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Objective: Interethnic marriage between nikkey Brazilians and non-nikkey Brazilians may favor the westernization of diet. Dietary consumption, clinical data and frequencies of metabolic diseases were compared in a Japanese-Brazilian population, with intraethnic or interethnic marriage., Methods: T test, Mann-Whitney, chi-square and Person coefficient were used., Results: Among 1009 Japanese-Brazilians there were 18.9% of interethnic marriage, being more frequent among nikkey men. These showed higher means of BMI, waist, blood pressure, glycemia and triglyceridemia than women. Overall frequencies of obesity, hypertrigliceridemia and metabolic syndrome were 47.7%, 68.1% and 45.2%, being higher in interethnic than intraethnic marriage. Comparing individuals with interethnic marriages, hypertriglyceridemia was more common among men while low-HDL among women. Energy, fat, groups of alcohol, sweets and oils were higher in interethnic marriage. Individuals with intraethnic marriage consumed more carbohydrate, proteins, fibers, vitamins, minerals, vegetables, fruits/juice, cereals and missoshiru. Comparing individuals with interethnic marriages, nikkey men showed a more westernized dietary pattern than nikkey women., Conclusion: Interethnic marriage was associated with less healthy food habits and worse cardiometabolic profile.

The immigration of Japanese people to Brazil began in 1908 with two major waves, from 1925 to 1940 and from 1952 to the 1960s. Brazil has the largest population (about 1,288,000) of Japanese origin outside Japan with varying age groups. A mortality study revealed that diabetes as an underlying cause of death was higher in the first-generation Japanese than in Japan (3.4 vs. 1.9 per 100,000 for men, and 7.2 vs. 1.9 for women). The self-reported prevalences of known diabetes in subjects aged 40 years or older were obtained by questionnaires from three sources. In six Japanese cultural associations in Säo Paulo city, the prevalences were 9.7% and 6.9% for the first generation (mean age 61.5 years) and for the second generation (mean age 40.0 years), respectively. Age-adjusted prevalences, according to the Brazilian population in the 1980 national census, were 6.9% and 8.1% for the first and second generations. According to a study carried out as a part of a socioeconomic census of the Japanese population in Brazil, the prevalences of diabetes were 7.4% and 5.2%, and the age-adjusted prevalences were 5.3% and 5.8% in the first and second generations, respectively. Another study carried out for employees of a bank, owned by Japanese-Brazilian community members, revealed crude prevalences of diabetes in the first and second generations of 7.1% and 4.2%, and age-adjusted prevalences of 7.3% and 8.2%, respectively. These data indicate an increased prevalence of diabetes in this population compared to Japan, suggesting the importance of environmental factors in the pathogenesis of diabetes.