Effects of Blood Parameters and Dietary Intake on Japanese Female College Students Showing Normal BMI with High Body Fat

In Western countries, obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) ≥30.0, but the Japan Society for the Study of Obesity has established diagnostic criteria for leanness in Japan as BMI<18.5, normal as 18.5≤BMI<25, and obesity as BMI≥25. According to the 2008 National Health and Nutrition Survey by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in Japan, 25% of women in their 20s are lean, with BMI<18.5. Lean women show a higher likelihood of giving birth to low birth-weight infants, and women who desire to be lean may become undernourished from the effects of disrupted eating habits and dieting. They may also give birth to children with a relatively high risk of developing lifestyle-related diseases in the future. The suggestion has been made that 70% of predisposing factors for various conditions considered as lifestylerelated diseases are associated with nutritional status in the fetal period and infancy, and that these diseases develop as a result of the burden from later living habits. This theory is called the fetal origins of adult disease (FOAD) theory, proposed by Barker et al. from the results of a large-scale epidemiological study. Considering this * To whom correspondence should be addressed E-mail:kuwano@u-shizuoka-ken.ac.jp Report