Akiko Okada
| Faculty of Health and Medical Science,Department of Health and Dietetics | Lecturer |
Last Updated :2025/10/10
■Researcher basic information
Field Of Study
■Career
Career
- Apr. 2023 - Present
Teikyo Heisei University, Faculty of Health and Medical Science Department of Health and Dietetics - Apr. 2022 - Present
- Oct. 2024 - Mar. 2025
Showa Women's University - Apr. 2023 - Mar. 2025
Nitobe Bunka College - Apr. 2019 - Mar. 2023
- Apr. 2016 - Mar. 2023
Chiba Prefectural University of Health Sciences - Apr. 2019 - Mar. 2020
- Apr. 2017 - Mar. 2018
- Apr. 2013 - Mar. 2016
Sagami Women's University - Apr. 2009 - Mar. 2011
Kokusai Gakuin Saitama Junior College, Department of Health and Nutrition Sciences - Apr. 2006 - Mar. 2008
Educational Background
- Apr. 2017 - Present, Chiba University, Graduate School of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Apr. 2006 - Mar. 2009, Showa Women's University, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Graduate Program in Life Sciences and Design (Master of Arts Program)
- Apr. 2002 - Mar. 2006, Showa Women's University, Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences
■Research activity information
Paper
- 非栄養士養成課程大学生の朝食摂取と食事摂取状況の関連ー健康的な食生活にむけての実態報告ー
Aug. 2025 - A Study on Allocation of Nutrition Teachers and School Dietitians: Focusing on School-lunch Preparation
Yoshiko Hirokawa, Hiromitsu Inoue, Ayuho Suzuki, Yasuyo Ebihara, Yuna Watanabe, Akiko Okada
Mar. 2025, [Reviewed]
Nutrition teachers (NTs) don’t just manage school lunches; they also serve a critical role in responding to the
health problems of individual children. However, mandatory requirements have not been established at each
school because the standard number of NTs and school dietitians (SDs) defined in the Act on Standards for
Class Formation and Fixed Number of School Personnel of Public Compulsory Education Schools is low. This
paper aims to clarify the status and challenges of NTs and SDs by retallying the results of public surveys and cre
ating a summary of the changes over time. It also seeks to determine why the rate of allocation for NTs and SDs
has remained low by closely examining how school lunches are prepared. The results revealed that, despite some
issues with the existing legal framework, each municipality has striven to assign NTs. Nevertheless, the way that
school lunches are prepared has had a limiting effect on the allocation of NTs. Municipalities such as Chiba Pre
fecture that contain a large number of schools which independently implement their school lunches have ap
pointed many municipality-funded school dietitian, so there is no opportunity to transition to NTs, which keeps
their numbers low. Improving the central government’s standards for allocating such staff is the most effective
method of dealing with this. Creating chances to switch from municipality-funded school dietitian to NTs and
increasing the number of new NT hires is also effective. - Current Status and Problems of the Nutrition Teacher Training Systems
Yoshiko Hirokawa; Hiromitsu Inoue; Ayuho Suzuki; Yasuyo Ebihara; Yuna Watanabe; Akiko Okada
Mar. 2025, [Reviewed]
As of January 17, 2023, the Council for Research Related to Improving the Abilities of Health Teachers and
Nutrition Teachers (established by the director of elementary and secondary education within the Central Coun
cil for Education) published its Summary of the Discussion organizing the issues faced by nutrition teachers (NTs).
T
he report identified that NTs are unable to provide individual guidance to children who have food-related
health problems and that they lack of awareness regarding their own roles. While these are harsh criticisms, it is
an important reminder that there are tasks that only an NT can perform, and it can be seen as an opportunity to
review the NT training systems at universities. Therefore, this paper examines the current status of the Education
Personnel Certification Act and its enforcement regulations in order to provide some basic information for re
forming these courses. The results reveal that the current legal framework does not provide university students
with the abilities they need to offer individual guidance. They also suggest that sufficiently cultivating these abili
ties will require more curricula for Class-2 licenses and certification courses in school education boards that in
corporate individual guidance as a requirement, and that we should elevate the basic qualifications of Class-1 li
censes to registered dietitians. - How Are Nutrition Teachers and School Dietitians Currently Being Assigned?: A Case Study of Chiba Prefecture
Yoshiko Hirokawa, Hiromitsu Inoue, Ayuho Suzuki, Yasuyo Ebihara, Yuna Watanabe, Akiko Okada
Mar. 2025, [Reviewed]
T
his paper aims to clarify how nutrition teachers (NTs) are currently being assigned as well as related issues by
examining the example of Chiba Prefecture. NTs are not just responsible for handling school lunches—they also
serve a critical role in handling the modern health problems of children. Despite this, the Act on Standards for
Class Formation and Fixed Number of School Personnel of Public Compulsory Education Schools were not im
proved when the NTs system was established. As a result, school dietitians (SDs) currently exist alongside NTs,
and some districts presently have more of the former than the latter. The prefecture of Chiba is one such example.
Under this system, nutrition teacher’s license has lost its significance, and a heavy burden has been placed on
both NTs and SDs. We therefore surveyed the NTs and SDs currently working in public schools in Chiba and
analyzed the results. The data suggests that people with the examination experience in the past still want to tran
sition to the NTs, and the license itself still has meaning. As for work-related stress and problems, a comparative
analysis of the three groups (NTs, SDs with nutrition teacher’s license, and SDs without nutrition teacher’s li
cense) revealed that they all feel equally burdened in many challenges, with no real difference between the three.
T
he burden on NTs that work simultaneously for multiple schools was particularly striking. Regarding their de
sire for assignment policies in the future, NTs tend to wish that “Only NTs are hired for new positions,” which is
different than that of SDs with nutrition teacher’s license and SDs without nutrition teacher’s license. Therefore,
we can say that even though the significance of nutrition teacher’s license has remained, NTs do not feel less bur
dened—they actually feel a heavy burden. It is essential that the government standards be elevated for appointing
NTs and SDs to reduce their sense of burden. - 地域高齢者支援における大学生の体験型学習によって得られる学修効果の検証
Mar. 2021, [Reviewed] - 在宅医療における食事・栄養支援の現況と課題：訪問看護事業所への質問紙調査から
Dec. 2019, [Reviewed] - 小児生活習慣病予防検診結果からみた学童の肥満と小児生活習慣病の現状
Nov. 2018 - A Basic Study of the Efficacy of Dietary Soy Isoflavone Extract and L-Arginine on the Renal Failure and Bone Mineral Density in Relatively Early Stage of Chronic Kidney Disease(CKD)Model Rats
Kotoko MANO; Tomomi MIYAUCHI; Akiko OKADA; Mio INABA; Hiromi SAKURAI; Mitsue SATO; Mikako NIITSUMA; Yasuyo FUJITA; Hidemichi EBISAWA
Dec. 2013, [Reviewed] - 女子大学生の右踵骨骨量と生活習慣の関連
Dec. 2011, [Reviewed] - Study on Bone Protective Functions of Major Onion-flavonoid, Quercetin in Osteoporosis-model Rats
Akiko OKADA; Takako SHIRAISHI; Masako FUWA; Tomomi MIYAUCHI; Hidemichi EBISAWA
Dec. 2007, [Reviewed]
MISC
Lectures, oral presentations, etc.
- A Study on the Future of Nutrition Teachers and School Nutrition Staff: From Free Responses in the "Current Status and Characteristics of Nutrition Teacher Placement in Chiba Prefecture" Survey
08 Feb. 2025
Nineteen years after its establishment, the nutrition teacher system faces challenges in Chiba Prefecture, where school nutrition staff outnumber nutrition teachers. A survey of nutrition teachers and school nutrition staff revealed widespread questioning of the current coexistence of both roles. All respondents expressed a desire for new employment of both types. Furthermore, there was a strong emphasis on the necessity of prior dietitian experience for nutrition teachers, indicating a perceived gap in current qualifications or training. The findings highlight a need to re-evaluate placement policies and training pathways in Chiba Prefecture to better align with the professional expectations and practical requirements of these roles. - 非栄養士養成課程若年層への緑茶摂取促進に向けた食生活実態調査
08 Sep. 2024 - Current Status and issues of Lifestyle-related Disease Prevention Education in Schools
Aug. 2022 - Current Status of Nutrition Teacher and School Nutrition Staff in Chiba Prefecture : Cooperation Survey within Schools
The 8th Asian Congress of Dietetics (Pacifico Yokohama), Aug. 2022 - 千葉県の栄養教諭・学校栄養職員の現状および学校内での協力体制に関する調査
Dec. 2019 - メタボリックシンドローム対象者の糖尿病発症予防を目的とした栄養教育プログラムの開発
Nov. 2019 - 千葉県内勤労者を対象とした栄養教育教材の開発およびライフスタイル改善効果について
Oct. 2019 - 糖尿病発症予防を目的としたライフスタイル教育プログラムの評価
Aug. 2019 - 千葉県の栄養教諭・学校栄養職員の現状および学校内での協力体制に関する調査
Aug. 2019 - 居宅患者の栄養管理向上に向けた管理栄養士と介護支援専門員との連携に関する研究
Aug. 2019 - 千葉県の高齢者のための健康づくりプログラム（ほい大健康プログラム）の開発と評価に関する研究
Aug. 2019 - 在宅医療に関わる管理栄養士の現状に関する調査
Nov. 2018 - 糖尿病予防を目的としたライフスタイル教育プログラ ムの開発と職域対象者の現状
Oct. 2018 - 特定健診・特定保健指導における，ライフスタイル教育プログラム開発や介入に関する調査
Aug. 2018 - 千葉県立保健医療大学地域貢献についての研究－千葉市内地区別比較からみえるもの－
Aug. 2018 - 在宅医療における管理栄養士業務のニーズに関する研究
Aug. 2018 - 特定保健指導における，ライフスタイル教育プログラム開発に関する質的統合法を用いた検討
Jul. 2018 - 在宅医療における食事・栄養管理のニーズについて～千葉県内の訪問看護事業所へのアンケート調査から～
May 2018 - 千葉県における栄養教諭・学校栄養職員の職務および食育の現状について
Dec. 2017 - 千葉県民における習慣的な栄養素摂取量推定と評価に関する研究
Aug. 2017 - 好稠性真菌の生物学的特性に関する研究
Aug. 2015 - 若齢および高齢ラットの骨密度に対するケルセチン投与の影響
Oct. 2008 - 異性化ホップ抽出物投与による高齢期睾丸摘除雄ラットの骨代謝調節作用に関する研究
Sep. 2008 - 大豆イソフラボンンとアルギニン併用摂取による加齢性骨粗鬆症治療に関する基礎研究
Sep. 2007 - Effects of soy-isoflavone intake in bone metabolis in the old female rats．
Fuwa, M; Shiraishi, T; Okada, A; Miyauchi, T; Kuramoto, K; Takamatsu,S; Araki, H; Ebisawa, H
The 10th Asian Congrss of Nutrition, Sep．, Taipei．, Sep. 2007
