Preventive Medicine & Public Health

Dr. Yuji Aoki is the Director of the Outpatient Department, and head of the Lifestyle Disease Laboratory, National Hospital Organization Matsumoto Medical Center, Matsumoto, Japan. He is a Visiting Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine, Matsumoto Dental University Hospital, Shiojiri, Japan. He got his Medical

Doctor in 1981 and Ph.D.-medicine in 1993 at Shinshu University School of Medicine, Matsumoto, Japan.

 

Education:

1993 Ph.D. at Shinshu University School of Medicine, Japan

1981 MD at Shinshu University School of Medicine, Japan

 

Research Fellow:

1995 Division of Nephrology, Georgetown University Medical Center, 1993- Washington, D.C., U.S.A.

 

Award:

1995 The Mamie Doud Eisenhower Memorial Fellowship Award, American Heart Association, Washington, D.C., USA.

Hydrogen gas produced by intestinal fermentation is suggested to have some preventive effects on age-related diseases. As reported in our previous paper, hydrogen gas concentrations in the breath, reflecting the intestinal production, were measured in 14 healthy controls (8 men, 6 women; 37.3 (17.4) years) and 15 elderly people with type 2 diabetes (4 men, 11 women; 79 (6) years) 26 centenarians (6 men, 20 women; age, 102 (2) years (mean (SD)) and 16 their offspring (7 men, 9 women; 70 (5) years), and were found to be significantly increased in centenarians. In that study, diabetic patients treated with α-glucosidase inhibitors were excluded, which can cause carbohydrate malabsorption leading to increasing intestinal fermentation. In the current study, 28 diabetic patients (11 men, 17 women; 69 (13) years) including 6 patients treated with α-glucosidase inhibitors were studied. Three patients treated with α-glucosidase inhibitors showed extremely high concentrations of breath hydrogen gas, which were compatible to those in a part of centenarians, and low concentrations of serum oxidative low-density lipoprotein (MDA-LDL). No significant correlation was found between breath hydrogen gas and serum MDA-LDL concentrations. Thus, hydrogen gas produced by intestinal fermentation in association with diet and gut microbiome may affect people’s longevity in Japan, considering the potential of hydrogen gas to act as a potent antioxidant in the body.