High levels of ‘good’ HDL found among Japanese

Blood tests conducted in various countries reveal that Japanese people tend to exhibit such healthy characteristics as a high level of “good” high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, according to a joint international study.

However, although Japanese participants had low levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), which indicates the degree of vessel inflammation associated with risk of heart disease, they were also found to be more vulnerable to the negative effects of obesity.

Prof. Kiyoshi Ichihara of Yamaguchi University, a specialist in biopsy data, was a member of the international group that jointly conducted the study. The research covered 12,000 people aged 18 or older from 10 countries including Japan, China, India, the United States, Britain, Turkey and South Africa. The participants did not include people suffering from chronic diseases of the liver or kidneys.

Test results in 36 areas were compared, including neutral fat, uric acid, and blood sugar. Significantly aberrant values were excluded, while the remaining 95 percent of study participants were considered to be within a normal range.

The results regarding HDL cholesterol were particularly striking. Among Japanese participants, the median values stood at 56 for men and 72 for women, the highest levels among the 10 nations even when the effects of obesity were taken into account. In contrast, Japanese participants had the lowest levels of CRP with median values of 0.03 for men and 0.02 for women. The differences were mainly attributed to diet, environmental sanitation and physical constitution.

Source: News On Japan
Published: 08 Nov 2014

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