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Family commensality, or meals eaten together with family members, is a key practice to understand the socio-cultural organization of eating and family lives. Yet empirical evidence is limited outside of western societies, which have different household structures, work styles, and socio-cultural constructions of the practice. This study examined frequencies of family commensality based on 242 surveys of Japanese adults aged between 20 and 85 in two metropolitan areas. Results showed that family commensality is less frequent not only among those living alone, but also among those living with only non-partners including adult children, parents, and non-family members, than among those living with partners. Full-time employment was associated with late dinner times on weekdays. Later weekday dinner times were strongly associated with reduced frequency of dinners together. Late dinners have become commonplace among full-time workers in postwar Japan, and the peak dinner time in Japan occurs later than in other developed countries. Thus, work and lifestyle constraints impacting schedules appear to influence the frequency of family commensality. Our results suggest that frequencies of family commensality are influenced by co-residents and work styles of participants rather than household sizes. The idea that reduction of household size drives reduction of family commensality may be biased by previous studies conducted in western countries where most people reside in either single or nuclear households. Our study highlights complex determinants of family commensality, beyond presence of other household members, and demonstrates a need for rigorous investigation of family commensality across cultures.

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Eating alone is driven by social and cultural factors, not solely by individual preferences. In academic research, eating alone is often simply treated as an alternative to social, commensal eating, and little is known about the practice of eating alone itself. This study employs a cross-cultural analysis to explore social and cultural associations of eating alone. The analysis is based on 1) cultural domain data, derived from principal component analysis of freelist responses, a set of words or phrases related to the topic of eating alone; and 2) in-depth interviews with 72 young adults aged 20-40 in urban Australia and Japan. Many Australian and Japanese young adult participants associated eating alone with both pleasure and stress of being isolated from others. However, the comparison of principal components between Australian and Japanese groups and gender subgroups showed cross-cultural variations and complexity in the context of eating alone including: locations and timings of eating alone, and associations with healthy/unhealthy eating. Analyses of interviews are included to deepen understandings of cultural domains. These key associations are influenced by a range of social and cultural environments such as fast food cultures, work and life environments, and the scope of public health nutrition programs. The association between eating alone and healthy eating among young adults indicates that individualistic understandings of food intake in current public health nutrition programs are more favorable to eating alone and foster a gap between ideas of healthy eating and commensal eating as a cultural ideal.

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BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Commensality, eating together with others, is a major representation of human sociality. In recent time, environments around commensality have changed significantly due to rapid social changes, and the decline of commensality is perceived as a serious concern in many modern societies. This study employs a cross-cultural analysis of university students in two East Asian countries, and examines cross-cultural variations of perceptions and actual practices of commensality and solo-eating. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The analysis was drawn from a free-list survey and a self-administrative questionnaires of university students in urban Korea and Japan. The free-listing survey was conducted with a small cohort to explore common images and meanings of commensality and solo-eating. The self-administrative questionnaire was developed based on the result of the free-list survey, and conducted with a larger cohort to examine reasons and problems of practices and associated behaviors and food intake. RESULTS: We found that Korean subjects tended to show stronger associations between solo-eating and negative emotions while the Japanese subjects expressed mixed emotions towards the practice of solo-eating. In the questionnaire, more Korean students reported they prefer commensality and tend to eat more quantities when they eat commensally. In contrast, more Japanese reported that they do not have preference on commensality and there is no notable difference in food quantities when they eat commensally and alone. Compared to the general Korean cohort finding, more proportion of overweight and obese groups of Korean subjects reported that they tend to eat more when they are alone than normal and underweight groups. This difference was not found in the overweight Japanese subjects. CONCLUSION: Our study revealed cross-cultural variations of perceptions and practices of commensality and solo-eating in a non-western setting.

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Our research investigates the significance of frequent solo consumption of main meals and the association with a holistic wellbeing measure of happiness using data from 39820 Thai Cohort Study members who completed 8-year follow-up in 2013. This nationwide cohort has been under study since 2005 to analyse the dynamics and determinants of the health-risk transition from infectious to chronic diseases. Here we analyse data from the 2009 and 2013 follow-ups. Approximately 11% reported eating more than half of the main meals per week alone. Sociodemographic attributes associated with eating alone were being male, older age, unmarried, smaller household, lower income, and urban residence. Dissatisfaction with amount of spare time (ie 'busyness') was also linked to eating alone. In the multivariate cross-sectional model, reporting being unhappy was associated with frequent solo eating (Adjusted Odds Ratio - AOR 1.54, 95% Confidence Intervals 1.30-1.83). Stratified by age and sex groups, the effects were strongest among females (AOR 1.90 1.52-2.38).  A monotonic relationship linked frequent eating alone and 4-year longitudinal unhappiness. The larger the dose of unhappiness the greater the odds of eating alone - AOR 1.29, 1.31, 1.72 after controlling for potential covariates. Having a meal is not only important for nutritional and health outcomes; it is also a vital part of daily social interaction. Our study provided empirical evidence from a non-Western setting that sharing meals could contribute to increasing happiness.

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Japanese public health nutrition often promotes 'traditional' cuisine. In-depth interviews with 107 Japanese adults were conducted in Tokyo from 2009 to 2011, using free-listing methods to examine dietary ideals and realities to assess the extent to which realities reflect inadequate nutrition education or lifestyle constraints. Ideal-reality gaps were widest for breakfast. Most people reported Japanese ideals: rice and miso soup were prototypical foods. However, breakfast realities were predominantly western (bread-based). While those aged 40-59 were more likely to hold Japanese ideals (P=0.063), they were less likely to achieve them (P=0.007). All those reporting western ideals achieved them on weekdays, while only 64% of those with Japanese ideals achieved them (P<0.001). Partial correlations controlling for age and gender showed achievement of Japanese ideals were positively correlated with proportion of cooking-related housework, and negatively correlated with living standard and income. Ideal menu content was in line with current Japanese nutrition advice, suggesting that more nutrition education may not change dietary ideals or behavior. Participant-reported reasons for ideal-reality discordance demonstrate that work-life balance issues, especially lack of time and family structure/life rhythm, are the largest obstacles to the attainment of dietary ideals. People reporting 'no time' as a primary reason for ideal-reality gaps were less likely to achieve their Japanese ideals (odds ratio=0.212). Time realities of people's lives may undermine educational efforts promoting Japanese breakfasts. When dietary reality/behavior departs from guidelines, it is often assumed that people lack knowledge. If ideals are in line with dietary guidelines, then lack of knowledge is not the likely cause and nutrition education is not the optimal solution. By asking people about the reasons for gaps between their ideals and realities, we can identify barriers and design more effective policies and programs to achieve dietary ideals.

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To develop an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for monitoring the toxicity due to polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans contaminated in human breast milk, we have generated novel monoclonal antibodies using some haptenic derivatives linked to bovine serum albumin via the C-1 or C-2 position on the dioxin skeleton. BALB/c or A/J mice were repeatedly immunized with the immunogen, and spleen cells were fused with P3/NS1/1-Ag4-1 myeloma cells. After five fusion experiments, a hybridoma clone was established that secretes an antibody D9-36 group specifically recognizing the major toxic congeners, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD), 1,2,3,7,8-pentachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, and 2,3,4,7,8-pentachlorodibenzofran. An ELISA is developed on the basis of the competitive and labeled-antigen format. The toxic congeners extracted from butter or milk specimens by a novel extraction cartridge and a peroxidase-labeled dioxin analogue were sequentially reacted with a fixed amount of D9-36 in the presence of Triton X-100. The bound fraction was captured on a microtiter plate, immobilizing a second antibody, and the enzyme activity was colorimetrically determined. This ELISA afforded a practical sensitivity (measurable range, 1-100 pg/assay; detection limit, 1.0 pg/assay as 2,3,7,8-TCDD equivalent). The assay values for milk and butter samples were in reasonable accordance with the sum of the toxicity-equivalent quantity of each congener, which had been determined by a high-resolution gas chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry method.

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