Westernization of Lifestyle and Atherosclerosis in the Japanese: Lessons from the Hawaii - Los Angeles - Hiroshima Study.

Japanese Americans include Japanese individuals migrating from Japan to the United States (first-generation Japanese Americans [JA-1]) and their offspring (second- or later-generation Japanese Americans [JA-2]). Although Japanese Americans share their genetic predisposition with the Japanese, their lifestyles have been westernized rapidly and extensively. We conducted a medical survey for atherosclerosis among Japanese Americans living in Hawaii and Los Angeles and native Japanese living in Hiroshima for 50 years since 1970 (the Hawaii-Los Angeles-Hiroshima Study) and obtained the following results:(1) In the 1990s, a westernized lifestyle induced hyperlipidemia among Japanese Americans, and based on the evaluation of the carotid artery intima-media wall thickness (IMT), atherosclerosis was apparently more advanced in Japanese Americans than in native Japanese.

Progression of Carotid Atherosclerosis in Two Japanese Populations with Different Lifestyles.

Aim: We have conducted medical surveys on two Japanese populations (Japanese Americans living in the US and native Japanese living in Japan) to investigate the impact of westernization of lifestyles on diseases in Japanese people. A 1998 survey revealed that the progression of carotid intima-media wall thickness (IMT) was faster by approximately 20 years in Japanese Americans than in native Japanese. In this study, we compared the progression of atherosclerosis in native Japanese versus that in Japanese Americans using carotid IMT data from medical examinations conducted in the 2010s.

Lifestyle, serum lipids and coronary artery disease: comparison of Japan with the United States.

Westernization of the Japanese lifestyle has been steadily progressing, and the percent energy intake as fat has increased 3.8 fold over the past 50 years. Although the serum cholesterol (C) level has also increased, the death rate due to coronary artery disease (CAD) is not increasing.

Influence of the extent of westernization of lifestyle on the progression of preclinical atherosclerosis in Japanese subjects.

To clarify the influence of a westernized lifestyle on the risk factors for atherosclerosis and preclinical atherosclerosis in Japanese subjects, we surveyed a Japanese population and Japanese immigrants in the United States. Based on the extent of westernization of their lifestyle, the subjects were classified as Japanese (J), first generation Japanese-Americans (JA-I), and second or later generation Japanese-Americans (JA-II). The consumption of animal fat and simple carbohydrates increased in the order of J, JA-I, and JA-II, while the subjects with strenuous physical activity decreased in the same order.