Acta Medica Okayama 1660-4601 11 2 2014 Associations of Serum Retinol, alpha-Tocopherol, and gamma-Tocopherol with Biomarkers among Healthy Japanese Men 1647 1660 EN Yu Zou Da-Hong Wang Noriko Sakano Yoshie Sato Suketaka Iwanaga Kazuhisa Taketa Masayuki Kubo Kei Takemoto Chie Masatomi Kiyomi Inoue Keiki Ogino Retinol, alpha-tocopherol, and gamma-tocopherol are fat-soluble vitamins acting as antioxidants via the prevention of lipid oxidation. Little is known about circulatory levels in healthy individuals. The present cross-sectional study aimed at elucidating the relationship between these antioxidants and clinical biomarkers in 206 male (median age 41 years, range 23-67) employees from companies located in the Okayama Prefecture, Japan. Subjects younger than 40 years (n = 94) showed a positive association of the frequency of alcohol consumption with the circulating retinol (beta = 0.344, p = 0.001) and gamma-tocopherol levels (beta = 0.219, p = 0.041), and an inverse association of fast insulin with serum retinol (beta = -0.301, p = 0.009). In participants older than 40 years (n = 112) we found that an inverse association of HOMA-R with serum retinol (beta = -0.262, p = 0.021), a-tocopherol (beta = -0.236, p = 0.035), and gamma-tocopherol levels (beta = -0.224, p = 0.052); and cigarette smoking was inversely associated with the levels of serum a-tocopherol (beta = -0.286, p = 0.008) and gamma-tocopherol (beta = -0.229, p = 0.040). We further found negative relationships between serum ferritin and the retinol (beta = -0.211, p = 0.032) and a-tocopherol levels (beta = -0.223, p = 0.022) in men over 40 years of age. The present study suggests that the circulatory levels of antioxidant vitamins may modulate the action of insulin and that higher levels of iron might decrease the levels of antioxidant vitamins in the blood. No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Okayama University Medical School Acta Medica Okayama 0386-300X 68 3 2014 Association of Dietary Fat and Carbohydrate Consumption and Predicted Ten-year Risk for Developing Coronary Heart Disease in a General Japanese Population 129 135 EN Akira Minoura Da-Hong Wang Yoshie Sato Yu Zou Noriko Sakano Masayuki Kubo Kei Takemoto Chie Masatomi Keiki Ogino Original Article 10.18926/AMO/52652 We examined the relationships between dietary carbohydrate, protein, fat, and the ratio of n6/n3 fatty acid intakes with the predicted 10-year coronary heart disease (CHD) risk in a general Japanese population. We used the Framingham risk score to determine the 10-year CHD risk of the subjects, who were employees of 6 companies in a single prefecture in Japan. After excluding the subjects who reported any history of angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, diabetes, or cancer, and those with missing data resulting in the inability of estimation of 10-year CHD risk and food intakes, the final data analysis was carried out for 809 subjects. The logistic regression models revealed a significantly increased odds ratio of 10-year CHD risk in the subjects with the highest tertile of carbohydrate intake (% energy) (odds ratio 3.64, 95% CI, 2.07-6.40);after adjustment for other variables, the odds ratio for the 10-year CHD risk was also higher in the subjects with the highest tertile of carbohydrate intake (odds ratio 1.72, 95% CI, 0.70-4.25). We also found that fat intake and the ratio of n6/n3 fatty acids were inversely associated with the predicted 10-year CHD risk (p for trend＜0.01). The present findings added evidence of a positive association of dietary carbohydrate and inverse associations of total fat and n6/n3 fatty acid ratio with the predicted 10-year CHD risk in a general Japanese population. No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.