A research group led by Professor Masato Tsutsui, Graduate Student Mika Kina, and Assistant Professor Mayuko Sakanashi of the Graduate School of Medicine, Ryukyu University, continues to feed mice with a diet deficient in nitrate / nitrite, which is abundant in vegetables, for a long period of time. It was revealed that low calorie intake causes metabolic syndrome (metabolic syndrome), vascular endothelial dysfunction, and cardiovascular death.
Metabolic syndrome is a condition in which visceral fat obesity is combined with symptoms that cause arteriosclerosis such as hyperglycemia, hypertension, and dyslipidemia, and increases the risk of myocardial infarction, stroke, and diabetes.However, although excessive calorie, lack of exercise, heredity, and aging have been reported as causes of the onset, the mechanism has not been fully elucidated.
On the other hand, it has become clear in recent years that nitrate / nitrite is a donor of nitric oxide that contributes to the maintenance of homeostasis in living organisms, and its new role has attracted attention.
To test the hypothesis that long-term dietary nitrate / nitrite deficiency causes metabolic syndrome, the research group fed mice and regular diets fed a nitrate / nitrite-free diet for 1 week to 22 months. The mice were compared.
As a result, visceral fat accumulation, hyperlipidemia, impaired glucose tolerance in mice fed a diet in which nitrate / nitrite was not detected for 3 months, and weight gain, hypertension, insulin resistance, and endothelium in mice fed for 18 months. In dysfunction, mice fed for 22 months caused cardiovascular death.
The research group says that this result is the world's first identification of dietary components that contribute to the development of metabolic syndrome in the absence of overeating or excessive calories, and with clear scientific evidence, vegetable intake is metabolic. It is said that it will lead to the suppression of the syndrome.
In Okinawa Prefecture, while the elderly have a long life, the sudden death of the working generation is the highest in the country.Therefore, overcoming metabolic syndrome is an urgent issue in the medical administration of Okinawa Prefecture.
Paper information: [Diabetologia] Long-term dietary nitrite and nitrate deficiency causes the metabolic syndrome, endothelium
dysfunction and cardiovascular death in mice
