• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.401-406
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• 1999

The purpose of this study was to identify some anthropometric characteristics related to the incidence of diabetes mellitus in Korea. The subjects were 165 male and female patients aged 30 to 70 years who had been diagnosed with diabetes mellitus for less than five year, recruied from eight different hospitals in Seoul, Korea. Weight, height, waist circumference, hip circumference and triceps skinfold thickness were measured. Weight before diagnosis of diabetes was also surveyed. The body mass index(BMI) of diabetic patients before diabetic diagnosis was significantly higher than that of reference values. Fifty percent of patients had BMI values greater than 25kg/$m^2$, and female patients were somewhat fatter than male patients. Since many subjects were overweight before diagnosis, obestty could be regarded as a risk factor for the incidence of diabetes mellitus. However, waist-hip ratios(WHR) fell within the normal range, so WHR may not be regarded as an important risk factor for NIDDM in Korea. This study suggests that the risk factors of onset of diabetes in Western populations may not be applicable to the Korea population. More study is needed to clarify the risk factors of Korean diabetes.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.250-256
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• 2000

Hyperhomocysteinemia has been shown to be associated with increased risks for macrovascular angiopathy. The present study was conducted to document the relationship between plasma homocysteine levels and the presence of macrovascular angiopath in patients with Type II diabetes mellitus. Plasma total homocysteine was determined by a HPLC-fluorescence detection method in a total of 238 subjects, 127 diabetic patients and 111 control. Dietary information including folate intake was assessed by a 24-hour recall in a total 113 subjects, 70 diabetic patients and 43 control. Folate intake was significantly lower inn patients with diabetes mellitus than that in the control. The lowered folate intake in the diabetic patients was mainly due to reduced intakes of fruits and vegetables. The average plasma homocysteine level of patients with MA was 14.2$\mu$㏖/L, which was significantly higher than that of either the patients without MA(11.4$\mu$㏖/L) or the control(11.5$\mu$㏖/L). Twenty five percent of the diabetic patients were positively correlated with age (r=0.20), body weight (r=0.28), body mass index (r=0.28), body mass index (r=0.18), diastolic blood pressure (r=0.20), and total cholesterol (r=0.14). cigarette smokers had significantly higher levels of plasma homocysteine than the non-smokers. Further prospective studies are needed to investigate whether folate or other B vitamin supplementation could be beneficial for the prevention of hyperhomocysteinemia or macrovascular angiopathy in the diabetic patients.