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Although several reports concerning the association of iodine excess and thyroid disease have appeared, no systematic review of the association between iodine excess intake and thyroid diseases, especially hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism, has yet been reported. We conducted a systematic search of Ovid MEDLINE, PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases, Ichushi-Web and CiNii database for intervention trials and observational studies. Search terms were constructed from related words for excess AND iodine intake or excretion AND thyroid hormones or diseases AND study designs. After considering the qualitative heterogeneity among studies, a meta-analysis was conducted and odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated in random-effects models. A protocol was registered with PROSPERO (No. CRD42015028081). 50 articles were included, including three intervention trials, six case-control studies, six follow-up studies and 35 cross-sectional studies. Three cross-sectional studies in adults included in meta-analysis. Odds ratio of overt and subclinical hypothyroidism between excess and adequate populations were 2.78 (CI:1.47 to 5.27) and 2.03 (CI:1.58 to 2.62) in adults, respectively. Source of excess iodine status was mainly iodized salt or water in included studies. Although universal salt iodization has improved goiter rates, chronic exposure to excess iodine from water or poorly monitored salt are risk factors for hypothyroidism in free-living populations. Monitoring of both iodine concentration in salt as well as the iodine concentration in local drinking water are essential to preventing thyroid diseases. Hypothyroidism should be also carefully monitored in areas with excess iodine. Because of the low quality and limited number of included studies, further evidence and review are required.

Background: A comprehensive self-administered diet history questionnaire (DHQ: 150-item semi-quantitative questionnaire) and a brief self-administered DHQ (BDHQ: 58-item fixed-portion-type questionnaire) were developed for assessing Japanese diets. We compared the relative validity of nutrient intake derived from DHQ with that from the BDHQ, using semi-weighed 16-day dietary records (DRs) as reference. Methods: Ninety-two Japanese women aged 31 to 69 years and 92 Japanese men aged 32 to 76 years completed a 4-nonconsecutive-day DR, a DHQ, and a BDHQ 4 times each (once per season) in 3 areas of Japan (Osaka, Nagano, and Tottori). Results: No significant differences were seen in estimates of energy-adjusted intakes of 42 selected nutrients (based on the residual method) between the 16-day DRs and the first DHQ (DHQ1) or between the DR and the first BDHQ (BDHQ1) for 18 (43%) and 14 (33%) nutrients, respectively, among women and for 4 (10%) and 21 (50%) nutrients among men. The median (interquartile range) Pearson correlation coefficients with the DR for energy-adjusted intakes of the 42 nutrients were 0.57 (0.50 to 0.64) for the DHQ1 and 0.54 (0.45 to 0.61) for the BDHQ1 in women; in men, the respective values were 0.50 (0.42 to 0.59) and 0.56 (0.41 to 0.63). Similar results were observed for the means of the 4 DHQs and BDHQs. Conclusions: The DHQ and BDHQ had satisfactory ranking ability for the energy-adjusted intakes of many nutrients among the present Japanese population, although these instruments were satisfactory in estimating mean values for only a small number of nutrients.

Objective To compare the relative validity of food group intakes derived from a comprehensive self-administered diet history questionnaire (DHQ) and a brief-type DHQ (BDHQ) developed for the assessment of Japanese diets during the previous month using semi-weighed dietary records (DR) as a reference method. Design Between November 2002 and September 2003, a 4 d DR (covering four non-consecutive days), a DHQ (150-item semi-quantitative questionnaire) and a BDHQ (fifty-eight-item fixed-portion-type questionnaire) were completed four times (once per season) at 3-month intervals. Setting Three areas in Japan: Osaka, Nagano and Tottori. Subjects Ninety-two Japanese women aged 31-69 years and ninety-two Japanese men aged 32-76 years. Results Median food group intakes were estimated well for approximately half of the food groups. No statistically significant differences were noted between a 16 d DR and the first DHQ (DHQ1) or between the DR and the first BDHQ (BDHQ1) in fifteen (44 %) and fifteen (52 %) food items for women and in fourteen (41 %) and sixteen (55 %) food items for men, respectively, indicating that both questionnaires estimated median values reasonably well. Median Spearman's correlation coefficients with the DR were 0·43 (range: -0·09 to 0·77) for DHQ1 and 0·44 (range: 0·14 to 0·82) for BDHQ1 in women, with respective values of 0·44 (range: 0·08 to 0·87) and 0·48 (range: 0·22 to 0·83) in men, indicating reasonable ranking ability. Similar results were observed for mean values of the four DHQ and BDHQ. Conclusions In terms of food intake estimates, both the DHQ and the BDHQ showed reasonable validity.

Background: Depression in elderly people is a major global concern around the world. Epidemiological evidence of the association of beverages with depressive symptoms has received research attention; however, epidemiological studies on the association of coffee and green tea consumption with depressive symptoms among the elderly population are limited. The objective of this study is to cross-sectionally examine the association of depressive symptoms with the intake of coffee, green tea, and caffeine and to verify the antidepressant effect of caffeine. Methods: The subjects were 1,992 women aged 65–94 years. Intakes of coffee, green tea, and caffeine, as well as depressive symptoms, were assessed with a validated brief dietary history questionnaire (BDHQ) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), respectively. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for depressive symptoms with adjustments for potential confounders. Results: Coffee intake was associated with a lower prevalence of depressive symptoms, the ORs of which for the 4th versus the 1st quartiles of intake was 0.64 (95% CI, 0.46–0.88, P for trend = 0.01) in a fully adjusted model. Caffeine intake was marginally associated with depressive symptoms, but the association was not statistically significant (OR 0.75; 95% CI, 0.55–1.02, P for trend = 0.058). Conclusion: The result suggests that the inverse association of coffee intake with depressive symptoms might be associated with not only caffeine intake but also some other substances in coffee or factors related to coffee intake. Because of the cross-sectional design of the present study, longitudinal studies are required to confirm the present finding.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease that is characterized by vascular damage and fibrosis. Both clinical manifestations and immunological disturbances are diverse according to the disease duration. Particularly, changes in immunological processes are prominent in the early phase of SSc. The orchestration of several subsets of immune cells promotes autoimmune responses and inflammation, and eventually stimulates pro-fibrotic processes. Many reports have indicated that CD4 + T cells play pivotal roles in pathogenesis in the early phase of SSc. In particular, the pathogenic roles of regulatory T (Treg) cells have been investigated. Although the results were controversial, recent reports suggested an increase of Treg cells in the early phase of SSc patients. Treg cells secrete transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), which promotes myofibroblast activation and fibrosis. In addition, the dysfunction of Treg cells in the early phase of SSc was reported, which results in the development of autoimmunity and inflammation. Notably, Treg cells have the plasticity to convert to T-helper17 (Th17) cells under pro-inflammatory conditions. Th17 cells secrete IL-17A, which could also promote myofibroblast transformation and fibrosis and contributes to vasculopathy, although the issue is still controversial. Our recent transcriptomic comparison between the early and late phases of SSc revealed a clear difference of gene expression patterns only in Treg cells. The gene signature of an activated Treg cell subpopulation was expanded in the early phase of SSc and the oxidative phosphorylation pathway was enhanced, which can promote Th17 differentiation. And this result was accompanied by the increase in Th17 cells frequency. Therefore, an imbalance between Treg and Th17 cells could also have an important role in the pathogenesis of the early phase of SSc. In this review, we outlined the roles of Treg cells in the early phase of SSc, summarizing the data of both human and mouse models. The contributions of Treg cells to autoimmunity, vasculopathy, and fibrosis were revealed, based on the dysfunction and imbalance of Treg cells. We also referred to the potential development in treatment strategies in SSc.

Background: The disparity of overall diet quality by personal educational attainment has been a public issue. However, it remains unknown which food groups contribute to the disparity. This cross-sectional study assesses which food groups explain associations between education and overall diet quality in Japanese women. Methods: A total of 3,788 middle-aged (mean age, 47.7 years) and 2,188 older women (mean age, 74.4 years), who lived in 47 prefectures in Japan, provided data on their education (low, middle, and high) and dietary intakes from a diet history questionnaire. A diet quality score (possible score 0–70) was calculated based on seven food components. Mean diet quality scores, with adjustment for lifestyle and neighborhood variables, were estimated by education using a general linear model, and Dunnett’s multiple comparison was conducted. Additionally, mean scores of each food component were estimated by education and compared using the same manner. Results: After adjustment for lifestyle and neighborhood variables, mean diet quality score of high or middle education was higher than low education for both generations. Middle-aged women with high and middle education had higher scores of ‘milk’, ‘snacks, confection, and beverages’, ‘fruits’, and ‘vegetable dishes’ than those with low education. Older women with high and middle education had higher scores of ‘sodium from seasonings’ and ‘fruits’ than those with low education. Conclusions: This study suggests that positive associations between education and diet quality are explained by different food groups in middle-aged and older Japanese women, which are independent of lifestyle and neighborhood variables.

Dietary questionnaires for assessing dietary intakes among populations of individuals aged 80 years or older (the very old) are very limited. We examined the relative validity of forty-three nutrients and twenty-seven food groups estimated by a brief-type self-administered diet history questionnaire (BDHQ) targeting very old Japanese, using semi-weighed dietary records (DR) as a reference. Between June and August 2012 and between June 2015 and February 2016, a three-day non-consecutive DR (at two-week intervals) and a BDHQ were completed. Tokyo, the capital prefecture of Japan. Eighty very old Japanese (thirty-six men and forty-four women) aged 82-94 years. The median intakes of 40-70 % of the crude and energy-adjusted nutrients estimated by the BDHQ were significantly different from those estimated by the DR. The median Spearman's correlation coefficient of nutrient intakes between the BDHQ and the DR was 0·39-0·46. About half (48-56 %) of the food groups were significantly different in terms of the median intakes estimated by the BDHQ and the DR in crude and energy-adjusted values. The median Spearman's correlation coefficient between the BDHQ and the DR was 0·45-0·48. Acceptable Spearman's correlations (≥0·3) were obtained for many dietary intakes among the very old Japanese population. The BDHQ is a good candidate for epidemiological studies among very old Japanese, although, for some nutrients and food groups, the difficulty of estimating accurate median intakes is one of the limitations for the tool. Further efforts to enhance the validity of the BDHQ for very old populations are needed.

Only a few studies have focused on the association between overall diet, rather than intakes of individual nutrients or foods, and depressive symptoms in Japanese. This cross-sectional study examined associations between a diet quality score and depressive symptoms in 3963 young (age 18 years) and 3833 middle-aged (mean age 47·9 (sd 4·2) years) Japanese women. Dietary information was collected using a diet history questionnaire. A previously developed diet quality score was computed mainly based on the Japanese Food Guide Spinning Top. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 22·0 % for young women and 16·8 % for middle-aged women, assessed as a Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) score ≥23 and ≥19, respectively. As expected, the diet quality score was associated positively with intakes of ‘grain dishes’, ‘vegetable dishes’, ‘fish and meat dishes’, ‘milk’ and ‘fruits’ and inversely with intakes of energy from ‘snacks, confection and beverages’ and Na from seasonings. After adjustment for potential confounders, OR for depressive symptoms in the highest v. lowest quintiles of the diet quality score was 0·65 (95 % CI 0·50, 0·84) in young women (P for trend=0·0005). In middle-aged women, the corresponding value was 0·59 (95 % CI 0·45, 0·78) (P for trend<0·0001). Analyses where the diet quality and CES-D scores were treated as continuous variables also showed inverse associations. In conclusion, this cross-sectional study showed that a higher diet quality score was associated with a lower prevalence of depressive symptoms in young and middle-aged Japanese women. Prospective studies are needed to confirm a public health relevance of this finding.

Living status (e.g., living with family or alone) may affect dietary habits. We compared nutritional adequacy according to living status and the frequency of eating out-of-home foods in young Japanese women. Female dietetic students (aged 18–20 years; n = 4,017) participated in a cross-sectional multicenter study, which was conducted in 85 dietetic schools in 35 of 47 prefectures in Japan. Habitual dietary intake was assessed with a validated diet history questionnaire. Nutritional adequacy was determined based on the Dietary Reference Intakes for Japanese, 2015, for two goals: preventing non-communicable chronic disease (a tentative dietary goal for preventing lifestyle-related diseases [DG] that tracks five nutrients) and avoiding insufficient intake of mainly vitamins and minerals (estimated average requirement [EAR] that tracks 14 nutrients). Women living with their family were less likely to meet DG nutrient levels, but more likely to meet EAR nutrient levels compared with those living alone. In contrast, women living alone had more inadequate nutrients with EAR and fewer nutrients with not-meeting DG than those living with families. A higher frequency of eating out-of-home was significantly associated with a higher prevalence of not-meeting DG nutrient levels only in the women living with their family. The prevalence of nutritional adequacy varied based on living status. In addition, women living with their family and those with a high frequency of eating out-of-home foods had the highest prevalence of not-meeting DG. Effective ways of improving dietary quality among young Japanese women differ by living status. •Young women living with their family had more nutrients not meeting dietary goals.•Eating out was associated with not meeting dietary goals in those living with family.•Young women living alone had more inadequate intakes of nutrients.•Eating out-of-home did not affect nutritional adequacy in those living alone.

Mobile applications are increasingly used in healthcare. We have developed a smartphone healthcare application, CALO mama Plus, that can register daily diet, exercise, mood, and sleep quality, calculate dietary intake, and provide advice using artificial intelligence technology. This 3-month randomized controlled trial tested the hypothesis that CALO mama Plus could promote body weight reduction in Japanese adults with overweight or obesity. We recruited office workers as participants. The key eligibility criteria were an age of 20–65 years and a body mass index of 23–40 kg/m2. The primary outcome was body weight change over 3 months. We enrolled 141 participants and randomly assigned them to the intervention (n = 72) and control (n = 69) groups. The intervention group used CALO mama Plus, and the control group did not receive any intervention. The change in body weight was −2.4 ± 4.0 kg and −0.7 ± 3.3 kg in the intervention and control groups, respectively. An analysis of covariance adjusted for related variables showed a significant between-group difference in body weight change (−1.60 kg; 95% confidence interval −2.83 to −0.38; p = 0.011). The present study suggests that CALO mama Plus effectively promotes weight loss.