De novo lipogenesis appeared to be an important concept of development from fetus and neonate through childhood obesity. Our study of lipoprotein analysis regarding to 'de novo lipogenesis' in fetus and neonate, which indicated the association with pulmonary surfactant synthesis, central nervous system constituents and subcutaneous fat accumulation. These events were happened to begin for the preparation of adaptation mechanism to extra-uterine life from late gestation. Especially it was found that VLDL-TG levels in cord blood revealed drastically increasing over than 32 gestational week, which may be contained the fatty acid derived from de novo lipogenesis and maternal circulation via placenta. However low birth weight infants often observed that excessive subcutaneous fat accumulation was produced by acceleration of stearoyl-CoA desaturase(SCD) activity because of catch up in infancy but which sometimes leading to obesity in later life, and then also observed the relationship between abdominal obesity and the acceleration of SCD activity in adolescence. In our study series, it was suggested that lipogenesis may play an important role for health and disease during fetus to adolescence, so we need to further study nutritional aspects of fatty acid for prevention of life-style related diseases early in life. And from the point of view to resolve the mechanism of epigenetic mechanism in low birth weight, it was considered that fatty acid nutritional treatment in infancy might be one of the important contributions for controlling impaired lipogenesis, especially for repressing the activity of SCD.

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This paper reports the cholinergic effect in the brain and the anti-obesity effect of carnitine. This cholinergic effect of carnitine is proved to be beneficial to the restoration of cognitive function in the aged brain. Carnitine is originally known to act as a carrier for fatty acids to pass into mitochondria in skeletal and cardiac muscles that need fatty acids for their energy source. Carnitine supplementation is shown to enhance the fatty acid oxidation and reduce body weights.
In animal experiments, aged rats given carnitine showed cognitive improvement due to increased acetylcholine synthesis and weight loss by accelerated fatty acid oxidation.
In a clinical trial, a fatty woman aged 84 who suffered from obesity (89.2 kg; BMI, 41.0), type 2 diabetes meritus, dermatitis and constipation at the beginning was given carnitine for seven months. She lost 23 kg (BMI, 30.6) resulting in much improvement in ADL with normalized blood glucose.

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It is believed that fish oil (FO), contained a large amount of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, mechanism of FO-induced reduction of diabetes risk is unclear. The effects of FO on regulation of plasma glucose level were studied in male Crlj:CD1 (ICR) mice. Weekly changes in plasma glucose and lipid levels were measured for 16 weeks. Plasma phospholipid, total cholesterol and glucose levels were significantly lower in mice fed FO diet than in mice fed lard (LD) diet at week 2, 6 and 8, respectively. Those results suggest that the decreases in plasma glucose in response to intakes of FO in mice take place over a longer period of time than similar decreases in the plasma lipid. There were no marked differences in plasma glucose and insulin levels changes on glucose tolerance test between LD and FO groups. Hepatic glycerophosphate dehydrogenase activity was 53-fold higher in the FO group than in the LD group. It is possible that glycerol synthesis is related to reduction in plasma glucose in mice fed the FO diet. Plasma adiponectin levels were significantly higher in mice fed the FO diet than in mice fed the LD diet. However, no phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in both liver and skeletal muscle was increased by the FO intake. Those results suggest that FO-induced increases in plasma adiponectin dose not induce the AMPK activation.

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The Japan Society for Lipid Nutrition was founded in 1992 by people who want to avoid non-scientific “Conflict of Interest” problems with the industry, and to develop research on ω6 and ω3 fatty acids. The major purpose of the Society was to promote the health of general population through research on lipid nutrition. The topics of the symposia at the annual meetings of the Society have been DHA symposium, recommendations of the ω6 and ω3 fatty acids intakes, fall of cholesterol hypothesis and new directions of cholesterol-lowering medication and others. The minor toxic factor in common cooking oils is a topic to be discussed in the coming annual meeting. A series of DHA symposium carried out by the Society was partly effective for stopping young generations’ trend to consume less and less amounts of seafood. Starting from the President’s Summary 1997, the adequate intakes of ω6 and ω3 fatty acids had been discussed, reaching an agreement in 2001 that the intake of linoleic acid should be reduced. Starting from Keys’ equation (1950’), the cholesterol hypothesis governed the lipid nutrition field for the prevention of atherogenesis, but this Society is leading the related societies to argue that the cholesterol hypothesis was fallen down and we should change the direction of cholesterol-lowering medications. Finally, as the first President of the Society, I emphasize that we should keep in mind the purpose of the Society to face the problems associated with lipid nutrition.

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Seaweeds or macroalgae are one of the important living resources since ancient times and have been explored as sources of food, feed and medicine in the orient as well as the west. They being plants of unique structure and biochemical composition, seaweeds could be exploited for their multifunctional properties. Brown seaweeds have been thoroughly researched as sources of useful bioactive components like phycocolloids, proteins, vitamins and minerals. Recently, their lipids have drawn increased interest due to several health benefits they afford. Brown seaweed carotenoid, fucoxanthin, and omega-3 highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA) such as eicosapentaenoic acids (EPA) and 18:4n-3 are the major functional lipid or lipid related compounds of brown seaweeds. EPA and 18:4n-3 can be converted to docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in biological systems. Both EPA and DHA have been documented to have significant influence on biochemical and physiological changes in the body. We have found the antiobesity effect and antidiabetic effect as specific and novel bio-functions of fucoxanthin. Nutrigenomic study reveals that fucoxanthin induces uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) expression in white adipose tissue (WAT) mitochondria to lead to oxidation of fatty acids and heat production in WAT. Fucoxanthin improves insulin resistance and decreases blood glucose level, at least in part, through the down-regulation of TNF. in WAT of animals. Moreover, omega-3 HUFA showed the synergistic effect on the anti-obesity and anti-diabetic activity of fucoxanthin. These studies strongly indicate the beneficial health effect of brown seaweed lipids by modulating one or more molecular targets in biological systems.

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We had been focused on increasing the number of participants in medical examination and health consultation in the past. But as of April 2008, the Government set the requirement to perform health consultation for those who have risks of visceral fat syndrome (metabolic syndrome), in other words to perform medical examination (specific medical examination) and health consultation (specific health consultation) for them to prevent lifestyle-related diseases. The Hitachi group has developed a unique program called "HARASUMA dietR" and has started specific medical examination and specific health consultation. During November 2008 and September 2009, the number of people who participated in our specific medical examination and specific medical examination was 1869 and the number of people who went through the evaluating medical examination after six months of health consultation was 28. (20 males and 8 females. The average age was 49.5±6.2 years old.) The breakdown of intervention includes active support for 18 people and motivational support for 10 people. As for the method of support, 15 people used web-based support and 13 used non web-based support (letters). When compared before and after the health consultation, the result of the consultation was seen in each item except serum triglyceride. According to sex, males showed significant low laboratory values after the consultation in every item. As for females, they showed significant low laboratory values in blood pressure, fasting plasmas glucose, and HbA1c after the consultation. When we analyzed the contributing factors, BMI has a large influence in abdominal circumference (p<0.005) that is given importance in specific medical examination. Therefore, the usability of weight loss program is suggested and the importance of weight loss is reconfirmed.

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Introduction: A control of blood glucose is known to be the most important fact to protect development of complications of diabetes. A low-carbohydrate diet has been recognized to be one of the choices of diets for patients with diabetes. But, a very low-carbohydrate diet where the uptake of carbohydrate is lower than 130g per day is not recommended by American Diabetes Association now. Methods: We examined 16 patients who are continuing in some years a very low-saccharide diet where the uptake of saccharide is lower than 5g per diet. Results: Their fasting glucose, HbA1c, triglyceride, HDL-C, creatinine, all ionic values, pH and bicarbonate of venous blood were normal. Their ketone body and free fatty acid were higher than people who have normal diet, but their respiratory quotient was 0.72 and it assures their resource of energy changes from glucose to ketone body. Conclusion: Dietary ketosis never makes acidosis. The very low-saccharide diet is a safe and most effective diet for patients with diabetes.

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The cholesterol hypothesis that intake of saturated fatty acids increases blood cholesterol levels, which in turn increases the incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD), has hardly been proved. Even the most famous intervention study in Finland (Finnish Mental Hospital Study) was questionable; it must have been very difficult to diagnose CHD in heavily sedated patients without bias. However, because diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the major risk factors of myocardial infarction, diabetologists adopted the hypothesis above to reduce CHD incidence and educated DM patients not to eat much land animals’ meat and their fat, which means high-carbohydrate diets. Unfortunately the more carbohydrate people eat, the higher blood glucose and insulin levels. In fact, if DM patients are treated with low-carbohydrate diets, hemoglobin A1c levels markedly drop. Because insulin levels are also reduced, body weight is reduced too. (Insulin is probably the most powerful agent for fattening.) The prevailing idea that low-fat is good for you does not hold true anymore. The exploding number of obese and diabetic patients in the US was the most horrible example of iatrogenic disease in the last century.

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In the present study, we investigated whether dietary n-3 PUFA improves type I allergic symptoms. We fed the diets which contained oils that changed gradually in the dietary n-3/n-6 ratios (0.02, 0.2, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, respectively) for three weeks to guinea pigs (Hartley, male). After the end of feeding, we counted the number of total leukocytes and eosinophils in peripheral blood, and lymphocytes in spleen and thymus. And we counted the number of tunica mucosa bronchiorum mast cells (TMBMC) and analysed the compositions of leukotrienes from mast cells. There were no differences in the number of total leukocytes in peripheral blood, but eosinophils decreased with increase of dietary n-3/n-6 ratios. Moreover, the number of TMBMCs decreased with increase of dietary n-3/n-6 ratios. The amount of 5 series leukotorienes from TMBMCs was increased with increase of dietary n-3/n-6 ratios. On the other hand, the amount of 4 series leukotorienes was decreased. These results shows that dietary n-3 PUFA improves type I allergic symptoms. On the other hand, There were no differences in the number of lymphocytes in spleen, but lymphocytes in thymus increased with increase of dietary n-3/n-6 ratios. This result shows that dietary n-3 PUFA (EPA and DHA) inhibits the maturity of lymphocytes.

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There was essentially no database on the fatty acid composition of fish available in China. Twenty-seven kinds of fish and 20 kinds were purchased in Dalian- and Hangzhou-city, China, respectively, and edible part was analyzed for the fatty acid composition. Three kinds of fish were purchased in both cities, but they contained markedly different amounts of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). Those kinds of fish in Hangzhou-city had more n-3 PUFA than those in Dalian-city. This was probably because fish were purchased in winter in Hangzhou-city and in summer in Dalian-city. Our data were limited in terms of the area and season of catch, and the number of species. However, our database would serve as the starting point for the fatty acid composition study of Chinese fish.

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The seed of the Sacha Inchi plant, Plukenetia volubilis L., is native to the Peruvian Amazon and is often called “green nut” in Japan due to the green pod in which it is encased as it grows. Oil pressed from green nuts (green nut oil) contains more than 90% unsaturated fatty acids, with a notable α-linolenic acid content of approximately 50% of the total fatty acid content. Additional constituents of green nut oil are a large amount of γ-tocopherol and δ-tocopherol but only a minute amount of α-tocopherol, which is said to exhibit antioxidant activity in vivo. However, in vitro experiments demonstrated that green nut oil has high antioxidant capacity. The benefits of green nut oil for human health were investigated in seven subjects. Serum was analyzed to determine antioxidant activity and urine 8-Hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) concentration was used to assess inhibition of DNA damage. The present findings reveal that green nut oil has excellent antioxidant and anti-DNA damage activity. Moreover, serum α-linolenic acid and γ- and δ-tocopherol concentrations were higher after consumption of green nut oil than after canola oil.

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The cholesterol-lowering drug trials published in 2008-2009 were either negative (ENHANCE, SEAS, GISSI-HF, AURORA) or obviously biased and therefore not credible (JUPITER). How can we explain this wave of negative cholesterol-lowering drug trials? In this article, authors review and comment the results of these recent trials. It is also noteworthy that most cholesterol-lowering drug trials published between 2005 (the year of the Vioxx affair and of enforcement of new clinical trial regulations) and 2007 were also negative or ambiguous. Taken together, these recent trials, including those of 2008-2009, strongly suggest that the results of previous, highly positive trials with statins - particularly in the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease - published between 1994 and 2004 and that were used to issue guidelines for medical practitioners should be carefully re-examined by experts independent from the pharmaceutical industry. The next question would be whether it is not time for a full reappraisal of the theory according to which cholesterol-lowering results in a significant protection against cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.

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