[Association of vegetable intake with dietary behaviors, attitudes, knowledge, and social support among the middle-aged Japanese population].

Objectives Increasing vegetable consumption is one of the health objectives of "Healthy Japan 21" (2nd phase). To ensure this goal is met, the various factors related to vegetable consumption must first be clarified. Thus, this study considered vegetable consumption, dietary behaviors, attitudes, knowledge, and social support among middle-aged Japanese subjects.Method Data (2 days of maintaining a food diary and a questionnaire) of 384 respondents aged 30-59 years from the 2011 Saitama Prefectural Health and Nutrition Survey (men: 165, women: 219) were used. Their average volume of vegetable consumption was 250.2 g/day (standard deviation: 119.8), which was significantly lower than the 350 g/day goal of "Healthy Japan 21" (2nd phase); therefore, the threshold for this study was set at 300 g/day. For logistic regression analysis, vegetable consumption greater or lower than 300 g/day were defined as dependent variables; social support, attitudes, knowledge, and dietary behaviors as independent variables; and age, household composition, and household income were adjusted.Results The adjusted odds ratio (AOR) was significantly higher for those whose vegetable consumption was over 300 g/day. Dietary behaviors including an average of 2 or more meals per day including grain, vegetable, fish, and meat dishes and the analysis of subjects' food records revealed an AOR of 2.52 and a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 1.18-5.39 for men who had 2 or more meals per day. For women, the AOR was 4.06, and the 95% CI was 2.18-7.53. Significant relationships were observed among the following items in male respondents: attitude category: "self-efficacy in consuming 5 or more vegetable dishes per day" (AOR was 2.74, 95% CI was 1.30-5.79); knowledge category: "obesity prevention effectiveness" (AOR was 3.48, 95% CI was 1.24-9.78); and social support category: "support for good health and dietary life from family and surroundings" (AOR was 4.46, 95% CI was 1.47-13.54). Significant relationships were observed among the following items in female respondents: dietary behaviors category: "frequency of cooking meals" (AOR was 2.83, 95% CI was 1.02-7.87); and knowledge category: "being able to grasp the appropriate volumes and balance of foods when preparing meals for self" (AOR was 2.44, 95% CI was 1.30-4.56).Conclusions These results suggest that to increase middle-aged people's vegetable consumption, promoting adequately healthy meals is more important than both the dissemination of knowledge regarding the target vegetable quantity and enhancing of only vegetable consumption.

Associations between dietary n-6 and n-3 fatty acids and arachidonic acid compositions in plasma and erythrocytes in young and elderly Japanese volunteers.

BACKGROUND: We reported that the compositions of arachidonic acid (ARA) in erythrocytes and plasma phospholipids (PL) in the elderly were lower than those in the young, though the ARA intake was nearly identical. OBJECTIVE: We further analyzed data in four study groups with different ages and sexes, and determined that the blood ARA levels were affected by the kinds of dietary fatty acids ingested. METHODS: One hundred and four healthy young and elderly volunteers were recruited. Dietary records together with photographic records from 28 consecutive days were reviewed and the fatty acid composition in plasma lipid fractions and erythrocyte PL was analyzed. RESULTS: No correlations for ARA between dietary fatty acids and blood lipid fractions were observed. A significant negative correlation between eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) + docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) intake and ARA composition in erythrocyte PL was observed. ARA composition in erythrocyte PL was significantly lower in elderly subjects than in young subjects, because EPA and DHA intake in elderly subjects was higher than in young subjects. However, after removing the effect of dietary EPA+DHA intake, the ARA composition in erythrocyte PL in elderly subjects was significantly lower than that in young subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Changes in physical conditions with aging influenced the low ARA composition of erythrocyte in elderly subjects in addition to the effects of dietary EPA and DHA.

Age-related changes of dietary intake and blood eicosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, and arachidonic acid levels in Japanese men and women.

We studied the relationship between dietary intake and the blood compositions of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and arachidonic acid (ARA) in four study groups with different ages and sexes. One hundred and four subjects were recruited. Dietary records together with photographic records from 28 consecutive days were amassed and the fatty acid composition in erythrocyte membranes and plasma lipid fractions was analyzed. Fish intake in the elderly group was significantly higher than that in the young group in both men and women. The compositions of ARA in erythrocytes and plasma phospholipids in the elderly were lower than those in the young, but the ARA intake was nearly identical. In the elderly group, the percentage of dietary ARA consumed at the same time as EPA and DHA derived from fish was high. We considered that these fatty acids markedly inhibited the incorporation of dietary ARA into blood phospholipids.