Advances in Food Composition Tables of Japan -Amino Acid, Fatty Acid and Available Carbohydrate Tables-

The new revised version of the Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan (STFCJ 2015) will be published in 2015. The aim of the present paper is to share information on issues we have encountered during the revision. New analytical data on amino acid composition will be provided for approximately 230 foods, fatty acid composition for approximately 140 foods, and available carbohydrate (starch, glucose, fructose, sucrose, maltose, and lactose) composition for approximately 340 foods. These data will be published separately as three supplements to the STFCJ 2015: amino acid tables, fatty acid tables, and available carbohydrate tables. Available carbohydrate tables will also provide polyol (sorbitol and mannitol) and organic acid (acetic acid, lactic acid, citric acid, etc.) data. In the supplements, amino acid content will be adjusted for protein content calculated as reference nitrogen multiplied by a nitrogen to protein conversion factor, and fatty acid content adjusted for extractable lipid content, as in previous revisions. Available carbohydrate content, however, will be adjusted for water content. Values of protein content calculated as the sum of amino acid residues , lipid content expressed as triacylglycerol equivalents of fatty acids , and available carbohydrate content will appear in the main tables of the STFCJ 2015. Protein, fat and available carbohydrate contents were significantly decreased when the preferred analytical methods of FAO were applied instead of the acceptable methods. Online publication of Japanese and English versions of these tables, reference materials, and a retrievable food composition database is planned.