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