Box Lunch Research Articles

A Japanese Box Lunch Bento Comprising Functional Foods Reduce Oxidative Stress in Men: A Pilot Study.

The elder population has increased, introducing the profound medical and social challenge of maintaining health in aging seniors and the need for a medical approach to sustaining physical and mental health. The relationship between diseases and lifestyle-related factors such as diet and exercise are important. A health-conscious lifestyle improves one’s health condition from a medical perspective, as indicated by new wellness monitoring using health devices and recent research into the efficacy of functional lunches incorporating utilitarian agricultural, forestry, and fishery products and foods. For a period of 3 months, and solely at lunchtime, 21 participants consumed the contents of a bento (Japanese box lunch), which incorporated functional (healthy) foods. A variety of factors were analyzed, including: weight, weight fluctuation rate, abdominal girth, triglycerides, total cholesterol value, and 8-OHdG (8-hydroxy-2’-deoxyguanosine). The bento comprising functional foods resulted in a reduction in both weight and abdominal girth without calorie restrictions. A reduction over time was observed in 8-OHdG, an oxidative stress marker, as compared to values prior to initiation of the study. Usage of a health device, exercise/dietary advice from a physician and nutritionist, and the availability of meals incorporating functional agricultural products might help prevent lifestyle disease and lead to improved health management.

Unboxing the bento box: An arts-informed inquiry into Japanese families’ experience at Canadian school lunch time

Bento, a Japanese style boxed lunch, has a distinct cultural meaning for Japanese people as a medium of affective communication between children and parents. However, in Canadian schools governed by the Anglo-Western food norms, their culinary practices may stand out. This study employed an arts-informed participatory design to explore how school-aged children (6-12 years old) of Japanese origin and their parents describe their experience bringing Japanese food to school in Canada. We conducted arts-informed workshops with 16 children who created artworks about their lunchboxes, and focus groups with 19 parents (all mothers). Children’s artworks illuminated a common aesthetics about “good” lunch that closely reflected mothers’ commitment to preparing nutritionally balanced and aesthetically appealing bento boxes. Both children and mothers reported that Canadian school food environment (e.g., short eating periods, snack times, built environment) sometimes misaligns with their food practices. Some families were compelled to modify their bento to accommodate children’s needs to fit in at school. Meantime, participants’ narratives indicate the prevalence of stigma toward “junk” food that may perpetuate food shaming at school. A more inclusive, diverse and culturally appropriate discussion on “healthy eating” at school can embrace children’s and their families’ intercultural food identities.

Feasibility of Low-Sodium, High-Potassium Processed Foods and Their Effect on Blood Pressure in Free-Living Japanese Men: A Randomized, Double-Blind Controlled Trial.

We aimed to verify the effect of new low-sodium high-potassium seasonings and processed foods containing poly-γ-glutamic acid on blood pressure in free-living settings. To this end, we conducted a randomized, double-blind controlled trial on 187 Japanese men, aged 35–67 years, who did not use antihypertensives. Participants were randomly allocated to an intervention (n = 93) or a control group (n = 94). They were given a boxed lunch and miso soup (average Na and K content for the intervention group: 1175 and 1476 mg; for the control group: 2243 and 703 mg, respectively). Blood pressure was measured three times every morning for 1 week immediately before and during the final week of the trial. On the day before and the final day of the intervention period, 24 h urine samples were collected. After intervention, the intervention group showed a significantly stronger decrease in the urinary sodium-to-potassium ratio than the control group (p < 0.001). The mean difference in systolic blood pressure change after adjustment for baseline values between the two groups was −2.1 (95% CI: −3.6, −0.6) mmHg. Compliance between the groups was similar, suggesting successful blinding. In conclusion, the use of new seasonings and processed foods aimed at lowering blood pressure in free-living settings may be feasible and effective.

Social Determinants of Health Are Needed in COVID-19 Risk Assessments for the Workforce

Social Determinants of Health Are Needed in COVID-19 Risk Assessments for the Workforce

A survey of enterovirulent Escherichia coli in box lunches

From July 1995 to June 1996, 120 samples of box lunches purchased from restaurants and supermarkets in Taipei were inspected for the presence of coliform Escherichia coli and Enterovirulent E. coli (EEC). The results showed that 59 of these samples were contaminated with coliform, 37 were contaminated with E. coli, and 18 were contaminated with Enterovirulent E. coli. For the 18 Enterovirulent isolates, strains of serotype O55:H9 were the most numerous, followed by strains of the serotypes O86a:H34 and O28ac:H18. The announcement by the Department of Health on January 4, 1993 set hygienic standards for box lunches, in particular summarize relevant standard. The sanitation levels of 30.8% of the box lunches were therefore unsatisfactory.

A dual-mode soft gripper for food packaging

Robotics and automation in the food industry is not as widely applied as in other industries, such as automotive and electrical industries, due to the large variations in the shape and properties of food materials and the frequent alterations of food products. Robotic end effectors that can adapt to these variations and handle multiple types of food materials are in high demand. Therefore, we propose a dual-mode soft gripper made of rubber material that can grasp and suck different types of objects. The gripper consists of four soft fingers, fabricated with rubber material using casting process, each of which is designed as a combination of a PenuNet bending actuator and a suction pad located at the fingertip. We introduce a new design for the air paths, which play an important role in the proper function of the soft finger. Finite element (FE) simulations were performed to confirm the finger design. Experimental tests were conducted to evaluate single finger bending, gripper lifting force, and grasping and sucking actions for various types of food materials. Results show that the soft gripper can lift a 273.97-g hot dog in the grasping mode, as well as a 512.62-g bagged Kernel corn and a 1072.65-g Macbook Air in the suction mode. It can adapt to approximately circular and square targets, such as a piece of fried chicken and an orange, when the soft fingers are in a perpendicular configuration. While in a parallel configuration, the gripper can successfully handle elongated targets, such as a hot dog. An experiment is also presented to demonstrate the automatic packaging of a Japanese boxed lunch, which requires both grasping and suction modes to be employed.

Portable compact suction pad unit for parallel grippers

This paper proposes a portable compact suction pad unit for the parallel grippers of a mobile manipulation robot to place items for product display. In addition, this paper includes verification of the unit’s mechanism. Given that robots have to hold various items, we propose an operation method by which the parallel gripper holding the compact suction pad unit switches between a pinching mode and a vacuum suction mode depending on the item being placed. The compact suction pad unit is self-contained, with all the devices necessary for the suction operation inside the unit. The suction operation is switched on and off wirelessly by an external host system controller. The compact suction pad unit produced a suction force of about 5.6 N at an allowable inclination angle of 15°. We demonstrated in a competition that our proposed operation method of the compact suction pad unit is useful by having it place a beverage in a cup with lid and a boxed lunch.

Detection of norovirus in food samples collected during suspected food-handler-involved foodborne outbreaks in Tokyo.

Although norovirus (NoV) is the major cause of gastroenteritis, with the largest number of NoV food poisoning cases in Japan, limited information is available regarding NoV detection in food. This study aimed to detect NoV in food samples during the 2015-2016 suspected foodborne outbreaks in Tokyo; 352 food samples from 64 NoV food poisoning outbreaks were collected. Bacterial culturing was performed for sample pretreatment and real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction was conducted for NoV screening. The NoV detection rate was 1·7% (6/352). NoV-positive food samples included leftover boxed lunch, mackerel fillet (foodstuff), aburi salmon slice (partially seared salmon slice), raw tuna as a chirashizushi ingredient, raw amberjack as a sushi topping and ice for drinks. Since fresh fish as sushi toppings or ingredients and ice were consumed without heating, they may present a higher risk of viral infection. NoV-positive food samples were obtained from five outbreaks, wherein food handlers were NoV-positive in four. Each partial VP1 sequence from food samples matched completely with those in NoV-positive individuals and food handlers. Hence, food handlers play a potentially important role in food-based NoV transmission in all five outbreaks; therefore, hygiene education among them is essential to prevent NoV foodborne outbreaks. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: Significance and Impact of the Study: Norovirus (NoV) is a leading cause of foodborne outbreak in Japan. The most frequent route of transmission in NoV foodborne outbreaks is secondary contamination via infected food handlers. However, limited information is available regarding NoV contamination in food samples. This study reports the detection of NoV in food samples to elucidate the source and route of NoV infection leading to outbreaks for 2years in Tokyo. Our data potentially contribute to education and the development of safe food-handling strategies among food handlers and employees in the food industry through elucidation of risk factors associated with NoV contamination.

MEBoost: Variable selection in the presence of measurement error.

We present a novel method for variable selection in regression models when covariates are measured with error. The iterative algorithm we propose, Measurement Error Boosting (MEBoost), follows a path defined by estimating equations that correct for covariate measurement error. We illustrate the use of MEBoost in practice by analyzing data from the Box Lunch Study, a clinical trial in nutrition where several variables are based on self-report and, hence, measured with error, where we are interested in performing model selection from a large data set to select variables that are related to the number of times a subject binge ate in the last 28 days. Furthermore, we evaluated our method and compared its performance to the recently proposed Convex Conditioned Lasso and to the "naive" Lasso, which does not correct for measurement error through a simulation study. Increasing the degree of measurement error increased prediction error and decreased the probability of accurate covariate selection, but this loss of accuracy occurred to a lesser degree when using MEBoost. Through simulations, we also make a case for the consistency of the model selected.

Testing for Turkeys Faith-Based Community HIV Testing Initiative: An Update

Testing for Turkeys (TFT) HIV/hepatitis C virus (HCV) and sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing initiative is a joint effort between Older Women Embracing Life (OWEL), Inc., a nonprofit faith-based community HIV support and advocacy organization; the Johns Hopkins University Regional Partner MidAtlantic AIDS Education and Training Center (MAAETC); and the University of Maryland, Baltimore JACQUES Initiative (JI), and is now in its 11th year of providing HIV outreach, testing, and linkage to care. Since 2008, the annual TFT daylong community HIV testing and linkage to care initiative has been held 2weeks before Thanksgiving at a faith-based center in Baltimore, Maryland, in a zip code where one in 26 adults and adolescents ages 13years and older are living with HIV (Maryland Department of Health, Center for HIV Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Evaluation, 2017). TFT includes a health fair with vendors that supply an abundance of education information (handouts, videos, one-on-one counseling) and safer sex necessities, including male and female condoms, dental dams, and lube. Nutritious boxed lunches and beverages are provided to all attendees and volunteers. Everyone tested for HIV who stays to obtain their results is given a free frozen turkey as they exit. The Baltimore City Health Department is on hand with a confidential no-test list (persons in the state already known to have HIV) to diminish retesting of individuals previously diagnosed with HIV. However, linkage to care is available to everyone: newly diagnosed individuals and those previously diagnosed and currently out of care.

Development of functional agricultural products utilizing the new health claim labeling system in Japan.

In April 2015, Consumer Affairs Agency of Japan launched a new food labeling system known as "Foods with Function Claims (FFC)." Under this system, the food industry independently evaluates scientific evidence on foods and describes their functional properties. As of May 23, 2017, 1023 FFC containing 8 fresh foods have been launched. Meanwhile, to clarify the health-promoting effects of agricultural products, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) implemented the "Research Project on Development of Agricultural Products" and demonstrated the risk reduction of osteoporosis of β-cryptoxanthin rich Satsuma mandarins and the anti-allergic effect of the O-methylated catechin rich tea cultivar Benifuuki. These foods were subsequently released as FFC. Moreover, NARO elucidated the health-promoting effects of various functional agricultural products (β-glucan rich barley, β-conglycinin rich soybean, quercetin rich onion, etc.) and a healthy boxed lunch. This review focuses on new food labeling system or research examining functional aspects of agricultural products.

Nutritional Evaluation of Box Lunches (Bentou) Prepared by Students Compared with Commercial ones and Nutritional Improvement by a Regression Tree Analysis

Nutritional Evaluation of Box Lunches (Bentou) Prepared by Students Compared with Commercial ones and Nutritional Improvement by a Regression Tree Analysis

Grasping state estimation of printable soft gripper using electro-conductive yarn

Automatic handling of many types of food materials are required to realize the automation of production of commercially prepared box lunches. A printable soft gripper was developed for food handling which is simple to produce with a 3D printer. However, the sensing ability of the printable soft gripper was not discussed in previous research. In this paper, a novel method for estimating the grasping state of a printable soft gripper using electro-conductive yarn is presented. Electro-conductive yarn is a conductive material, and the resistance of strings is changed by stretching. It is less expensive than other sensors that can be used for measurement of grasping state. Additionally, it is easy to assemble and disassemble by hand. Electro-conductive yarn is applied to a prototype printable soft gripper, and the proposed estimation method is verified experimentally. From the experimental results, the estimated grasping state from the resistance of the electro-conductive yarn coincides with the actual grasping state of the gripper. Our proposed method of using electro-conductive yarn was successful for estimating the grasping state of a printable soft gripper.

Decision trees in epidemiological research

BackgroundIn many studies, it is of interest to identify population subgroups that are relatively homogeneous with respect to an outcome. The nature of these subgroups can provide insight into effect mechanisms and suggest targets for tailored interventions. However, identifying relevant subgroups can be challenging with standard statistical methods.Main textWe review the literature on decision trees, a family of techniques for partitioning the population, on the basis of covariates, into distinct subgroups who share similar values of an outcome variable. We compare two decision tree methods, the popular Classification and Regression tree (CART) technique and the newer Conditional Inference tree (CTree) technique, assessing their performance in a simulation study and using data from the Box Lunch Study, a randomized controlled trial of a portion size intervention. Both CART and CTree identify homogeneous population subgroups and offer improved prediction accuracy relative to regression-based approaches when subgroups are truly present in the data. An important distinction between CART and CTree is that the latter uses a formal statistical hypothesis testing framework in building decision trees, which simplifies the process of identifying and interpreting the final tree model. We also introduce a novel way to visualize the subgroups defined by decision trees. Our novel graphical visualization provides a more scientifically meaningful characterization of the subgroups identified by decision trees.ConclusionsDecision trees are a useful tool for identifying homogeneous subgroups defined by combinations of individual characteristics. While all decision tree techniques generate subgroups, we advocate the use of the newer CTree technique due to its simplicity and ease of interpretation.

Survey Research of Convenience Store Usage for Lunch Among College Students and Nutritional Examination of Convenience Store Box Lunches

Convenience stores are popular for quick food such as box lunch and rice ball in Japan. In order to obtain the lunch habit of college students, we conducted questionnaire survey for convenience store usages. Additionally we examined the nutritional values of convenience store box lunches as a part of the study whether student’s diet meet the Dietary Reference Intakes for Japanese. Subjects were 450 college students (male 27, female 422) with two colleges in Tokyo. The questionnaire consisted twelve items concerning lunch including healthy diet awareness and convenience store usage. For box lunch, 37 kinds were examined with its nutritional labeling. For lunch at campus, 58% of students brought the lunches from home, 25% bought at the convenience store, and 14% ate at the cafeteria. The most popular choices at the convenience store were rice balls (66%) and breads (56%). The ratio of male students chose cup-noodles was 22.2%, significantly higher than female. Regarding the side dishes choice of box lunch, 44% picked deep-fried chicken, 23% teriyaki-meat, and 20% hamburger steak, the meat dishes were preferred. The maximum salt amount of box lunches was 7.1g and the mean was 3.7±1.2g, thus some of them contains more than recommended daily intake value. Although the subject students knew vegetable and small amount of salt are important for healthy diet, they chose lunch with less vegetable and much salt. We learned that further consideration is necessary when purchasing lunch at convenience store to correspond with nutritional requirement.

The Effect of Customer's Selection Attributes of Convenience Store Box Lunch on Positive Consumption Emotion and Customer Loyalty

The Effect of Customer's Selection Attributes of Convenience Store Box Lunch on Positive Consumption Emotion and Customer Loyalty

Model for development of healthy box lunches containing mushrooms for the middle-aged and elderly

Model for development of healthy box lunches containing mushrooms for the middle-aged and elderly

APhA salutes federal pharmacists

The 15th annual APhA Federal Pharmacy Forum will welcome approximately 100 pharmacists and pharmacy technicians from the U.S. Army (USA), Navy (USN), Air Force (USAF), Coast Guard (USCG), Public Health Service (USPHS), Indian Health Service (IHS), Bureau of Prisons, and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Supporting industry partners will have more than 18 exhibition spaces, and additional industry partners will attend.

Portion size effects on weight gain in a free living setting

ObjectiveExamine the effect of weekday exposure over six months to different lunch sizes on energy intake and body weight in a free-living sample of working adults.Design and MethodsAdults (n=233) were randomly assigned to one of three lunch size groups (400 kcal; 800 kcal; 1600 kcal) or to a no-free lunch control group for six months. Weight and energy intake were measured at baseline, and months 1, 3, and 6.ResultsLunch energy was significantly higher in the 800 and 1600 kcal groups compared to the 400 kcal group (p < 0.0001). Total energy was significantly higher for the 1600 kcal group compared to the 400 and 800 kcal groups (p = 0.02). Body weight change at six months did not significantly differ at the 5% level by experimental group (1600 kcal group: +1.1 kg (sd=0.44); 800 kcal group: −0.1 kg (sd=0.42); 400 kcal group: −0.1 kg (sd=0.43); control group: 1.1 (sd=0.42); p=.07). Weight gain over time was significant in the 1600 kcal box lunch group (p < 0.05).ConclusionsWeekday exposure for six months to a 1600 kcal lunch caused significant increases in total energy intake and weight gain.

2013 Academy Proceedings

2013 Academy Proceedings