Objective: Elderly patients often have impaired taste, nausea, anorexia and delayed healing of decubitus. In many of these patients, serum zinc levels are low and they respond to zinc supplementation. To date, no epidemics of zinc deficiency have been reported in Japan. We studied the prevalence of zinc deficiency and its causative factors in a typical local town in Japan. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Nagano Prefecture (central Japan). Subjects and methods: Serum zinc levels were measured in 1009 habitants (18-96 years old) who participated in an annual mass health examination program of the City in 2003. Of all subjects, 86 with low serum zinc (o65 mg/dl) or high zinc (X90 mg/ dl) levels were randomly selected, and a dietary survey using 24-h recalling methods for 2 consecutive days was performed in 2004. Among them, blood was collected in the morning from 50 subjects (26-94 years old). Results: The percentage of those with low serum zinc levels (2.5th percentile of Americans) was 37.9% in the elderly (X60 years old). The age-adjusted prevalence of low serum zinc was 21.1% in the aged population. A positive correlation was detected between zinc intake and serum zinc levels in elderly subjects (X60 years old). Conclusions: The possibility of zinc deficiency in adult inhabitants in central Japan rises with age. The deficiency correlates with dietary zinc intake. Sponsorship: This research was supported by a grant from local government officials in Tomi City (2004) and the funding of Fancl Corporation.
While sugar intake is an important factor for obesity, diabetes and dental caries, sugars are also important energy sources, especially for rapidly growing children. Children like sugar-rich sweet foods. However, intake for Japanese children is not known due to a lack of studies and sugar composition data. This study was designed to determine sugar intakes from snacks and beverages in Japanese school children. A nutrition survey was conducted for 3 weekdays for 283 Japanese school children (7, 10 and 13 y old) in 8 prefectures from different areas of Japan. The methods for the survey were the weighing method for school lunches and the 24-h recall method for other foods. To estimate sugar intakes, the sugar composition table that was recently compiled by us for 135 beverages, cakes and other sweets was used. Height and weight were measured. They were similar to Japanese averages. Energy intakes were also similar to the results of the Japanese National Health and Nutrition Surveys. Sugar eaten outside meals was 24.7 Ϯ 15.5 g/d. From the National Health and Nutrition Surveys conducted in 2009, the mean sucrose intake from meals including some home-made cookies for 7-14-y-old children was 5.5 g/d, suggesting the mean total sugar intake of these children was about 30 g/d. This was within the range of FAO/WHO recommendation (less than 10% of energy intake, 49 g for these children. Mean intakes among age groups were not significantly different (p Ͼ 0.05), but the intake for girls was lower than for boys in the oldest age group (p Ͻ 0.05). Contributions of each sugar to total intake were sucrose 64%, fructose 14%, glucose 13% and lactose 9%. Fructose and glucose were mainly from isomerized sugar. Contributions of food groups to total intake were beverages 25%, baked goods 19% and ice cream 17%, respectively, covering 61% of all. In conclusion, we revealed that the average sugar intake of Japanese children was within the range of the FAO/WHO recommendation, though the effects of the kind of sugars on health remain to be clarified.
SummaryThe senescence-accelerated mouse (SAMP8) is an animal model used in studies of aging. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of different types of dietary lipids on longevity and age-related deterioration in memory in SAMP8 mice. Eightmonth-old mice were fed diets with 5% lard (Lard group), 5% soybean oil (Soy group), 2% lecithin ϩ 3% soybean oil (Lecithin ϩ Soy group) or 2% fish oil ϩ 3% soybean oil (Fish ϩ Soy group), and learning and memory were examined by passive avoidance test at 8 and 10 mo of age. At the end of the experiment, the mice were killed, and the brain fatty acid composition was analyzed. The results indicated that the survival rates at 12 mo decreased in the order: Fish ϩ Soy Ͼ Soy Ͼ Lecithin ϩ Soy Ͼ Lard and were 50, 40, 30 and 20%, respectively.
SummaryIn recent years, the prevalence and problem of overweight and obesity in Taiwanese children have increased. There are many reports that the excessive intake of sugar increases the risk of lifestyle-related disease. However, sugar intake in Taiwanese children is not known. In this study, we investigated sugar intake from sugar-sweetened beverages, snacks and desserts among school-age children in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. We also tried to determine the relationship between sugar intake and body mass index (BMI). We contacted all the public elementary schools (10 schools) in a district, Kaohsiung, and obtained permission from 3 schools. The survey subjects were 410 (210 boys, 200 girls) school-age children (7, 10 and 12 y old). A nutrition survey was conducted using 3 non-consecutive days of the 24 h dietary recall method for sugar-sweetened beverages, snacks and desserts. Height and weight were measured. Sugar intakes were not significantly different among the different genders or ages (p.0.05) and average intake of all was 51.6 g/d. Percentages of each sugar in total intake were sucrose 60%, glucose 18%, fructose 16%, and lactose 6%. The intake of glucose and fructose may have come from isomerized sugar. Contributions of sugar-sweetened beverages and snacks (desserts) were 83.5% and 16.5%, respectively. Among the sugar-sweetened beverages the top 3 sources were tea (22%), milk tea (19%) and milk beverages (18%). A relationship between sugar intake and BMI was not observed. In conclusion, sugar intake of the children was higher than the WHO recommendation due to the high intake from beverages; however, sugar was not the cause of the high obesity rate.
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