Internet search engine Goo showed a survey result in a ranking format: “What ‘Autumn Food’ makes Japanese people realize autumn the most? Although it is autumn in September on the calendar, the late summer heat still lingers. However, our food life is greatly affected by nature, especially the seasonal changes. Autumn has come.

1. Japanese chestnuts
(Kuri)
2. Pacific Saury
(Sanma)
3. Japanese mushroom
(Matsutake)
4. Persimmon
(Kaki)
5. Japanese pear
(Nashi)
6. New Rice

7. Grapes

8. Ginkgo nuts
(Ginnan)
9. Sweet potatoes

10. Salmon

Reference: goo ranking (Japanese Website)
“Autumn Foods that makes Japanese people remind of autumn.”
http://ranking.goo.ne.jp/ranking/013/autumn_taste/

The top 5 may change the order once in a while, but they basically hold established position in this kind of ranking survey. Well, what is your “Autumn food?”

In the same ranking, new rice is in the 6th place. New rice is surely tasty as eaten in a simple form of steamed white rice, but with a little arrangement, you can enjoy a variety of rice recipes.

* – * – * – * – * – * – * – * – * – * – * – * – * – * – * – * -

Rice Recipes (English)
By Akiko Sugahara
Masako Sugahara

Kindle e-book
↓　Available on amazon!　↓
http://www.amazon.com/Rice-Recipes-controlling-gorgeous-ebook/dp/B00EDHVKIM/

TOKYO SKYTREE & Mt. FUJI

Posted on SFGate
http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/benefits-asian-pears-4377.html

Nashi pears provide you with fiber, vitamins and minerals.

Nashi pears, sometimes called Asian pears or simply “nashi,” have been a part of many Asian cuisines for centuries. They have a crisp but juicy texture similar to apples, and they can be enjoyed on their own or used to make desserts or salads. Adding nashi pears to your diet helps boost your nutrient intake, as they come packed with dietary fiber, and they also offer essential vitamins and minerals that support your health.

Calories and Carbohydrates

Each large nashi pear contains 116 calories, with the majority coming from its carbohydrate content. That’s approximately 6 percent of your daily calorie intake if you are on a 2,000-calorie diet. Consuming carbs helps keep you going throughout the day. The glucose derived from carbs fuels your muscles, serves as a source of energy for your brain and red blood cells, and also helps to maintain your body temperature. Each nashi pear contains 29 grams of total carbohydrates, including 19 grams of naturally occurring sugar.

Dietary Fiber

Nashi pears make a beneficial addition to your diet because they come loaded with dietary fiber. Each large nashi pear contains almost 10 grams of dietary fiber, which is approximately one-quarter of the daily fiber intake requirements for men and 38 percent of the intake requirements for women, as set by the Institute of Medicine. In addition to helping fend off hunger, fiber helps maintain healthy blood sugar levels and lower your cholesterol. Fiber also protects you from Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, and it might also lower your risk of some forms of cancer, reports the Linus Pauling Institute.

Vitamins

Eat nashi pear as a source of essential vitamins, particularly vitamins C and K, which support bone health. Vitamin C helps make collagen, a protein that keeps your bones from being too brittle, while vitamin K allows your body to make proteins needed for bone mineralization. Vitamin C’s antioxidant function also keeps your tissues healthy, and vitamin K ensures that you can form blood clots. Each nashi pear contains 10 milligrams of vitamin C and 12 micrograms of vitamin K. This provides 13 percent of the recommended daily vitamin C intake for women and 11 percent for men, according to the Institute of Medicine, as well as 13 and 10 percent, respectively, of the daily vitamin K intake for women and men.

Minerals

Adding nashi pear to your diet also boosts your mineral intake, providing you with a significant amount of copper and manganese. These minerals help support your active lifestyle by helping your cells produce energy, and they also help keep your tissues strong by playing a role in collagen synthesis and maturation. Manganese also keeps your bones healthy, while copper nourishes your brain. Each nashi pear contains 15 percent of the copper you need each day, according to the Institute of Medicine, as well as 9 percent of the daily recommended manganese intake for women and 7 percent for men.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Nashi, Asian pears are one of the typical autumn fruits in Japan. I am so great to be able to share the nutrients that nashi provides us. Hope you enjoy this seasonal fruits.

Source: SFGate: Healthy Eating
http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/health-benefits-nashi-pear-9457.html

Posted on Sept. 8, 2013 on CNN.com
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/07/sport/world-olympics-2020/?hpt=hp_c2

IOC president, Jacques Rogge announces the winner of the bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, following Saturday’s vote in Buenos Aires.

Released on EurekAlert! On August 7, 2013 http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-08/aaon-cmh073113.php

MINNEAPOLIS – Drinking two cups of hot chocolate a day may help older people keep their brains healthy and their thinking skills sharp, according to a study published in the August 7, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The study involved 60 people with an average age of 73 who did not have dementia. The participants drank two cups of hot cocoa per day for 30 days and did not consume any other chocolate during the study. They were given tests of memory and thinking skills. They also had ultrasounds tests to measure the amount of blood flow to the brain during the tests.

“We’re learning more about blood flow in the brain and its effect on thinking skills,” said study author Farzaneh A. Sorond, MD, PhD, of Harvard Medical School in Boston and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. “As different areas of the brain need more energy to complete their tasks, they also need greater blood flow. This relationship, called neurovascular coupling, may play an important role in diseases such as Alzheimer’s.”

Of the 60 participants, 18 had impaired blood flow at the start of the study. Those people had an 8.3-percent improvement in the blood flow to the working areas of the brain by the end of the study, while there was no improvement for those who started out with regular blood flow.

The people with impaired blood flow also improved their times on a test of working memory, with scores dropping from 167 seconds at the beginning of the study to 116 seconds at the end. There was no change in times for people with regular blood flow.

A total of 24 of the participants also had MRI scans of the brain to look for tiny areas of brain damage. The scans found that people with impaired blood flow were also more likely to have these areas of brain damage.

Half of the study participants received hot cocoa that was rich in the antioxidant flavanol, while the other half received flavanol-poor hot cocoa. There were no differences between the two groups in the results.

“More work is needed to prove a link between cocoa, blood flow problems and cognitive decline,” said Paul B. Rosenberg, MD, of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study. “But this is an important first step that could guide future studies.”

###

The study was supported by the National Institute on Aging and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The cocoa was provided by Mars Inc.

To learn more about brain health, please visit http://www.aan.com/patients.

###

Original Article released:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-08/aaon-cmh073113.php

Link Cited on: LINK de DIET
http://www.nutritio.net/linkdediet/news/FMPro?-db=NEWS.fp5&-Format=detail.htm&kibanID=41095&-lay=lay&-Find

Are you interested in Japanese culture, foods, fashion, or technology?
Here is the great web site for you to know many more about latest trends in Japan!

http://web-japan.org/trends/index.html

Posted on The Japan Times
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2013/07/29/style/architecture-and-art-of-a-setouchi-summer/

A modern tradition: The exterior of the Tadao Ando Museum in the town of Honmura on the island of Naoshima is around 100 years old, but its interior is the brand new work of architect Tadao Ando. | YOSHIHIRO ASADA

Posted on JAPAN TODAY
http://www.japantoday.com/category/health/view/whole-fruit-deters-diabetes-juice-boosts-risk-study

Summer McIntosh apples are seen for sale at a local
farmer’s market August 7, 2013, in Oakton, Virginia
AFP

PARIS —

Eating more whole fresh fruit, especially blueberries, grapes, apples and pears, is linked to a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, but drinking more fruit juice has the opposite effect, says a study.

British, U.S. and Singaporean researchers pored over data from three big health investigations that took place in the United States, spanning a quarter of a century in all.

More than 187,000 nurses and other professional caregivers were enrolled.

Their health was monitored over the following years, and they regularly answered questionnaires on their eating habits, weight, smoking, physical activity and other pointers to lifestyle.

Around 6.5% of the volunteers developed diabetes during the studies.

People who ate at least two servings each week of certain whole fruits, especially blueberries, grapes and apples, reduced their risk of type 2 diabetes by as much as 23% compared to those who ate less than one serving per month.

“Our findings provide novel evidence suggesting certain fruits may be especially beneficial for lower diabetes risk,” said Qi Sun, an assistant professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.

On the other hand, those who consumed one or more servings of fruit juice each day saw their risk of the disease increase by as much as 21%.

Swapping three servings of juice per week for whole fruits resulted in a 7% reduction in risk, although there was no such difference with strawberries and cantaloupe melon.

“Greater consumption of specific whole fruits, particularly blueberries, grapes, and apples, was significantly associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, whereas greater fruit juice consumption was associated with a higher risk,” the authors say in the paper.

The paper, published by the British Medical Journal (BMJ), says further work is needed to to explore this “significant” difference.

It speculates that, even if the nutritional values of whole fruit and fruit juice are similar, the difference lies with the fact that one food is a semi-solid and the other a liquid.

“Fluids pass through the stomach to the intestine more rapidly than solids even if nutritional content is similar,” says the paper.

“For example, fruit juices lead to more rapid and larger changes in serum [blood] levels of glucose and insulin than whole fruits.”

The study also points to evidence that some kinds of fruit have a beneficial effect for health.

Berries and grapes, for instance, have compounds called anthocyanins which have been found to lower the risk of heart attacks.

But, say the authors, how or even whether this also applies to diabetes risks is for now unclear.

The investigation looked at data from the Nurses’ Health Study, which ran from 1984-2008; the Nurses’ Health Study II (1991-2009); and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (1986-2008).

Ten kinds of fruit were used in the questionnaire: grapes or raisins; peach, plums or apricots; prunes; bananas; cantaloupe melon; apples or pears; oranges; grapefruit; strawberries; and blueberries.

The fruit juices identified in the questionnaire were apple, orange, grapefruit and “other.”

© 2013 AFP

URL:
http://www.japantoday.com/category/health/view/whole-fruit-deters-diabetes-juice-boosts-risk-study