[Effects of lifestyle on health status]

We followed up 2,148 male and female workers for 6 years and assessed the relationship between lifestyle and physical health status. The physical health status was significantly higher in the group with a good lifestyle than in the group with a poor lifestyle. When we analyzed the effects of lifestyle on chronic diseases using multiple logistic regression, the incidence of gastric and duodenal ulcers and cardiovascular diseases was several times higher in the group with a poor lifestyle than in the group with a good lifestyle. We also introduced several biological markers, including natural killer (NK) cell activity and chromosome alterations such as sister chromatid exchanges, chromosome aberrations and micronucleus formation, to predict the participants' future health status. All these markers were significantly correlated with lifestyle. Our findings indicate that lifestyle is the most important environmental factor which quantitatively affects the development of adult diseases and the changes of biological markers.