| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
ICHIKAWA Yuko Nagoya City University, Grad.Sch.Pharm.Sci., Research Associate, 大学院・薬学研究科, 助手 (80173441)
FUJII Yoichi Nagoya City University, Grad.Sch.Pharm.Sci., Assoc.Professor, 大学院・薬学研究科, 助教授 (50165346)
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| Research Abstract |
Inflammatory diseases include allergy, cancers of the Western type and many kinds of so-called intractable diseases. We interpreted that persistent inflammation is a major cause for the increased incidence of these diseases in Japan in the past half a century, and that these inflammatory diseases could be prevented by regulating the production of inflammatory mediators. At present, no safe means has been found to regulate the production of peptide mediators. However, the amounts and activities of lipid mediators can be modified safely by reducing the intake of n-6 fatty acids and increasing that of n-3 fatty acids in foods.
In animal experiments, reducing the content of linoleic acid (n-6) and increasing that of α-linolenic acid (n-3) or fish oil enriched with EPA (n-3) and DHA (n-3) were shown to suppress the productions and activites of lipid kidney was suppressed similarly, and some results from animal experiments are collected in this report.
On the other hand, we collaborated with clinicians to perform clinical trials aimed at treating atopic dermatitis and colorectal tumors by lowering the n-6/-3 ratio of fatty acids in foods. Subjects with atopic dermatitis (n=76) were advised to select foods so as to lower the n-6/n-3 ratio of ingested fatty acids, and were followed for 2 years to find that this means is very promising for the improvement of hyper-allergic constitution. In the randomized control trial for the suppression of recurrence of colorectal polyps after polypectomy, the number of subjects participating in the trial has been increasing. When the number of subjects was 20 in each group, this method seemed to be promising, too.
These results support our interpretation that increased linoleic acid intake (>2.5 times high compared with the level of 40 years ago, several-fold higher than the essential amount) and relative n-3 fatty acid deficiency are the major causes for the increases in the incidence of these diseases.
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