Simplified population data analysis using gamma distribution for nutritional requirements and its application to the estimation of iron requirements for women of child-bearing age.

Background: Estimation of nutritional requirements is a difficult task, especially for nutrients whose requirements have skewed distribution like iron in menstruating women.

Objective: To mathematically develop a simplified population data analysis using gamma distribution for the estimation of nutritional requirements, not depending on extensive numerical calculation.

Methods: The required equations for the estimation of requirements were devised and solved.

Serum lipid profiles of young Japanese women with iron deficiency without anemia.

Purpose: We aimed to evaluate the association between iron deficiency without anemia (IDNA) and serum lipid profiles in young women of around 20 years of age.

Methods: This study included non-anemic (hemoglobin ≥ 12 g/dL) female volunteers aged 18 to 22 years who were not taking mineral/vitamin supplements and living in the metropolitan area of Tokyo, Japan. These volunteers were classified into two groups based on their sFer (serum ferritin) levels: normal group (sFer ≥ 20 ng/mL, n = 36) and IDNA group (sFer < 20 ng/mL, n = 29).

Investigating the Essentiality and Requirements of Iron from the Ancient to the Present.

This review discusses the development of studies that evaluated the essentiality and requirements of iron from the ancient to the present. The therapeutic effects of iron compounds were recognized by the ancient Greeks and Romans. The earliest recognition of the essentiality of iron was stated by Paracelsus, a distinguished physician alchemist, in the sixteenth century.

Iron deficiency without anaemia is a potential cause of fatigue: meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials and cross-sectional studies.

Fe deficiency is a prevalent nutritional disease, and fatigue is a common complaint in the general and patient population. The association between Fe deficiency without anaemia (IDNA) and fatigue is unclear. Here, we performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the therapeutic effect of Fe on fatigue in patients with IDNA and the association between IDNA and fatigue in the population.

Estimation of iron requirements for women by numerical analysis of population-based data from the National Health and Nutrition Surveys of Japan 2003-2007.

Iron requirements were estimated from the results of the National Health and Nutrition Surveys of Japan 2003-2007 using the numerical analysis of requirements based on an integral equation. The numerical analysis used population-based data on iron nutriture, the prevalence of inadequate iron status, and the distribution of iron intakes. The cutoff value for inadequate iron status was defined as a serum ferritin concentration <30ng/mL.

Effect of dietary nickel deprivation on vision, olfaction, and taste in rats.

Early studies on dietary nickel deprivation found decreased reproduction rate in pigs and decreased insemination and conception rates in goats. Studies from our laboratory demonstrated that nickel deprivation impaired male reproductive function of rats. A physiological amount of nickel modulates the function of cyclic nucleotide-gated cation channels (CNG channels) in vitro.

Iron deficiency without anemia is associated with anger and fatigue in young Japanese women.

Iron deficiency without anemia (IDNA), the most prevalent nutritional deficiency worldwide, affects young women of reproductive age. This study aimed to elucidate the relationship between IDNA and mental and somatic symptoms including anger and fatigue using the Japanese version of the Cornell Medical Index Health Questionnaire (CMI-J). Data regarding demographic characteristics, anthropometry, hematological, and biochemical indices of the iron status, frequencies of selected food intakes assessed by self-administered food frequency questionnaires (FFQs), frequencies of nonspecific symptoms, and grades of neurotic tendencies assessed by CMI-J were collected from 76 young women aged 18-22 years living in the metropolitan area of Tokyo, Japan.

Toxicity of so-called edible hijiki seaweed (Sargassum fusiforme) containing inorganic arsenic.

The UK Food Standards Agency and its counterparts in other countries have warned consumers not to eat hijiki (Sargassum fusiforme; synonym Hizikia fusiformis), a Sargasso seaweed, because it contains large amounts of inorganic arsenic. We investigated dietary exposure of hijiki in weaning male F344/N rats fed an AIN-93G diet supplemented with 3% (w/w) hijiki powder for 7 weeks, compared with those fed only an AIN-93G diet. Body weight, body temperature, blood and tissue arsenic concentrations, plasma biochemistry and hematological parameters were measured.

Comparison of a modified hemoglobin regeneration efficiency method with a slope-ratio assay in measuring relative bioavailability of cocoa powder iron using rats.

The slope-ratio assay is being used as a gold standard for determining iron bioavailability in foods. We compared the modified hemoglobin (Hb) regeneration efficiency (HRE) method (Yokoi K, Konomi A, & Otagi M (2009) Br J Nutr 102: 215-220) with the slope-ratio assay for measurement of iron bioavailability. The relative bioavailability of iron in cocoa powder was measured by both methods using ferric citrate as a control (i.

A possible role of plasma aldosterone in hypotension secondary to iron-deficiency anaemia combined with zinc deficiency in rats.

Patients with Fe-deficiency anaemia are often afflicted by hypotension. However, the mechanism of secondary hypotension in Fe-deficiency anaemia is unknown. To investigate the pathogenesis of secondary hypotension in Fe-deficiency anaemia, we examined the effects of Fe deprivation on plasma aldosterone concentration and blood pressure in rats.

Iron bioavailability of cocoa powder as determined by the Hb regeneration efficiency method.

Fe deficiency is a public-health problem worldwide, and effective measures for preventing Fe deficiency are needed. The aim of the present study was to determine the bioavailability of Fe in cocoa using the Hb regeneration efficiency (HRE) method. Thirty-five F344/N male weanling rats were fed a low-Fe diet for 4 weeks to deplete body Fe stores.

Dermal absorption of inorganic germanium in rats.

So-called germanium 'health' products including dietary supplements, cosmetics, accessories, and warm bath service containing germanium compounds and metalloid are popular in Japan. Subchronic and chronic oral exposure of germanium dioxide (GeO(2)), popular chemical form of inorganic germanium causes severe germanium toxicosis including death and kidney dysfunction in humans and experimental animals. Intestinal absorption of neutralized GeO(2) or germanate is almost complete in humans and animals.

Association between zinc pool sizes and iron stores in premenopausal women without anaemia.

The simultaneous occurrence of Zn and Fe deficiencies in man has been known since the discovery of human Zn deficiency. However, it is not established that low Fe stores per se or Fe-deficiency anaemia infer low Zn status. Therefore our objective was to identify relationships between Zn and Fe status in premenopausal women without anaemia.

Effects of zinc and/or iron deficiency on rectal temperature in rats.

O'Dell et al. reported that rectal temperature was decreased by zinc deficiency in rats. However, it is not known whether a combined deficiency of zinc and iron affects rectal temperature.

Zinc deficiency decreases plasma erythropoietin concentration in rats.

In 1985, Paterson and Bettger found hypoplastic hematopoiesis in severely zinc-deficient rats. Therefore, we investigated plasma erythropoietin concentration in zinc-deficient rats. Forty 4-wk-old male Sprague- Dawley rats were assigned into 4 dietary treatment groups of 10 for the 4-wk study: zinc-deficient group (4.

Numerical methods for estimating iron requirements from population data.

The estimation of iron requirements is crucial for nutrition and food policy. The traditional methods for estimating iron requirements are balance methods based on iron intakes and excretions and factorial methods based on estimated iron absorption rates and estimated iron losses from body compartments. As an alternative, numerical methods for estimating iron requirements from population data of iron status were developed.

Association between plasma zinc concentration and zinc kinetic parameters in premenopausal women.

The objective of this study was to measure relationships between plasma zinc (Zn) concentrations and Zn kinetic parameters and to measure relationships of Zn status with taste acuity, food frequency, and hair Zn in humans. The subjects were 33 premenopausal women not taking oral contraceptives and dietary supplements containing iron and Zn. Main outcomes were plasma Zn concentrations, Zn kinetic parameters based on the three-compartment mammillary model using 67Zn as a tracer, electrical taste detection thresholds, and food frequencies.

Nickel deficiency diminishes sperm quantity and movement in rats.

Early studies on nickel essentiality with rats and goats indicated that nickel deprivation impaired reproductive performance. Nickel also has been found to influence cyclic nucleotide gated channels (CNG); these types of channels are important in sperm physiology. Thus, two experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that nickel deficiency affects sperm physiology in a manner consistent with nickel having an essential function related to CNG channel functions.

Colorimetric determination of chloride in biological samples by using mercuric nitrate and diphenylcarbazone.

A colorimetic method is outlined for the determination of the chloride ion in biological samples (blood serum, plasma, and urine). The present method is based on the quantitative reduction of free mercuric ions by chloride ions. Chloride ions form an indissociable complex with mercuric ions.