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Japanese Journal of Cancer Research : Gann logoLink to Japanese Journal of Cancer Research : Gann
. 1992 Aug;83(8):798–805. doi: 10.1111/j.1349-7006.1992.tb01983.x

Environmental and Physiological Influences on Human Natural Killer Cell Activity in Relation to Good Health Practices

Kei Nakachi 1,, Kazue Imai 1
PMCID: PMC5918956  PMID: 1399816

Abstract

We examined the association of natural killer (NK) cell activity with a number of life style factors by a cross‐sectional analysis on 2892 Japanese individuals. The following habits were found to be associated with increased NK activity: 1) alcohol drinking (males, P<0.05), 2) not smoking cigarettes (males and females, P<0.001), 3) increased intake of green vegetables (females, P<0.001), 4) increased intakes of meat, milk, dairy products, and soyabean products (males, P<0.01), 5) daily workload of less than 3 hours per day (females, P<0.05), 6) regular meals (females, P<0.05), 7) regular sleep of more than 7 hours (females, P<0.05), 8) proper body weight. In addition, systolic blood pressure showed a positive correlation with NK activity (P< 0.001), while proportion of helper/ inducer (OKT4+) T cells and fraction of β‐globulin showed negative correlations (P< 0.001). We thus found that the living habits associated with increased NK activity were consistent with generally accepted good health practices, except alcohol drinking.

Keywords: Key words, Human, Natural killer cell activity, Life style

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