Dietary Habits of Mongolian People, and Their Influence on Lifestyle-related Diseases and Early Aging

Mongolians are known to have relatively short life expectancy. In order to examine the role of dietary habits in the early aging of Mongolians, the food intake inquiry, anthropometric measurements and blood clinical tests were performed for 365 healthy inhabitants in Murun, a northern Mongolia city, and compared to those of Japanese. Murun inhibitants were found to have a characteristic dietary habit of taking large amounts of meat, milk, dairy products and wheat flour products, in contrast little vegetables, fruits and fishes. The daily calorie intake of the adults was estimated to be 2,525 kcal, and the fat/total calorie ratio was calculated 33.7%, about 1.3-fold higher than that of Japanese. The intake ratio of fatty acid from the Mongolian foods, saturated : mono-unsaturated : poly-unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) ratio, was 10.3 : 7.8 : 3.0. Results of blood clinical tests showed significantly higher levels of serum triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) and homocysteine, and lower levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), n-3 PUFA, folic acid and adiponectin, in comparison with those of Japanese. In addition, the Mongolians were also found to have significantly high levels of oxidative stress markers, such as serum malondialdehyde-modified LDL (MDA-LDL), urinary 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) and serum reactive oxygen metabolites (ROM). The serum ROM level in the Mongolians seemed to associate with their body fat ratio (p<0.05), and was significantly inverse-correlated to handgrip strength (p<0.001). Obesity was observed at a high incidence in the subjects over 30-year old, and over 40-year old their handgrip ability was markedly decreased. These findings suggest that in the Mongolians the dietary habits associate with their lifestyle-related diseases and early aging, and the improvement of dietary habits is an effective strategy for health promotion of the inhabitants.