Effects of Fatty Acid Quality and Quantity in the Japanese Diet on the Suppression of Lipid Accumulation

Japan has been known as a healthy country since its life expectancy became among the highest in the world in the 1980s. The influence of the Japanese diet is one of the factors explaining Japan's high life expectancy. Our recent study that fed representative freeze-dried and powdered Japanese diets from 1960, 1975, 1990, and 2005 based on National Health and Nutrition Research to mice showed the 1975 Japanese diet exhibited the strongest visceral fat accumulation suppression and overall health benefits. However, it is unclear why. We investigated the effects of the fatty acid composition in Japanese diets on visceral fat accumulation in mice. ICR mice were fed diets replicating the fatty acid composition and macronutrient ratios of Japanese diets from 1960, 1975, 1990, and 2005 for four weeks. The 1975 diet suppressed visceral fat accumulation and adipocyte hypertrophy. DNA microarray analysis showed the 1975 diet suppressed Acyl-CoA synthetase and prostaglandin D2 synthase mRNA expressions in white adipose tissue. As the effects of the 1975 diet are likely due to differences in fatty acid intake and/or composition, we investigated test diets that replicated only the fatty acid composition of Japanese diets. There were no significant differences in visceral fat mass. Therefore, both the quality and quantity of fatty acids are involved in the anti-obesity effects of the 1975 Japanese diet.