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The present study confirmed that there are age and sex differences in taste sensitivity for the four basic tastes among young adult, young-old, and old-old Japanese, and that the sensitivity of sweet taste is more robust than the other tastes. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2016; 16: 1281-1288.

ObjectivesTo clarify the association between toothbrushing and risk factors for cardiovascular disease—namely, hypertension (HT), diabetes mellitus (DM), dyslipidaemia (DL), hyperuricaemia (HUA) and chronic kidney disease (CKD).DesignA large-scale, single-centre, cross-sectional study.SettingSt Luke's International Hospital, Center for Preventive Medicine, Tokyo, Japan, between January 2004 and June 2010.ParticipantsThis study examined the toothbrushing practices of 85 866 individuals according to the 3-category frequency criterion: ‘after every meal’, ‘at least once a day’ and ‘less than once a day’. The ORs by frequency were calculated for the prevalences of HT, DM, DL, HUA and CKD according to binominal logistic regression analyses adjusted for age, gender, body mass index and lifestyle habits—smoking, drinking, walk time and sleep time.ResultsThe prevalences of the risk factors were as follows: HT (‘after every meal’: 13.3%, ‘at least once a day’: 17.9% and ‘less than once a day’: 31.0%), DM (3.1%, 5.3% and 17.4%, respectively), DL (29.0%, 42.1% and 60.3%, respectively), HUA (8.6%, 17.5% and 27.2%, respectively) and CKD (3.8%, 3.1% and 8.3%, respectively). The prevalences were significantly higher in the ‘less than once a day’ group than in the ‘after every meal’ group for DM (OR=2.03; 95% CI 1.29 to 3.21) and DL (OR=1.50; 95% CI 1.06 to 2.14), but not for HT, HUA and CKD.ConclusionsEven taking into account lifestyle habits, a lower frequency of toothbrushing was associated with high prevalences of DM and DL. Toothbrushing practices may be beneficial for oral health improvement and also for prevention of certain systemic diseases.

BackgroundGrowing evidence suggests that oral health may be an important factor associated with cognitive function in aged populations. However, many previous studies on this topic used insensitive oral indicators or did not include certain essential covariates. Thus, we examined the association between occlusal force and cognitive function in a large sample of older adults, controlling for dietary intake, vascular risk factors, inflammatory biomarkers, depression, and genetic factors.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study of older community-dwelling Japanese adults, we examined data collected from 994 persons aged 70 years and 968 persons aged 80 years. Cognitive function was measured using the Japanese version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-J). Oral status and function were evaluated according to the number of remaining teeth, periodontal pocket depth, and maximal occlusal force. Associations between MoCA-J scores and occlusal force were investigated via bivariate and multivariate analyses.ResultsEducation level, financial status, depression score, and intake of green and yellow vegetables, as well as number of teeth and occlusal force, were significantly correlated with MoCA-J scores in both age groups. Among individuals aged 80 years, CRP and periodontal status were weakly but significantly associated with MoCA-J score. After controlling for all significant variables via bivariate analyses, the correlation between maximal occlusal force and cognitive function persisted. A path analysis confirmed the hypothesis that cognitive function is associated with occlusal force directly as well as indirectly via food intake.ConclusionsAfter controlling for possible factors, maximal occlusal force was positively associated with cognitive function directly as well as indirectly through dietary intake.

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