Aikoku Gakuen University

Background/Objectives: Irregular lifestyles, such as sleep deprivation and disordered eating, disrupt the circadian clock and are linked to health issues. This study investigates the relationship among chronotypes, social jet lag, night-snacking habits, and screen time in toddlers. Methods: A survey of 6177 mothers of children aged 3–8 years was conducted in June 2022. Means comparison and multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the data. Results: Toddlers who consumed night snacks were more likely to be evening types and experienced longer social jet lag. Longer screen time during night snacking correlated with evening-type tendencies. Juice and ice cream were identified as evening-type snacks. Conclusions: We suggest that stopping snacks after dinner is crucial to prevent evening-type eating. Especially, high-sugar and high-fat night snacks like juice and ice cream may contribute to nocturnal habits and disrupt circadian rhythms in children.

糖質および糖質を含む食品(糖質含有食品)は，主食や副菜，デザートに広く用いられ，調理には欠かせない素材である．これまで糖質含有食品を対象とし，調理科学的視点からその食品の理化学的性質および利用特性，調理操作により生じる食品の変化の解明などを目的として，第一に，調理の実習で生じた疑問の解明，第二に，新しい糖質素材の理化学的性質や利用適性の解明・提案，第三に，澱粉に対する副材料(糖類，タンパク質，脂質など)添加による相互作用の解明など，大きく三つのテーマについて研究を行ってきた．研究対象とした糖質含有食品は，米，雑穀，タピオカパールなどの粒状食品，粉状の小麦粉や米粉および馬鈴薯，トウモロコシ，キャッサバ，サゴなどの澱粉(天然・加工)およびこれらを用いた加工品，各種糖類など多種多様である．本稿では，これまでの研究のうち，パール状澱粉における新たな調理操作法(ポット法)の確立，大麦混合飯の炊飯条件の基準の提案および各種大麦の利用法，さらにはシェッフェの単純格子計画法を用いた澱粉ゲルに及ぼす分離大豆タンパク質と大豆油の影響の検討および結果を示す三角図の簡易描画法の提案など，研究の一部を紹介する．

This paper reviews starch gel foods from the perspective of cookery science: warabi mochi (traditional sweet gel in Japan) and blancmange as hard gels and pastry cream/custard as a soft gel. Since warabi mochi is made from expensive warabi starch, physiochemical properties of several starches were tested as possible replacers. High potential of sago starch as a replacer was demonstrated as compared with sweet potato, potato, tapioca, and kudzu starches which are currently used as the replacers. Sago starch showed excellent characteristics in gel elasticity comparable to sweet potato and potato starches, high gel cohesiveness and low gel adhesiveness comparable to tapioca starch, and gel hardness comparable to kudzu starch. Toward quality improvements of warabi mochi, its preparation methods were also optimized. For instance, trehalose was added to suppress starch retrogradation in warabi mochi, and modified wheat starch was added to stabilize its gel quality. Meanwhile, warabi mochi is primarily a mixture of starches, sugars, and water, whereas most starch gel foods are mixtures of the primary ingredients and secondary ingredients such as proteins and fats. As for the blancmange, milk was replaced with soy protein isolate or soy milk powder for its quality improvement. For maximizing the physicochemical properties as well as taste, ratio of starch, protein, and fat was optimized by Scheffé’s simplex lattice design method: its triangular diagram clearly showed its optimal ratio for blancmange of high quality. Regarding pastry cream/custard, since its melting mouthfeel governs overall quality preference, methods to evaluate the melting mouthfeel were established. Thereafter, applicability of modified starches to pastry cream/custard was investigated to fit its texture to each food preparation. Based on physicochemical properties of the modified starches, pastry cream/custard preparation was adjusted to each of various food products.