The Japanese lifestyle, and in particular, their diet, may be the secret to long life, according to some experts.
Japanese women have a life expectancy of 86.4 years, whereas English women have an expectancy of 82.8 years, according to the Office for National Statistics.
It is postulated by some experts that this is down to the Japanese diet which stereotypically has smaller portion sizes and lower-calorie foods. The co-author of ‘Secrets of my Mother’s Tokyo Kitchen’ Naomi Moriyama, said that the average Japanese person eats around 25% less calories than the average westerner.
The Japanese diet generally consist of good disease fighting food, and is full of nutrients and components that help people to live longer. For instance, Craig Wilcox, a gerontologist (someone who studies the social and biological effects of aging), has said that on average, Japanese people “eat three servings of fish a week… plenty of whole grains, vegetable and soy products too, more tofu and konbu seaweed than anyone else in the world, as well as squid and octopus, which are rich in taurine — that could lower cholesterol and blood pressure.”
However, Japanese men do not reinforce the trend and although men of all nationalities tend to have lower life expectancies than their female counterparts, Japanese men are only expected to live for 79.9 years on average, whereas the highest expectancy is in Icelandic men at 80.8 years.
A Japanese diet certainly has benefits to it, although it does have an acquired taste and some western people may not like it. Eating a balanced diet and incorporating as much exercise into your daily life as you can will reap you lots of health benefits, which could well help you live into a happy old age.