Ground water from Mt. Fuji, located on the border of Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures, has relatively high concentrations of trace
element vanadium. The concentration is about 50 btg/L around the mountain, and about 1 Ixg/L in other areas. The vanadium comes
from the lava of the mountain. The water is utilized as a source of tap water around the mountain, and habitants are drinking and
using the water for cooking. Recent reports by some researchers suggest health beneficial effects of drinking the water; drinking such
water can lower blood glucose level in diabetic patients, and improve insulin-resistant status in healthy women. However, the
concentration of vanadium in the ground water is too low as compared with the apparently effective concentration (100000 ~tg/L) in
preceding reports. Furthermore, the effects of vanadium in the water on public health are not elucidated. In the present study the
regional concentrations of vanadium in ground waters were investigated in Yamanashi prefecture, and standardized mortality rates
(SMR) are compared preliminary with vanadium data in order to investigate the effect epidemiologically. SMR data were provided
by Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry. We used the summarized SMR from 1998 to 2002. The data contain SMRs from total causes;
total malignant neoplasm; stomach cancer; colorectal cancer; liver and intrahepatic bile duct cancer; trachea bronchus and lung
cancer; all heart diseases; acute myocardial infarction; and cerebrovascular disease. There are eight secondary medical districts in
Yamanashi prefecture, and one of them, Fuji-hokuroku (No.7), corresponds to high-vanadium area. No SMR, except SMR from
cerebrovascular disease in female, was lower in the district No.7 than other eight districts. On the other hand, SMRs from all heart
diseases and from acute myocardial infarction of both male and female in the district No.7 were highest among the districts. SMR
from all causes in male of No.7 was also highest among the districts. Although we cannot obtain a conclusive result from an ecologic