A survey was conducted in a mountain village in Wakayama prefecture which was known of its high incidence of hypertension and which had been given guidance on low salt diets for several years. The subjects were 74 inhabitants of over 30 years old (male; 31, female; 43), who were interviewed as to their conditions, hemodynamometry, and blood and urine analysis. A survey on the dietary life was also conducted simultaneously on 46 households comprising 106 individuals.
The results obtained were:
1) The percentage of the those who suffered from eye strains, drowsiness in the daytime, stiff shoulders, lumbago, pain and numbness in the arms was high.
2) Among 30 farmers' wives (30-69 years of age), 5 (16.7%) had anemia, 4 of which had iron-deficient anemia with less than 70μg/dl iron serum. This was assumed to have been caused by a lack of iron intake.
3) 32.4% of the inhabitants (male; 32.3%, female; 32.6%) suffered from hypertension, reflecting a high incidence of hypertension.
4) The mean value for systolic blood pressure in the group with higher Na/creatinine ratio in urine was higher than in the group with lower Na/creatinine ratio.
5) Incidence of obesity among women was 24.2%. The percentage of obese women in the hypertension group was higher than in the normotensive group.
6) Consumption of miso (soy bean paste), and dietary intake of miso soup and radish pickles (takuan) was lower than those in Tohoku District which had a similar salt intake.
7) On the other hand, soy sauce (shoyu) consumption was quite high as seen in a high frequency of side dishes seasoned with soy sauce.
