Food Intakes and Correlations between Food Intakes and Body Mass Index (BMI) in Japanese Old Men, Women, and Male Medical Doctors

*Akikazu Takada, Fumiko Shimizu, Yukie Ishii, Mutsumi Ogawa and Tetsuya Takao*

## **Abstract**

Objective; Obesity is an important health problem, leading to many metabolic diseases such as type2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, cancer. The are many diet proposals to combat obesity. Since obesity is relatively rare in Japan, we wante to know what kind of foods influence body mass index (BMI) in old Japanese people. METHODS; Healthy participants, old men and women and male medical doctors (MD) were given self-administered diet history questionnaires and described answers on each item by recollection of diets they took (7 days dietary recall). We used a brieftype self-administered diet history questionnaire (BDHQ) by using which the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare reports national Nutrition Surveys. From these questionnaires, we calculated the intakes of energy, carbohydrate, fat, protein or other foods. RESULTS; Me take more alcohol, salt fruit, beans than women. Intakes of major foods such as carbohydrate, lipid, and protein did not influence BMI in men and women. MD with higher BMI tend to take vegetables and fruits. MD may be more health concerned than lay people. CONCLUSION; within the range of foods intakes in Japan, no restriction of any food such as carbohydrate is not necessary for staying lean. Medical doctors seem to be very health concerned compared to lay people.

**Keywords:** carbohydrate, protein, lipid, cholesterol, DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), fish, glucose, insulin, BMI (body mass index),obesity

#### **1. Introduction**

A world wide obesity epidemic together with an increasing aging population threaten the health and functional independence of old adults [1]. Increase in obesity is reported in US or developing countries [2, 3].

In order to prevent an obesity epidemic, many weight-loss diets are proposed [4–6]. Low-carbohydrate, high-protein or high fat diets were compared with low-fat diets [7–11]. In fact, 4 weight-loss diets of low to high carbohydrate intake were compared [5]. Women assigned to follow the Atkins diet (high protein, low carbohydrate) showed a greater weight loss [5].

A Mediterranean diet (a moderate amount of fat and a high protein portion of monounsaturated fat) shows cardiovascular protective effects [12]. A recent review suggested that the Mediterranean diet was beneficial for weight loss [13, 14].

As stated later, the rate oof obese people is very low, in fact one of OECD countries with lowest obesity rate [15]. We have previously reported correlations between various foods intakes, plasma levels of amino acids or fatty acids in Japanese young and old men and women [16–19]. So it may be interesting to know what kinds of foods old Japanese men and women are taking and whether any kind of foods intake influence body mass index.

In the present article, we report about various foods intakes and their relationships to BMI in old Japanese men and women.

We also obtained data from od male medical doctors to know if there are changes in eating habits between lay people and men of a medical profession.

#### **2. Ethics**

This work has been approved by the Ethical committees of Showa Women's University and NPO (non-profit organization) "International projects on food and health" and has been carried out in accordance with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments.

#### **3. Method**

We asked male and female acquaintances older than 50 years old. Acquaintances mean that these participants are personal friends of our group member. We asked 1961 alumni of Keio University School of Medicine, who are class mates of one of the authors, A.Takada. The sample sizes and ages of participants are as follows. Acquaintances are older than 50 years old; men (n = 22, age; 61.8 ± 9.5) and women(n = 39, age; 67.4 ± 7.5) and medical doctors (MD) (n = 22, 79.6 ± 0.4). We did not ask premenopausal women to participate since data may be variable due to their hormonal influences so that sample sizes must be big to get statistically significant results. Dr. K. Matsuoka and K. Kato, who are internists, checked their health carefully and examined their blood samples then recruited them if there were no health problems such as diabetes, hypertension or not serious diseases experienced in the past. They did not smoke in the past. We also excluded people who took drugs for dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, or hypertension. We collected blood samples early morning. Healthy participants were given self-administered diet history questionnaires and described answers on each item by recollection of diets they took (7 days dietary recall). We used a brief-type self-administered diet history questionnaire (BDHQ ) by using which the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare reports national Nutrition Surveys. From these questionnaires, we calculated the intakes of energy, carbohydrate, fat, protein or other foods.

#### **4. Statistics**

The results are presented as means ± SEM. Statistical significance of the differences between groups was calculated according by one-way ANOVA. When ANOVA indicated a significant difference (p < 0.05) the mean values were compared using Tukey's least significant difference test at p < 0.05. Spearman's correlation tests were used to examine statistical significance.

*Food Intakes and Correlations between Food Intakes and Body Mass Index (BMI) in Japanese… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98502*
