If you want to live a longer life, you might want to start eating what Japanese people eat, according to new research.
In a new study, researchers set out to examine why Japanese people tend to outlive people from other parts of the world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Japan leads in overall life expectancy with 84 and female life expectancy with 87. Japanese men are also not that far behind with a life expectancy of 80.
The researchers decided to track the eating habits of 79,594 adults between the ages of 45 and 75 for around 15 years. They all filled out a diet questionnaire at the beginning and then again at the 5-year and 10-year follow-up points. The researchers assessed how closely a participant followed the Japanese Food Guide Spinning Top. Overall, a total of 147 food and beverage groups were included. None of the participants had a history of health problems, such as cancer, ischemic heart disease and chronic liver disease, at the start of the study.
The researchers found that people with higher food scores, which meant that their diets had closely adhered to the guidelines, had a reduction in their mortality rate by 15 percent. The reduced rate was mostly due to a lower risk of death from heart disease. The researchers noted that the link between diet and risk of death from cancer was not as clear for overweight and obese people.
The researchers also tried to see if eating fish over other red meats provided additional health benefits, especially since nutritionists and health experts have frequently endorsed eating fish, particularly those high in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids.
"Fish, the major (92%) component of category of white meat in the present study population, is rich in n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, whereas red meat, including beef and pork, contains saturated fatty acids. We developed a modified score by adding the score for the ratio of intake of white to red meat but found no measurable difference in the association between the two scores," the authors wrote in their study, which was published in The BMJ. "This finding could be explained by the higher consumption of fish and lower consumption of beef and pork among the Japanese population compared with Western populations, maintaining an appropriate balance between white and red meat intakes in terms of cardiovascular health."
The researchers added that higher intake of fish was linked to a lower risk of myocardial infarction. Overall, Japanese people were pretty good about following the country's guidelines. The overall food grade was 47 out of 70.
Although changing one's diet completely might be difficult for many, this study's findings suggest that altering some aspects could lower risk of certain health conditions. Western people, like Americans who have an overall life expectancy of 79, should consider substituting fish for red meat more often. A recent study that was published in PLOS ONE also found a link between eating polyunsaturated fats and a reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes in prediabetic people.
The Japanese diet guidelines recommend five to seven servings of grain, five to six servings of vegetables, three to five servings of fish and meat, two servings of fruits and two services of dairy products. The guidelines also advise people to snack moderately, drink a lot of water and tea and exercise frequently.
