Dietary Sources of Nutrient Consumption in a Rural Japanese Population.

Abstract

We determined the sources of nutrient intake of 59 men and 60 women in two rural towns in the Miyagi Prefecture, a northeastern part of Japan. Four 3-day food records were collected in four seasons within a year. The total dishes and recipes were classified into 197 items. Their percent contributions to the total population consumption of energy and 14 nutrients were calculated as the sum of the nutrient intake contributed by a given dish or recipe divided by the total nutrient intake from all the items.Rice was the largest contributor for energy (29.8%), protein (13.0%) and carbohydrates (45.3%). Miso soup, as a dish, was a leading contributor (7.1 %) for fat. The largest contributor for sodium, calcium, carotene, vitamin C were miso soup (17.1 %), milk (16.6%), spinach (23.6%), green tea (13.6%), respectively.The result suggests that the examination of nutrient sources based on dishes and recipes, rather than on food materials, may be useful in characterizing the dietary patterns of populations.

Associations between the Intake of Miso Soup and Japanese Pickles and the Estimated 24-hour Urinary Sodium Excretion: A Population-based Cross-sectional Study

“…This is a key finding that may have important public health implications, as public health workers often give nutritional education based on the nutritional content of common dishes and recipes (8). In this context, our findings regarding differences in dietary habits according to age provide valuable insight.…”

“…A previous study using data collected in 1996-1997 reported that miso soup and Japanese pickles are the top two contributors of dietary sodium, accounting for 17.1% and 12.4% of total sodium intake, respectively, among 197 common Japanese dishes (8). Japanese pickles include pickled cucumber (3.6%), pickled radish (2.9%), pickled plum (2.8%), pickled vegetables (1.3%), pickled eggplant (1.0%) and pickled Chinese cabbage (0.8%).…”

“…Although a marked decrease in the levels of salt intake has been achieved within the past several decades 17.1% and 12.4% of total sodium intake, respectively, establishing these two dishes as the top contributors among 197 common Japanese dishes (8). However, that study used data collected in 1996-1997, and there is no evidence linking the frequency of intake of miso soup and Japanese pickles to salt intake based on current data.…”

“…Measurements of the urinary sodium and creatinine concentrations in the spot urine samples are not evaluated as mandatory items on the health examinations, although they were assessed independently in Sado City. Of the 9,003 participants (age range, 19-97 years) who underwent health examinations in 2013, 8,821 were included in the analysis, excluding 182 individuals with missing information for lifestyle factors (Fig. 1).…”

Sources of variation in energy and nutrient intakes among children from six to thirty months old in a population-based study

“…Although different studies have characterized within-and between-person variance for energy and nutrient intakes in adults 10,11 very little information is available for children 12,13 , especially in Brazil. In addition, most studies of the child population are usually held in public health institutions and at nursery schools 14,15,16,17,18 and few population-based studies have been conducted in recent years 19,20,21,22 .…”