Kochi Prefecture is noted for its high mortality rate attributable to degenerative diseases. Among them, cardiovascular disease takes the heaviest toll of lives.
In quest of risk factors associated with the scourge, we probed into its possible relations with lipid in the blood, specifically with total serum cholesterol levels. At the same time, we took note of nutritional aspects.
Our study found that the cardiovascular death rate has a negative correlation to total serum cholesterol levels and that the subjects who scored low total cholesterol values were exceedingly ill-fed as compared with ordinary people.
This finding suggests that, in Kochi Prefecture, the lowering of total serum cholesterol levels triggered off by unbalanced nutritional conditions may increase the chance of succumbing to car-diovascular disease.

The effects of bathing with inorganic salts and carbon dioxide (ISCD) on body temperature, systemic circulation, food ingestion and absorption have been studied in healthy volunteers. The peripheral blood flow in the forearm was found to increase in and after immersion of the forearm into a 25l bathing receptacle containing ISCD, as compared with plain water. The peripheral blood flow tended to increase in a dose-dependent manner with ISCD bathing. The skin core temperature, the skin surface temperature and the peripheral blood flow were significantly higher after ISCD bathing than after plain water bathing. The influences of ISCD bathing on food ingestion and absorption were also studied in healthy volunteers. Blood glucose and insulin levels after food ingestion tended to be suppressed by ISCD bathing as compared with plain water bathing. There was no difference between ISCD and plain water bathing in total protein, total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL cholesterol, and uric acid levels in the blood. These results suggest that ISCD bathing may contribute to the promotion of human health.