著者

Chizuko Maruyama Rena Nakano Mitsuha Shima Asumi Mae Yuri Shijo Eri Nakamura Yuuna Okabe Sunmi Park Noriko Kameyama Satomi Hirai Mamoru Nakanishi Kagehiro Uchida Hiroshi Nishiyama

出版者

一般社団法人 日本動脈硬化学会

雑誌

Journal of Atherosclerosis and Thrombosis (ISSN:13403478)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.36780, (Released:2016-09-21)

参考文献数

27

被引用文献数

19

---

Aim: We conducted a pilot study to clarify the effects of the Japan Diet nutritional education program on metabolic risk factors for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in middle-aged men who were brought up in the westernized dietary environment of modern Japan.Methods: Thirty-three men, 30–49 years of age, attended a nutrition education class to learn food items and recommended volumes comprising the Japan Diet (more fish, soybeans and soy products, vegetables, seaweed, mushrooms and unrefined cereals, and less animal fat, meat and poultry with fat, sweets, desserts and snacks, and alcoholic drinks), and were encouraged to consume the Japan Diet for 6 weeks. Anthropometric and biochemical parameters were measured and 3-day weighted dietary records were kept before and at completion of the intervention.Results: Ninety-one percent of participants showed improvements in more than one cardiovascular risk factor after 6 weeks. Body weight, serum low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, malondialdehyde modified (MDA)-LDL and triglyceride concentrations decreased significantly, while high density lipoprotein cholesterol was unchanged. Fish, soy, and sum of seaweed, mushrooms and konjak intakes doubled, and green and yellow vegetable intakes also increased as compared to baseline. Meanwhile, intakes of refined cereals, meat and poultry, sweets, desserts and snacks, and margarine and shortening decreased. Total energy, lipid, and saturated and monounsaturated fatty acid intakes decreased, while n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid, dietary fiber, beta-carotene, vitamins D and K, potassium, and magnesium increased, with no change in sodium intake.Conclusions: The Japan Diet is suggested to improve atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk factors in middle-aged Japanese men.The clinical trial registration number: UMIN000020639.

著者

Tadahide Furuno Mamoru Nakanishi

出版者

The Pharmaceutical Society of Japan

雑誌

Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin (ISSN:09186158)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.35, no.2, pp.178-183, 2012-02-01 (Released:2012-02-01)

参考文献数

29

被引用文献数

21 30

---

Kefir is a traditional fermented milk beverage produced by kefir grains in the Caucasian countries. Kefiran produced by Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens in kefir grains is an exopolysaccharide having a repeating structure with glucose and galactose residues in the chain sequence and has been suggested to exert many health-promoting effects such as immunomodulatory, hypotensive, hypocholesterolemic activities. Here we investigated the effects of kefiran on mast cell activation induced by antigen. Pretreatment with kefiran significantly inhibited antigen-induced Ca2+ mobilization, degranulation, and tumor necrosis factor-α production in bone marrow-derived mast cells (BMMCs) in a dose-dependent manner. The phosphorylation of Akt, glycogen synthase kinase 3β, and extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs) after antigen stimulation was also suppressed by pretreatment of BMMCs with kefiran. These findings indicate that kefiran suppresses mast cell degranulation and cytokine production by inhibiting the Akt and ERKs pathways, suggesting an anti-inflammatory effect for kefiran.