Visceral fat has been associated with multiple cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. The aim of this study was to identify anthropometrical measures most closely associated with some well-known CVD risk factors. Because most Asians at risk have normal body mass index (BMI) according to Western standards, we studied healthy nonobese Korean males (n ‫؍‬ 102; age: 36.5 ؎ 0.8 years, BMI: 23.8 ؎ 0.2 kg/m 2 ). Visceral fat area (VFA) at the fourth lumbar vertebra was associated with increased postprandial triglyceride (TG) response ( r ‫؍‬ 0.53, P Ͻ 0.001) and with plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) ( r ‫؍‬ 0.36, P Ͻ 0.01) and PGF2 ␣ ( r ‫؍‬ 0.24, P Ͻ 0.05). When matched for BMI and age, men with high VFA (HVFA) ( у 100 cm 2 ; n ‫؍‬ 27) had higher blood pressure ( P Ͻ 0.01), increased consumption of cigarettes ( P Ͻ 0.01), and lower ratio of energy expenditure to calorie intake ( P Ͻ 0.01) as compared with low VFA men ( Ͻ 100 cm 2 ; n ‫؍‬ 27). Men with HVFA showed higher TG, glucose, and insulin responses following fat and oral glucose tolerance tests respectively higher plasma concentrations of MDA ( P Ͻ 0.001), urinary PGF 2 ␣ ( P Ͻ 0.05), and lymphocytes deoxyribonucleic acid tail moments ( P Ͻ 0.01). Conversely, HVFA was associated with lower testosterone, insulin-like growth factor-1, and brachial artery flowmediated dilation ( P Ͻ 0.001). In conclusion, our data indicate that visceral fat accumulation, even in nonobese men, is a major factor contributing to increased CVD risk. The most recent figures about the epidemic of obesity and overweight in the US and other industrialized countries are appalling. Thirty-four percent of US adults are considered overweight, and an additional 31 percent are obese. The consequences of this are far beyond the esthetics of the population. Being overweight or obese increases the risk of hypertension, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and some cancers. In the US alone, 300,000 people die each year due to obesity-related causes, making it the second-leading cause of death after smoking. Asians experience similar risk of obesity-related diseases, but the problem is more insidious, as the risk threshold at which body mass index (BMI) appears to trigger the disease may be much lower for Asians ( ‫ف‬ 23 kg/m 2 ) than for white populations (30 kg/m 2 ) (1). This may result from differences in body frame that affect the relation between body fat and BMI.The population of Korea, similar to other industrialized countries in Asia, is experiencing dramatic and fast changes in dietary and physical activity habits that are the driving force behind the increase in obesity and obesity-related diseases. Korean adults have increased the percent of calories from fat in their diets from 6% in 1969 to 19% in 1998. Despite the greater than 3-fold increase in the dietary fat intake, their daily calorie intake (about 1,950 kcal/d) and BMI (about 22.5 kg/m 2 ) have changed little over the same period (2). However, these lifestyle changes have dramatically affected the central adipose tissue distr...

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Dietary sodium intake is considered one of the major causal factors for hypertension. Thus, to control the increase of blood pressure and reduce the risk of hypertension-related clinical complications, a reduction in sodium intake is recommended. The present study aimed at determining the association of dietary sodium intake with meal and snack frequency, snacking time, and taste preference in Korean young adults aged 20-26 years, using a 125-item dish-frequency questionnaire. The mean dietary sodium intakes of men and women were 270.6 mmol/day and 213.1 mmol/day, which were approximately 310% and 245% of the daily sodium intake goal for Korean men and women, respectively. Dietary sodium intake was positively correlated with systolic blood pressure in the total group, and BMI in the total and men-only groups. In the total and men-only groups, those who consumed meals more times per day consumed more dietary sodium, but the number of times they consumed snacks was negatively correlated with dietary sodium intake in the total, men-only, and women-only groups. In addition, those who consumed snacks in the evening consumed more sodium than those who did so in the morning in the men-only group. The sodium intake was also positively associated with preference for salty and sweet taste in the total and women-only groups. Such a high intake of sodium in these young subjects shows that a reduction in sodium intake is important for the prevention of hypertension and related diseases in the future.

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The ADD1 Gly460Trp polymorphism is significantly associated with an increased risk of coronary artery disease as well as blood pressure, indicating that ADD1 plays a role in the pathogenesis of coronary artery disease as well as hypertension.

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