Objective: The objective of the present study was to clarify the relationship between factors having an influence on obesity improvement programs and psychosocial factors from a more comprehensive point of view.
Methods: We studied a total of 43 subjects with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 kg/m2 or higher who wished to take part in an obesity improvement program and agreed to participate in the study. We conducted an obesity improvement program based on behavior change theories for three months and evaluated physical composition, mental health, social support, stress-coping and the like before intervention and immediately after completion of the program.
Results: The average weight showed a significant decrease from 69.0 } 8.8 kg to 65.7 } 8.7 kg before and after intervention (p<0.001), respectively. It was also shown that the presence or absence of chronic diseases, social support from a spouse and the decrease of avoidance stress coping were related to weight loss.
Conclusion: The findings suggest that it will be further necessary to continue working on the need to enhance awareness about stress with a view to preventing occurrence of rebound after the end of weight loss programs and acquisition coping techniques, apart from the cooperation of attending doctors, strengthening of social support from family and friends and managing stress for the duration of the program.

In the 1990's, a metabolic syndrome associated with obesity, insulin resistance, hyperlipidemia and hypertension began to capture the attention of Japanese investigators as on ominous predictor of myocardial infarction. As there is few information of the metabolic syndrome in rural communities, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome for 1, 084 workers aged 20-59 years in a rural community, Sada Town, and a neighboring local city, Izumo City, Shimane Prefecture. The number of risk factors for atherosclerosis was increased with age and was higher in males than in females. Men in their 50's in the rural community were at higher risk than their counterparts in the city. Most of the workers had one or two risk factors, and those who had three and more risk factors accounted for a little less than 7%. The rate of males aged 40-59 years in the rural community having over two risk factors among obesity, hyperlipidemia, hypertension and diabetes was significantly higher than that of the same age group in the city. The metabolic syndrome among males living in the rural community was related to obesity, hypo-HDL cholesterolemia, and hypertension. Males in the rural community had higher body mass index (BMI), than males in the city, but there was no significant difference in BMI between female groups. The prevalence of obesity in males in the rural community was linked with drinking habit and a decline in physical activities. In order to prevent the metabolic syndrome in the rural communities, a health policy based on a population-based strategy should be implemented to change the healthy lifestyle of workers, to promote health education and establish a health supportive environment.

To arrest the prevalence of obesity in Japanese rural communities, we have conducted to develop an interventional program for the prevention of obesity based on health education and self-dertermination since 2000. We adopted the behavioral program to strengthen self-control of diet and exercise based on learning principles. The objectives of the 3-month program were to lose weight by 3.0kg, to reduce metabolic measurement values by 10% in terms of dietary caloric intake and to keep taking over 7, 000 steps a day. Subjects were 140 residents with Body Mass Index of 24.8±3.0, aged 35-70 years, in Izumo City and Sada Town, Shimane Prefecture, who were interested in the prevention of overweight and obesity-associated diseases, voluntarily participated in the behavioral program conducted in 2000-2002. The rate of dropout from the program was 2.9%(4/140). The behavioral intervention induced significant decreases in intakes of energy, protein and fat, and increases in the number of steps per day taken by the participants. The intervention induced a significant difference in weightloss (-1.0kg in 2001 and -1.8kg in 2002). Significant differences of anthropometric parameters were found in body weight, BMI, waist and hip circumferences, blood pressure and lipid profiles, such as total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and HDL-cholesterol, by the intervention in 2001 and 2002. Since our program is based on the participants' awareness and autonomous improvement of behavior, it would be easier to continue for a long term compared to complying with specialist's complicated prescription of behavioristic modification.

Effects of gender and employment situation on weight loss and lifestyle modification were assessed in a 3-month intervention study done for overweight and obesity. A total of 384 individuals in Izumo City Japan, participated from 2000 to 2006. Lifestyle modifications were quantitatively evaluated by calculating calories of energy intake and expenditure. Eleven men and 15 women failed to complete the intervention; they were significantly younger in both genders, and the women had a higher rate of employment than the completing group (91 men and 267 women). Intervention induced a weight loss of 1.9 kg for men and 1.6 kg for women, with no significant differences by gender. Significant differences were found in changes in energy intake and expenditure in both genders, but these disappeared after adjusting for weight. There were significant decreases in weight (1.6 kg in unemployed, 2.5 kg in employed) in men. Increases in walking and exercise for the employed were smaller than those for the unemployed. The relationship between changes in weight and energy balance by employment status was independently significant using multiple regression analysis. Employment is associated with difficulty in losing weight due to limited exercise time in behavioral intervention.

A cluster of certain metabolic abnormalities has been recognized as metabolic syndrome, which is characterized by resistance to insulin-stimulated glucose uptake, glucose intolerance, hyperinsulinemia, hypertriglyceridemia, hypo- HDL cholesterolemia (HDL-C) and hypertension, with or without hyperglycemia. These multiple metabolic disorders put a person at high risk for cardiovascular disease. With the goal to eliminate all adverse consequences of multiple metabolic disorders, the optimal approach would be through its prevention. Since visceral obesity has been proposed as the most important determinant of multiple metabolic disorders by the International Diabetes Federation and the Japanese Association of Internal Medicine in 2005, health practitioners were thrown into confusion to use any definitions of metabolic syndrome. The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has decided to introduce a new policy for the prevention of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes mellitus from April 2008. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare conducts to establish a screening system and guidance of the metabolic syndrome. We review the history and concept of metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance and central obesity, pathophysiology and definition, and countermeasures against the metabolic syndrome, to improve the community health care system for the metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease.
Syndrome ; seconds ; Metabolic Diseases ; Health ; Prevention

Obesity is an important public health problem in Japan and many other countries. There is a need for simple and reliable anthropometric measurement tools for visceral obesity to facilitate the prevention of metabolic syndrome (MS). Although studies have so far suggested waist circumference (WC) is the best indicator of visceral obesity, there is no reportof predictive value for improvement of MS. We conducted to analyze the relationship between anthropometric measurements and metabolic disorders in an interventional study of 358 subjects who participated in our program for visceral obesity based on health education and self-determination from 2000 to 2006. The intervention induced significant decreases in calorie intake and increases in physical activity of the participants, and resulted in significant decreases of 1.7 kg (3% of body weight at the baseline) of weight and 2.4 cm (3%) of WC, but body fat percent using bioelectrical impedance analysis found their body fat percentage increased 0.5% at the baseline. Weight-loss was significantly associated with improvement of metabolic measurements by our intervention. Weight and body mass index (BMI) showed the highest correlation coefficient for improvement of metabolic measurements, while WC and body fatpercentage showed lower values for improvement of metabolic measurements. In conclusion, weight-loss is the suitable indicator for the evaluation of the educational program, and 3-7% weight-loss for three months is recommended to improve visceral obesity and MS.
Obesity ; Weight ; Body fat ; Morphine Sulfate ; Syndrome

;Small, dense low density lipoprotein (LDL) has been suggested to be highly atherogenic as a result of their low-binding affinity to LDL receptors, their prolonged plasma half-life and low resistance to oxidative stress. Although marine n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have beneficial effects for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, there is little information on detailed fatty acid composition in LDL particles. In the present study, LDL subfractions were isolated from the plasma of 45 clinically healthy Japanese women by density gradient ultracentrifugation using a light fraction of 1.025-1.034 g/ml (LDL-I), an intermediate fraction of 1.034-1.044 g/ml (LDL-II), and a dense fraction of 1.044-1.060 g/ml (LDL-III). A clear relationship between the frequency of fish intake and increases in plasma n-3 PUFAs was apparent. Although plasma n-3 PUFAs in women with small-sized LDL using non-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (GGE) did not show a significant difference, n-3 PUFAs and n-3 PUFAs/n-6 PUFAs in dense LDL-III subfraction increased in the small-sized LDL group using GGE, compared to those with buoyant LDL particles. The result of enriched n-3 PUFAs in dense LDL subfraction suggests that n-3 PUFAs may help prevent atherosclerosis in the arteries of Japanese women with small-sized LDL.
Low density lipoprotein cholesterol measurement ; Lower case en ; Human Females ; Japanese language ; Plasma

Objective: Clinical studies suggest that maintaining a lower postprandial glycemic response is important for improvement and prevention of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Amylose, an ingredient in many food grains, is a major factor for the lowering of postprandial glycemic and insulinemic response. The aim of the present study was to determine the influence of rice with different level of amylose on postprandial glycemic and insulinemic response in mice and humans.Materials and Methods: The two types of rice used in the study contained 29 wt% (high amylose rice) or 17 wt% (low amylose rice) amylose. In mice and humans, postprandial glycemic and insulinemic responses were measured and then the area under the response curves of both rice groups were compared.Results: In mice, comparisons of postprandial glycemic response showed high amylose rice was lower than that for low amylose rice in all time points. Notably postprandial glycemic responses for high amylose rice at 15, 30, 45 and 60 min were significantly lower (19%, 31%, 16% and 17% respectively). The area under the glycemic response curve for high amylose rice was a remarkably 16% less than for the low amylose rice. In humans, postprandial glycemic response at 30 min and insulinemic response at 60 min for high amylose rice were significantly lower than for low amylose rice (15% and 40% lower, respectively). Furthermore, general linear measurement multivariate analysis after adjustment for eating time and hemoglobin A1c at baseline showed that postprandial glycemic response at 30 and 60 min and insulinemic response at 60 min, and the area under the glycemic response curve for high amylose rice were significantly lower than for low amylose rice in human.Conclusion: The higher amylose content of the rice lowered the postprandial glycemic and insulinemic response, demonstrating the potential to prevent or improve metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Rice ; Minute of time ; Laboratory mice ; Syndrome ; Diabetes Mellitus, Non-Insulin-Dependent

A cluster of insulin resistance, dyslipidemia and hypertension has been labeled as a metabolic syndrome. Asians have a lower rate of obesity than Caucasians, but have recently become increasingly prone to obesity and the metabolic syndrome, especially in rural communities in Japan. Although weight loss has been considered to be effective for improvement of the metabolic syndrome, most data are based on studies in Western countries with only limited information derived from Japanese populations. We conducted a study of 188 subjects who participated in our interventional program for obesity based on health education and self-determination in 2000-2003. The intervention induced significant decreases in caloric intakes and increases in physical activity in the participants, and then resulted in a significant 1.3kg reduction in weight on the average. Weght-loss was significantly associated with indexes of obesity, values of total cholesterol, triglyceide and HDL cholesterol levels, but was not related with blood pressure and LDL cholesterol, which were significantly decreased by our intervention. Furthermore a simple regression analysis was carried out to verify whether weight loss and metabolic syndrome parameters were related. Weight loss was determinantsexplaining less than a total of 10% of the variance in triglyceride and total cholesterol for the participants. Future studies of weight loss for metabolic syndrome should incorporate Asian ethnic factors, such as dietary habits and genetic influences.
Syndrome ; Weight Loss ; Obesity ; Health education ; Metabolic

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Apolipoprotein A5 gene promoter region T-1131C polymorphism (APOA5 T-1131C) is known to be associated with elevated plasma TG levels, although little is known of the influence of the interaction between APOA5 T-1131C and lifestyle modification on TG levels. To investigate this matter, we studied APOA5 T-1131C and plasma TG levels of subjects participating in a three-month lifestyle modification program. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A three-month lifestyle modification program was conducted with 297 participants (Age: 57 +/- 8 years) in Izumo City, Japan, from 2001-2007. Changes in energy balance (the difference between energy intake and energy expenditure) and BMI were used to evaluate the participants' responses to the lifestyle modification. RESULTS: Even after adjusting for confounding factors, plasma TG levels were significantly different at baseline among three genotype subgroups: TT, 126 +/- 68 mg/dl; TC, 134 +/- 74 mg/dl; and CC, 172 +/- 101 mg/dl. Lifestyle modification resulted in significant reductions in plasma TG levels in the TT, TC, and CC genotype subgroups: -21.9 +/- 61.0 mg/dl, -20.9 +/- 51.0 mg/dl, and -42.6 +/- 78.5 mg/dl, respectively, with no significant differences between them. In a stepwise regression analysis, age, APOA5 T-1131C, body mass index (BMI), homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and the 18:1/18:0 ratio showed independent association with plasma TG levels at baseline. In a general linear model analysis, APOA5 T-1131C C-allele carriers showed significantly greater TG reduction with decreased energy balance than wild type carriers after adjustment for age, gender, and baseline plasma TG levels. CONCLUSIONS: The genetic effects of APOA5 T-1131C independently affected plasma TG levels. However, lifestyle modification was effective in significantly reducing plasma TG levels despite the APOA5 T-1131C genotype background.
Apolipoproteins* ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; Body Mass Index ; Energy Intake ; Genotype ; Homeostasis ; Humans ; Japan ; Life Style* ; Linear Models ; Plasma* ; Promoter Regions, Genetic* ; Regression Analysis ; Triglycerides*