Association between hair mineral and age, BMI and nutrient intakes among Korean female adults

This study was performed to investigate the association between hair mineral levels and nutrient intakes, age, and BMI in female adults who visited a woman's clinic located in Seoul. Dietary intakes were assessed by food frequency questionnaire and mineral levels were measured in collected hairs, and the relationship between these was examined. The average daily nutrient intakes of subjects were compared to those of the KDRIs, and the energy intake status was fair. The average intake of calcium in women of 50 years and over was 91.35% of KDRIs and the potassium intake was greatly below the recommended levels in all age groups. In the average hair mineral contents in subjects, calcium and copper exceeded far more than the reference range while selenium was very low with 85.19% of subjects being lower than the reference value. In addition, the concentrations of sodium, potassium, iron, and manganese in the hair were below the reference ranges in over 15% of subjects. The concentrations of sodium, chromium, sulfur, and cadmium in the hair showed positive correlations (P < 0.05) with age, but the hair zinc level showed a negative correlation (P < 0.05) with age. The concentrations of sodium, potassium, chromium, and cadmium in the hair showed positive correlations (P < 0.05) with BMI. Some mineral levels in subjects of this study showed significant correlations with nutrient intakes, but it seems that the hair mineral content is not directly influenced by each mineral intake. As described above, some hair mineral levels in female adults deviated from the normal range, and it is considered that nutritional intervention to control the imbalance of mineral nutrition is required. Also, as some correlations were shown between hair mineral levels and age, BMI, and nutrient intakes, the possibility of utilizing hair mineral analysis for specific purposes in the future is suggested.

Erectile Dysfunction and Risk Factors

BACKGROUND: Erectile dysfunction (ED) has been presented as a predictor of cardiovascular diseases. Earlier studies had revealed risk factors for erectile dysfunction, but the results are variable. We conducted this study to evaluate the association between various factors and ED. METHODS: The subjects were 403 men, over 20 years old, who visited a university hospital health promotion center from February to May 2003. They responded to 'the Korean version of 5-item International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5)'. The subjects were divided into ED group and normal group according to 'IIEF-5' score. We studied the association between ED and sociodemographic factors, smoking, exercise, depression, diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia and analysed stress and job stress in a subgroup who responded to the questionnaires. RESULTS: The mean age of subjects was 45.6+/-8.9 and 34.2% of the subjects had ED. The risk of ED increased 1.09 times per year (P<0.01). Statistically significant association between ED and education level, income, occupation, smoking (P<0.01), DM, and exercise (P<0.05) was shown by univariate analysis, but not by multivariate analysis. By multivariate analysis, the risk of ED increased significantly in older age, lower educational group and severe depression (P<0.01). Among 251 subjects who completed the Psychiatric Wellbeing Inventory- Short form, high risk of stress group wsa associated with high risk of ED by univariate analysis (P<0.01) but this association did not exist in multivariate analysis. We could not find the association between ED and job stress. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of ED was 34.2% among the subjects over 20 year-old and the risk of ED increased significantly in older age, lower educational group, and in subjects who had moderate to severe depression.