The impact of health guidance is recently becoming higher quality health services, and the next task is finding ways to establish a system that delivers higher quality services. Institutions that provide health guidance need to improve their services by analyzing the lifestyle habits and health examination results (e.g., BMI and blood pressure) of their clients. This study conducted simultaneous health and dietary habit checkups so that key elements for guidance (e.g., individual dietary habits, population characteristics, and main tasks) could be shared among guidance providers and be utilized for follow-up guidance. Most subjects were in their sixties or seventies, many of whom were diagnosed with obesity and/or dyslipidemia based on health examination results. Dietary habit evaluations revealed high intake of a main dish among both men and women. Intake of a main dish and a sweet snack was particularly high among men. Many subjects who excessively take in both a main dish and sweet snack were obese with a high percentage of saturated fatty acid-derived energy, indicating that this subgroup needs to be prioritized to receive guidance. Those with an appropriate intake of both a main dish and sweet snack might have consumed inadvisable levels of other dietary components, including luxury food items. However, an individual approach is also required to address the risk associated with intake of a low percentage of protein-derived energy. Similar studies in other populations and other communities are needed to assess whether the characteristics revealed in this study are specific to this particular population.

The Research Committee for the Meridian Point held its third workshop at the 57th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society Acupuncture and Moxibustion in Kyoto. Evaluations and reports were presented on two topics.

The first topic:Study of PSC in Japan and China.
1) Literature search on PSC in China (Wang):A literature search on major studies on PSC in China since 1979 was conducted. The report introduces the definition, characteristics and the mechanism of PSC development together with meridian phenomena.

2) PSC in reference to the ryodoraku (Morikawa):Development of the reactive ryodo point in patients under hemodialysis or those who have had a total gastrectomy and the cases in which reactive ryodo points or needle sensation developed when specific regions were stimulated were reported. The relationship between reactive ryodo points and PSC was examined.

3) The mechanism by which PSC develops (Yamada):Neurotransmitter substances are released from sensory nerve endings during acupuncture stimulation. Absorbed by lymphatic vessels, these substances stimulate the smooth muscle of these vessels, thus causing the PSC. Based on factors such as transmission velocity and inhibitory factors, the mechanism by which PSC develops was investigated.

The second topic:Specific locations of meridian points and clinical effects of the meridian point.
1) Anatomical regions for GB 30 huantiao (Ozaki and Matsuoka):In establishing the international standard for the meridian points under the guidance of WHO, both Chinese and Japanese proposals were listed for GB 30. The clinical effects-presumably emanating from the subcutaneous structure when acupuncture stimuli are applied to these points in a direction perpendicular to the body surface-were comparatively evaluated.

2) Transition in the regions and main effects of GB 30 (Sakaguchi):As stated above, both Japanese and Chinese definitions were cited in establishing the international standard for GB 30 under the guidance of WHO. By quoting the classic literature from China and Japan, changes in the regions and main effects of GB 30 were comparatively evaluated.

In 2022, Japan College Association of Oriental Medicine established a committee to study electronic teaching materials, and a new edition of "Clinical Theory of Oriental Medicine" was published at the same time. 　Due in part to the promotion of ICT （Information and Communication Technology） education, which accelerated after the time of COVID-19th, not only electronic textbooks have been created, but also video teaching materials for the Introduction to Meridians and Acupuncture and Manual Examination have been conducted.　In school education, textbooks are tools to convey past experience and accumulated evidence to beginning students, and are considered to be a guide to becoming an acupuncture and moxibustion practitioner. 　Therefore, it is necessary to consider standardized education. While attempting to create videos of meridians and acupuncture points, it became clear that there were differences among teachers in the way they touched the body surface indicators and explained them. Oriental medicine, as a traditional medicine, is based on the classics, but any discrepancy between the classics and modern medicine's EBM needs to be corrected. while ICT education and EBM are attracting attention, the decline in students' basic academic skills is also becoming an issue. Introduction to Oriental medicine and meridians and acupuncture points, which form the basis of acupuncture and moxibustion treatment, are composed of ideas and difficult technical terms that students have not been exposed to in their daily lives, so understanding and memorizing them is necessary. If this is taken as mere memorization, it may lead to a sense of dislike for the course. 　Under these circumstances, the educational field is searching for ways to educate the next generation. In this session, he explained the proper education of traditional medicine based on the classics under the theme of how to pass on Oriental medicine to the next generation of acupuncture and moxibustion practitioners. Next, he explained the current state of progress and issues in ICT education centered on meridians and acupuncture. Finally, he explained the teaching strategy of "oriental medicine that students can think and practice on their own" while enjoying learning without feeling that they are not good at it. 　It was considered necessary to examine educational content from the three perspectives of classics (past), electronic materials (future), and class development (present) in order to respond to the diversity of oriental medicine education.