooms investigated, and total VOC (TVOC) concentrations in 8 rooms exceeded the advisable value (400 microg/m(3)) established by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan. Formaldehyde was detected in all the investigated rooms, but none of the results exceeded the guideline value (100 microg/m(3)). Multiple logistic regression analysis was applied to select variables significantly associated with the subjective symptoms that can be induced by sick building syndrome. The results showed that subjective symptoms of deterioration in the skin, eye, ear, throat, chest, central nervous system, autonomic system, musculoskeletal system, and digestive system among employees were associated mainly with gender difference and high TVOC concentrations (>1200 microg/m(3)). Long work hours (>50 h per week) in females and smoking in males were to be blamed for the deterioration of their symptoms. The present findings suggest that to protect employees from indoor environment-related adverse health effects, it is necessary to reduce the concentration of indoor chemicals in new buildings, to decrease work hours, and to forbid smoking.