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Introduction Excessive caloric intake and insufficient physical activity can result in the accumulation of visceral fat, and now, obesity is a worldwide problem. A study of overweight and obesity in 195 countries over 25 years reported that in 2015, there were 107.7 million obese children and 603.7 million obese adults 1. Visceral fat accumulation is associated with an increased risk of arteriosclerotic diseases through lipid or glucose tolerance, metabolic abnormalities, and hypertension, with cardiovascular diseases accounting for more than two-thirds of deaths related to high body mass index 1. Obesity is associated with chronic inflammation in the

IntroductionIn Japan, one of three adult men is obese, which has been a long-term social problem. Obesity describes a condition in which an individual has not only overweight but also excessive body fat. It has been shown previously that monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 MCP-1 gene expression increases in enlarged mesentery adipose tissue with long-term obesity, which is followed by macrophage infiltration and activation 1 . Furthermore, inflammatory factors are produced form excessive infiltration of macrophages into adipose tissue. Finally, the inflammatory reaction in adipose tissue becomes increasingly aggravated. Acceleration of such chronic inflammation is thought to contribute to the onset of lifestyle-related disease 2 .Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin present in vegetable oils and nuts and has eight different naturally occurring

IntroductionVitamin E is the fat-soluble vitamins found in vegetable oils, seeds, and nuts. This vitamin has eight different naturally occurring forms or analogs: four tocopherols α-, β-, γ-, and δ-tocopherols and four tocotrienols α-, β-, γ-, and δ-tocotrienols . These analogs differ in the number and position of methyl groups on the chroman ring. Tocopherol -T s have saturated tails, whereas tocotrienol -T3 s have three double bonds in their phytyl tails. Among the eight analogs, α-T is widely known as a major antioxidant for protecting cellular membranes 1 . The other vitamin E analogs have also been reported about the biological function. For example, we previously investigated on the effect of γ-T on the primary hepatocytes and liver in rats; we found that γ-T3 can inhibit inflammation in such tissues 2 . In addition, Jiang et al. reported that γ-T significantly decreased 8-isoprostane, which is a biomarker of lipid peroxidation that can be increased by inflammation in rats 3 . Some reports also showed the biological function of δ-T in vivo. Wang et al.

IntroductionIn Japan, one of three adult males is obese, which persists long term. Obesity is associated with not only higher body weight, but also excessive fat accumulation. The definition of obesity is a body mass index BMI 25 kg/m 2 in Japan. In a prospective cohort study, Ishikawa-Tanaka et al. 1 investigated the effects of the degree of BMI and weight gain as risks for hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and diabetes in 4373 Japanese people. Those researchers found that the risks greatly increased in subjects with a BMI 27 kg/m 2 for hypertension and 29 kg/m 2 for diabetes and hypercholesterolemia. Additionally, Aoyagi et al. 2 reported that a BMI 25 kg/m 2 and a waist circum