Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2009, 6 Total cholesterol, mg/dL Triglyceride, mg/dL # HDL cholesterol, mg/dL # Blood urea nitrogen, mg/dL Serum creatinine, mg/dL Serum uric acid, mg/dL Lactate dehydrogenase, IU/l # Fasting blood sugar, mg/dL # Fasting blood sugar, mg/dL # Outcome index Blood lead level, μg/dL Table 1. Cont. 199.6 (36.3) 105.9 (1.8) 53.4 (1.3) 13.6 (3.5) 0.81 (1.2) 5.34 (1.3) 181.6 (1.1) 95.6 (1.2) 4.98 (1.1) 196.9 (35.1) 105.7 (1.9) 52.9 (1.3) 13.6 (3.6) 0.81 (1.2) 5.38 (1.3) 180.9 (1.2) 96.2 (1.2) 4.96 (1.1) 212.8 (40.1) 107.1 (1.8) 55.6 (1.3) 13.5 (2.8) 0.78 (1.2) 5.12 (1.2) 185.2 (1.1) 92.8 (1.2) 5.09 (1.2) 1004 0.10 0.93 0.45 0.90 0.40 0.45 0.54 0.49 0.44 0.02 3.38 (1.9) 3.18 (1.8) 4.35 (2.4) All values are mean (SD) except the value mentioned with the specific symbol; # Geometric mean (GSD) BMI is calculated as weight (kg)/height (m2) SBP: Systolic blood pressure, DBP: Diastolic blood pressure AST/GOT:aspartate aminotransferase / glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase. ALT/GPT: for alanine aminotransferase / glutamic pyruvic transaminase. γ-GTP: gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase HDL cholesterol: High density lipoprotein cholesterol *Significant P value <0.05 in Student's t-test or 2 test. Our study showed that the mean white blood cell count in GC genotype was significantly higher than that in GG genotype (Table 1), but Shaik et al. [23] found no significant association. Exploration of this discrepancy might be interesting in a future longitudinal study, although the mechanism of this relationship could not be explained in our recent cross-sectional study. The recent study found that the frequency of GG genotype of ALAD was 83.2 %, and that of GC genotype of ALAD was 16.8 % in this non-occupationally lead exposed Japanese population. There was no CC homozygous genotype in this Japanese general population. The frequency distribution of genotype was in Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. The International HapMap Project, and Kelada et al. [15] also reported that ALAD2 allele frequency is high in Caucasian, but low in Asians, including Chinese and Japanese, and African populations, and a few or no ALAD2 homozygotes was found in such populations. Genotype frequency distribution in the present study was similar with data from the