Summary "Shushoku," "Shusai," and "Hukusai" are staple food, main dish, and side dish, respectively. The recommended meal in Japan is a combination of "Shushoku," "Shusai," and "Hukusai"; however, it remains unclear whether there is an association between the frequency of these meals and intake of nutrients and food groups. This cross-sectional study examined the association between the frequency of meals combining "Shushoku, Shusai, and Hukusai" and intake of nutrients and food groups among 664 Japanese young adults aged 18-24 y. The dietary habits of the subjects during the preceding month were assessed using a validated brief-type self-administered diet history questionnaire. The frequency of meals combining "Shushoku, Shusai, and Hukusai" was self-reported according to four categories: "less than 1 d or 1 d/wk," "2 or 3 d/wk," "4 or 5 d/wk," and "every day." In both women and men, there was an association between the higher frequency of these meals and higher intake of the following food groups: pulses, green and yellow vegetables, other vegetables, mushrooms, seaweeds, fi sh and shellfi sh, and eggs. Moreover, there was an association with higher intake of protein, polyunsaturated fat, n-6 and n-3 polyunsaturated fat, total dietary fi ber, soluble and insoluble dietary fi ber, ␤-carotene, ␣-tocopherol, vitamin K, thiamin, ribofl avin, folate, pantothenic acid, vitamin C, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, and copper, and lower intake of carbohydrate in both women and men. Our fi ndings support the hypothesis that the meals combining "Shushoku, Shusai, and Hukusai" may be associated with intake of many food groups and nutrients among Japanese young adults.

To assess the reliability and validity of the Dietary Supplement Choice Questionnaire (DSCQ) to capture dietary supplement choice motives among Japanese college athletes. The cross-sectional study was performed in 2014. This study recruited 1,451 college athletes from sports-oriented clubs at the University of Tsukuba, Japan. The participants completed the DSCQ, health literacy, and subjective economic status; part of the participants completed a test-retest (n5378). A sample of 975 participants (28.0% female) included in the analysis. The DSCQ was developed through factor analysis. Seven factors emerged, and were labelled "popularity," "functionality," "price," "taste," "convenience," "antidoping" and "familiarity." Mostly acceptable reliability was seen across seven DSCQ factors (the internal consistency, Cronbach's a50.62-0.85; the test-retest reliability coefficients, r50.62-0.82), whereas convergent validity for price and antidoping factors was provided by significant associations with economic status and literacy (p,0.01). Findings showed reasonable evidence of reliability and validity of the DSCQ and provided the opportunity to comprehensively assess dietary supplement choice motives among Japanese college athletes.

SummaryThe aim of this study was to examine the association between regular exercise and dietary intake in Japanese young adults. A cross-sectional study was performed between May 2013 and July 2013 in universities, colleges, and technical schools located in Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Tokyo, and Nara in Japan. The final sample comprised 654 students, 473 females and 181 males, aged 18-24 y. Regular exercise and dietary intake were assessed using validated self-reported questionnaires. Logistic regression analyses were applied to examine the association between regular exercise and dietary intake. A total of 18% females and 40% males spent $5 h per week exercising. Females who spent $5 h per week exercising were likely to have a higher intake of fruits (odds ratio (OR), 1.84; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.09-3.13) and a lower intake of cereals (OR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.33-0.97) than were those who spent ,1 h per week. Males who spent $5 h per week exercising were more likely to have a higher intake of fish and shellfish (OR, 2.69; 95% CI, 1.07-6.77) than those who spent ,1 h per week. In conclusions, young adults who spent $5 h per week exercising had a higher intake of fruits among females, and a higher intake of fish and shellfish among males than those who spent ,1 h per week. The present findings suggested food group intakes associated with regular exercise in Japanese young adults.

Objective:We investigated the relationship between subjective evaluation of acquiring information on own dietary habits and the food group intakes of elementary and junior high school students. Methods:The subjects were 3,855 elementary and junior high school students aged 10-14 years in Kamisu city (Ibaraki, Japan). A self-administered questionnaire was used, with questions about subjective evaluation of acquiring information on own dietar y habits and the frequency of 11 food group intakes. We examined the correlation by using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis.Results: In all, 1,724 elementary and 1,155 junior high school students completed the questionnaire (86.5% response rate). In both elementar y and junior high school, approximately 40% students answered that they acquired information on own dietary habits. Subjective evaluation of acquiring information on own dietary habits significantly correlated with the intake of vegetables, potatoes and fruits in elementar y school students. The correlation between subjective evaluation of acquiring information on own dietar y habits and the intake of vegetables, milk and dair y products, eggs and potatoes in junior high school students were significant. Conclusion:The results of this study indicated that elementary and junior high school students who answered they acquired information on own dietary habits by some kind of tools, compared with those who answered they had not acquire, have a higher frequency of vegetables and potatoes intake mainly from the side dish.