Abstract
Over the last 50 years since the end of World War II, the incidence of diabetes mellitus and hyperlipidemia has increased dramatically in Japan. Although the incidence of hypertension had been decreasing in association with decreased salt intake until the mid-1980s, it has increased slightly because of a return rend to re-increase in salt intake since 1988, and insulin resistance-related hypertension has begun to predominate over salt-sensitive hypertension in the total hypertensive population. The reason for this increase in lifestyle-related diseases is that the Japanese have become an aged and obese population, with accumulation of visceral fat, because of the westernized lifestyle characterized by high consumption of animal fat and decreased physical activity. As a result, atherosclerosis-related diseases such as myocardial infarction and cerebral infarction as well as microangiopathic diseases such as diabetic complications and benign nephrosclerosis have increased, and are now the most important medical and social problem to be solved from the standpoints of mortality, quality of life and medical finance. Thus, lifestyle modifications such as appropriate calorific intake containing a low level of animal fat, aerobic exercise and stress management should be promoted as a financially effective and medically powerful strategy for reducing the number of patients with diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia and hypertension.
