Secret of Japanese life longevity associated with common foods here!

Emobileclinic Researcher’s corner 

Emobileclinic Reporter :Femi Fayomi

Researchers examined the reasons behind life longevity in Japan and found an association between Japanese diet and mortality. Accoding to the researchers, from Reseach Center for Cancer Prevention and Screening, Japan ” adherence to Japanese dietary guidelines was associated with a lower risk of total mortality and mortality from cardiovascular disease, particularly from cerebrovascular disease”. Emobileclinic rushes to see what these foods are and nice to know that we have these products here.

The lead researcher ;Kayo Kurotani, said life expectancy in Japan in recent time has shown a steady increase over the past few decades and is presently among the longest in the world. As at 2012, Japanese women recorded the longest life expectancy of 87 years. The researchers identified the Japanese culture, her socioeconomic and the government policy on Universal health Insurance as some of the factors responsible for the improvement of the health of the Japanese. 

 One thing we found interesting was the inclusion of red meat in the diet. Anyone who is conversant with Japanese food will know the value of red meat in most of their meal. Other food items are , high intake of fish, soybean products, low intake of fat, grain dishes, vegetable dishes, fish and meat dishes, milk,  fruits,snacks and alcohol beverages. 

More importantly, the role of Japanese diet on the life expectancy of the populace cannot be underestimated as it has been improved in terms of nutritional balance during economic development while maintaining the traditional dietary culture like, high intake of fish and soybean products and low intake of fat. 

According to the study as published in BMJ, higher diet quality scores was  associated with a lower risk of mortality. All cause mortality was reportedly reduced by 11-42%, cardiovascular disease mortality rate was reduced by 17-60%, and cancer mortality by 11-40% in individuals with the highest category of scores of diet quality compared with individuals with the lowest category. 

Their findings agree with those from other studies that reported that higher diet quality scores were associated with reduced total mortality in China. The Chinese Food Pagoda score  has previously assessed the adherence to the Chinese based on food groups in accordance to the Chinese Dietary Guidelines.  The concept of the Chinese Food Pagoda score is similar to that of the Japanese Food Guide Spinning Top. There was a higher score on the Japanese Food Guide Spinning Top which  was associated with a lower rate of total mortality over 15 years of follow-up in both men and women.

In most studies, higher diet quality scores have been consistently and strongly associated with reduced mortality from cardiovascular disease. In this study, individuals in the highest fourth of the food guide scores had a 16% lower rate of mortality from cardiovascular disease compared with those in the lowest fourth. This association was partly explained by intake of vegetable dishes and fruits, which have been linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease not only in the present study but also in numerous other studies.  

Of all deaths from cancer in the present cohort, the proportions of deaths from cancers were much higher in men (60.6%) than in women (40.4%). The researchers however said there was no association between the diet score and mortality from cancer in individuals with normal weight but not in overweight/obese individuals. They advocate for more  investigation to identify specific groups of individuals who will benefit from  the Japanese food guidelines in prevention of cancer.

 However, the study reveals that  more intake of fish and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids are associated with a decreased risk of myocardial infarction and a higher intake of saturated fatty acids was associated with a decreased risk of stroke.