Japanese Diet

"[email hidden] (Larry Weisenthal)" <[email hidden]> wrote in part:

Quoted message said:

There's an article today in the Wall Street Journal about how the
Japanese diet has changed. Formerly very low fat, based on rice, fish,
and tofu it is now heavy with red meat and dairy. The average
Japanese 26 year old is now 3 inches taller, with wider hips and
bigger breasts.

Formerly, the Japanese had the world's longest life expectancy and low
incidence of heart disease, breast, colon, and prostate cancer
(relatively high incidence of hemorrhagic, though not ischemic stroke,
because of the high salt content, however).

Question: now that the Japanese are eating more "healthy" fat, what is
going to happen to (1) their longevity and (2) their incidence of the
above-mentioned disease states?

- Larry Weisenthal/Huntingon Beach, CA

I dunno. What kind of red meat and dairy? If they are eating beef from
grass-pastured cattle and great smelly fermented cheeses from
naturally-raised cows, they may get even healthier. If they are eating the
kind of red meat that has been studied in nutrition research (feed-lot,
hormone packed, corn-fed, from antibiotic-laden sick cattle) and drinking
glasses of milk from cows tethered to milking machines and pumped with
hormones, they will almost certainly see a decline in health.

Just my guess, though.
--
Jim Chinnis Warrenton, Virginia, USA [email hidden]

x-no-archive: yes

Jim Chinnis said:

I dunno. What kind of red meat and dairy? If they are eating beef from
grass-pastured cattle and great smelly fermented cheeses from
naturally-raised cows, they may get even healthier.

Like the Swiss and the Swiss paradox; lots of full fat dairy from alpine
grass fed cows, low CVD.

If they are eating the

Quoted message said:

kind of red meat that has been studied in nutrition research (feed-lot,
hormone packed, corn-fed, from antibiotic-laden sick cattle) and drinking
glasses of milk from cows tethered to milking machines and pumped with
hormones, they will almost certainly see a decline in health.

And portion size counts. Traditional Japanese meals were not only full
of vegetables and fish, they were small. If the western influence
extends to portion size, that's got a deleterious effect.

The growth issues may also relect endocrine disruptors found in food
packaging and some cooking containers used in microwaves.

Susan