Abstract
Age-adjusted death rates for diabetes in 1933-36, 1947-50, 1951-53, 1953-57, 1958-62, 1963-67 and 1970-1975 and standardized mortality rates for diabetes in 1969-78 were used as indices of the incidence level of diabetes by Prefecture. Various food items purchased during 1959, 1969 and 1979 were used as indices for the level of food consumption : rice, fish, soybean paste, edible oils and vinegar, etc. Correlations between mortality and food consumption indices showed typical prewar and postwar mortality patterns, and a special pattern related to regional clusterings of food consumption : Hokuriku, Kinki and Shikoku regions. Correlations between mortality and food consumption indices revealed a high correlation between edible oil consumption and a low incidence of diabetes. Soybean paste consumption also was weakly related to a low mortality index, but vinegar, rice and fish were slightly related to a higher incidence of diabetes. Considering that excess intake of saturated fat is thought to trigger diabetes, edible oil consumption may be negatively related to this due to it unsaturated fatty acid composition.
