A nutrition survey was conducted on 461 middle-aged Japanese men based on the dietary records, and investigated the total selenium intake, nutrients intake, foods intake broken down by food groups, selenium intake by food groups and contribution ratio of food groups to total selenium intake. The results were as follows.
1) The daily mean of selenium intake was 126.6μg.
2) The main sources of selenium intake were fishes, shellfishes, eggs and meats. Among these foods, the fish and shellfish intake showed a strong influence of total selenium intake and the contribution ratio from other food groups to total selenium intake.
3) The group with a higher selenium intake showed a higher nutrients intake except for non-fibrous carbohydrates, lipid and ascorbic acid.
4) Selenium intake showed positive correlation with all the nutrients except for non-fibrous carbohydrates.
5) Selenium intake showed positive correlation with all the intake of fishes, shellfishes, eggs, meats, vegetables, fungi, seaweeds, alcoholic beverages such as sake and beer, but showed negative correlation with prepared foods and worcestershire sauce.

View full abstract

There are some reports on teratogenic effects of chronic zinc deficiency during pregnancy in laboratory animals, but no study has been conducted on the effect on development of short-term zinc deficiency during a specific period of pregnancy. This study was conducted to elucidate possible existence of a highly sensitive period for teratogenicity in mice by means of short-term zinc deficiency. Agent-specific manifestation of fetal malformation and relationship between the magnitude of maternal-fetal zinc deficiency and the severity of fetal developmental abnormalities were also examined.
Pregnant ICR mice were given zinc deficient diet (Zn 0.5ppm) for six to seven days during the embryonic period of major organogenesis and for four days during the former or the latter half of that period. The near-term fetuses were examined for malfomations and the embryos at the time of termination of zinc deficient diet for measurement of maternal and embryonic zinc concentration.
Teratogenic effect was clearly demonstrated in zinc deficient diet given only for four days in the early period of organogenesis, and no evident effect was observed by administration in the latter period of organogenesis. This indicated a stage-specific effect of zinc deficiency and specified the early stage of organogenesis as the highest sensitive period for teratogenesis. Agent-specific teratogenicity was manifestation of severe dwarfism wish complex external, skeletal and visceral malformations.
Average zinc concentrations in the maternal serum and in the sibling fetuses were reduced to 25% and 40% respectively of the control levels and an inverse relationship was found between the magnitude of zinc concentration and the degree of fetal abnormalities. Daily consumption of the zinc deficient diet by pregnant mice showed large individual variations, but no correlation was found between the diet consumption and the maternal zinc level.

View full abstract

In order to examine the efficiency and the preferable period of handy nutrition guidance, we studied 91 outpatients with non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) who were given nutrition guidance for more than three months (25.4±18 months) in 1996. The subjects were composed of 68 males aged 53.2±9.9 and 23 females aged 61.6±12.5 (p<0.003), 14 of whom were on concomitant medicinal treatments. Biochemical data were observed through the time course on relationship of blood sugar, serum lipid, γ-GTP and obesity level (BMI) to the intake of nutrients, alcohol and sweets. The results were as follows.
1) After 12 months, HbA_1C, TC and TG decreased significantly to less than 7%, 200mg/dl and 150mg/dl respectively. HDL showed a tendency to increase and bodyweight to decrease, but these changes were not statistically significant after twelve months. TG increased after six months in males younger than 65 years of age and in patients with obesity level >110% at the time of study entry. On the other hand, γ-GTP increased again after six months in patients with γ-GTP>60mg/dl at the time of study entry, but the change was not statistically significant after twelve months.
2) Intake of energy, protein and fat decreased, but n-3 fatty acid increased after twelve months. Cholesterol intake level decreased significantly after twelve months in patients with TC>200mg/dl before the nutrition guidance. These results indicate that nutrition/energy ratio was properly corrected and there was adequate intake of dietary fibers (22±45g) during this period. It was thus confirmed that this handy guidance could correct the nutrition intake to a proper level.
3) After twelve months, the total alcohol intake was reduced to less than 1, 750kcal/week and sweets to less than three times per week. The alcohol intake in patients with more than 1, 750kcal/wk at the time of study entry showed a tendency to decrease during the early period, but the intake exceeded 1, 750kcal/wk 12 months thereafter.
4) Sweets restricted to less than three times per week and between meals during daytime had no effect on HbA_1C, TC and TG in patients who took sufficient dietary fiders, vegetables and n-3 fatty acid and decreased energy intake by evening meal. Alcohol intake had no effect on HdA_1C, but total alcohol intake was correlated to TC and γ-GTP in cases whose TG was greater than 150mg/dl and γ-GTP was greater than 60μ/l befor the nutrition guidance.
5) Nutrition guidance was continued for more than twelve months in 81% of all the patients and in 73.2% of those whose HbA_1C was less than 7%. It was also confirmed that HbA_1C decreased and serum lipid level improved even in patients who did not undergo the nutrition guidance for 12 months. These findings suggest that this handy nutrition guidance is useful and effective for treatment of NIDDM.
6) It is recommended to continue the nutrition guidance for more than twelve months for treatment of NIDDM in patients with high levels of γ-GTP and TG, the total alcohol intake of more than 1, 750kcal/wk and sweets intake of more than three times per week.

View full abstract