American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 5, 245-250, Copyright © 1957 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Serum Cholesterol in Japanese Coal Miners

A DIETARY EXPERIMENT

¹ From the Laboratory of Physiological Hygiene, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, the First Medical Clinic, Kyushu University Medical School, Fukuoka, the Department of Public Health, Kyushu University Medical School, and the Shime Hospital, Shime, Japan

Eighteen Japanese coal miners at Shime, Japan, were studied before, during and after a dietary experiment in which, for 11 days, their habitual diet was altered by the isocaloric substitution of 50 g of butter or margarine for a part of their customary rice Seven of the men received butter, six of them had a margarine made from animal fats (mainly whale oil) and five received an all-vegetable margarine. The iodine values of these added fats were: butter 35, margarine A 39, vegetable margarine 37 and the corresponding contents of linoleic acid glyceride were 3, 10 and 7 per cent. The extra fat raised the average intake of these miners from 10.3 to 24.9 per cent fat cal. Their work and other living habits were unchanged.

The dietary change produced an average rise of 17.1 ± 6.6 mg of total cholesterol per 100 ml of blood serum and there were no significant differences between the effects of the several fats. The control cholesterol average was 147.1 ± 7.2 mg. per 100 ml so the rise was 11.6 per cent in 11 days. Separate analysis of the cholesterol in the alpha and beta liporotein fractions showed no significant change in the distribution resulting from the dietary change.

Comparison with dietary experiments in Minnesota indicated that the response seen in these Japanese men was comparable to that observed in Minnesota men.

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