Objectives: Few studies examined the association between deterioration of masticatory ability assessed by objective marker and physical function. Therefore, we examined the association between salivary flow rate which is one of the objective and surrogate marker of masticatory ability and lower Timed Up & Go (TUG) performance which is one of major measurement of physical function among aging Japanese. Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled 464 Japanese aged 60e84 years old. Participants chewed tasteless and odorless gum for 5 min, calculated stimulated salivary flow rate (g/min) during all chews.The 3 m TUG was conducted, and 75th percentile value (6.8 s for men and 7.0 s for women) or higher was defined as lower TUG performance. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between stimulated salivary flow rate and lower TUG performance. Results: We found that the stimulated salivary flow rate tended to be negatively associated with the TUG time. We also observed significant negative association between stimulated salivary flow rate and lower TUG performance; the multivariable-adjusted OR (95% confidence interval, CIs) of lower TUG performance for the highest quartile of stimulated salivary flow rate compared with the lowest quartile was0.34 (0.16e0.69, P for trend ¼ 0.02). Further adjusting for BMI, the association was attenuated but remaind significant; the OR (95% CIs) in highest quartile was 0.37 (0.18e0.76, P for trend ¼ 0.04). Conclusions Higher stimulated salivary flow, which means well masticatory ability, was inversely associated with lower TUG performance in the aging Japanese population.

Objective: This study aimed to elucidate the relationship between daily eating habits and stroke risk factors in O City, Ehime Prefecture, Japan, using stroke registry data collected over a 26-year follow-up period based on standardized national criteria.Materials and Methods: Overall, 1,793 middle-aged Japanese participants (446 men and 1,347 women) who completed a 33-item Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) and had no history of stroke were matched to those from O City in a stroke registry from 1996 to 2022. Stroke diagnosis for each person was used to determine whether this was their first documented stroke, and we classified strokes as either a cerebral infarction (CI) or a hemorrhagic stroke (HS), the latter which included an intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) or a subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). A Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to examine the association between habitual dietary intake and the occurrence of stroke, using the following covariates: age, body mass index, elevated blood pressure/hypertension, dyslipidemia, prediabetes/diabetes, alcohol consumption, and smoking.Results: During the 26 years of follow-up, 45 men (10.1%) and 76 women (5.6%) had stroke. The CI rate was 70.2% (n=85; 38 men, 47 women). The HS rate was 29.8% (n=36; 7 men and 29 women); of these patients, 26 and 10 had ICH and SAH, respectively. In men, orange intake showed a significant inverse correlation with CI. In women, fresh fish intake showed a significant inverse correlation with CI, while yogurt intake showed a significant inverse correlation with HS.Conclusion: Our results indicated that fresh fish intake was significantly associated with the prevention of CI among women in a Japanese cohort survey.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol consumption is a prevalent behavior that is bi-directionally related to the risk of type 2 diabetes. However, the effect of daily alcohol consumption on glucose levels in real-world situations in the general population has not been well elucidated. This study aimed to clarify the relationship between alcohol consumption and all-day and time-specific glucose levels among non-diabetic individuals. METHODS: We investigated 913 non-diabetic males and females, aged 40-69 years, during 2018-2020 from four communities across Japan. The daily alcohol consumption was assessed using a self-report questionnaire. All-day and time-specific average glucose levels were estimated from the interstitial glucose concentrations measured using the Flash glucose monitoring system for a median duration of 13 days. Furthermore, we investigated the association between all-day and time-specific average glucose levels and habitual daily alcohol consumption levels, using never drinkers as the reference, and performed multiple linear regression analyses after adjusting for age, community, and other diabetes risk factors for males and females separately. RESULTS: All-day average glucose levels did not vary according to alcohol consumption categories in both males and females. However, for males, the average glucose levels between 5:00 and 11:00 h and between 11:00 and 17:00 h were higher in moderate and heavy drinkers than in never drinkers, with the difference values of 4.6 and 4.7 mg/dL for moderate drinkers, and 5.7 and 6.8 mg/dL for heavy drinkers. Conversely, the average glucose levels between 17:00 and 24:00 h were lower in male moderate and heavy drinkers and female current drinkers than in never drinkers; the difference values of mean glucose levels were -5.8 for moderate drinkers, and -6.1 mg/dL for heavy drinkers in males and -2.7 mg/dL for female current drinkers. CONCLUSIONS Alcohol consumption was associated with glucose levels in a time-dependent biphasic pattern.
Humans ; Male ; Female ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring ; Blood Glucose ; Alcohol Drinking/epidemiology* ; Risk Factors ; Alcoholic Intoxication