Korean and Japanese food

[fishboy9320]

Hello I noticed when I watch videos from these two countries (S korea 2nd) that the people look very healthy. And when westerners travel and live in this places they get sick initially but then they feel better then ever. I don't think it has necessarily to do with the diet but how the food is produced, which chemicals,pesticides (different ones and amount) etc that they use. This is why I think they have longer lives and less diseases (less potent) than other places. If we can find out in what way they produce their food we can mimic it. I've not noticed this with any other country besides these two (maybe some outer parts of 'china' closer to them). Their food not only seems much more nutritious but also healthier. And possibility the water as well. And mental illness is less. their success a lot of it comes from how good their food is.

 

[JES]

I don't think it comes down to a single factor. I just read about how food portions are quite a bit smaller and how overeating isn't part of their culture. Obesity is around 3% in Japan versus 40% in US and I reckon a lot of this is simply due to not overeating.

There are probably also many other factors. Japanese food is typically not very carb and fat heavy. I actually noticed while eating sushi than I don't get most of the post-meal symptom increase I get with a typical western meal.

 

[fishboy9320]

Even if you compare a normal weighted person to one in japan , the skin complexion of the asian ones look healthier. I really think it has to do with how the food is made. Unhealthy food (not overeating) can also slow down the body functionality and increase weight via diseases .Fish contains a lot of coq10

If you compare them to other asian countries like china who i think has similar diet the chinese one dont look as healthy. Look at the sumo wrestlers they look healthier than fat westerners. if you look at how americans looked in the past they were so much healthier

 

[Rufous McKinney]

There are genetic and blood type differences in some groups.

My husband, older than me, now is enjoying odd Scandinavian aging birth defects. I think Vikings look pretty healthy, too!

And I was much healthier when I weighted 50 pounds more than I do now....

 

[Viala]

There can be many factors, but the one you mentioned may be important, there should be some research covering this topic. The question is, how much of their food is grown and produced locally and how much is imported?

Japanese for example are healthier in general so it may be a local thing, they have access to a lot of fresh food and ready to eat, fresh and healthy meals, many of them can be even bought from vending machines. They eat about the same amount of animal protein as western countries now, but half of that is fish, they also eat a lot of rice instead of processed white flour. Their cardiovascular health is much better. Unfortunately their diet is getting worse, they add plenty of sugar to everything nowadays.

 

[Kadar]

I think yeah, there're many factors. One of them I think vitamin K2, contained in their fermented food (natto) and different meats which prevents osteoporosis and gives you better wide face features. You can google "k2 bone structure" where is a story of Weston Price findings "activator X" (K2) which develop good face features and wide dental arches in aborigines in the contrary to citizens who follow modern diet.

Plus food culture is really good, and firstly it wasn't full of sugar as typical American diet, had enough of protein and zinc and iodine sources (sea food).

I notice aborigines who eat lots of animal food (meat,cheese, butter - high in K2) for example Yakuts, asians, have wide healthy faces.

 

[Viala]

Iodine definitely may be an important factor here. Japanese on average eat 2mg a day, so about ten times more than other nations. And there's a lot of vitamin K2 in natto. Both iodine and k2 help to keep cardiovascular system clean and a body slim. Western nations do not get a lot of K2 because animals we eat do not graze on fresh grass anymore, which is sad.

 

[fishboy9320]

I think I figured some parts of it out. majority of their food is sea food and you dont really grow sea food you collect it so no use of chemicals.

 

[JES]

I think I figured some parts of it out. majority of their food is sea food and you dont really grow sea food you collect it so no use of chemicals.

Hm, not exactly true though as lots of sea food these days come from fish farms, in other words not really collected from the wild. I don't know to what extent Japan has fish farms, but worldwide aquaculture (farming) of sea food overtook wild fish catch already in 2015 (ref). Since Japan imports about 40% of its total seafood consumption, lots of its seafood products are going to be farmed as well.

As someone above mentioned, there are a huge number of other factors that come to play. Things like iodine content, which is much higher in traditional Japanese food than you get in several days of a typical western diet.

 

[fishboy9320]

Hm, not exactly true though as lots of sea food these days come from fish farms, in other words not really collected from the wild. I don't know to what extent Japan has fish farms, but worldwide aquaculture (farming) of sea food overtook wild fish catch already in 2015 (ref). Since Japan imports about 40% of its total seafood consumption, lots of its seafood products are going to be farmed as well.

As someone above mentioned, there are a huge number of other factors that come to play. Things like iodine content, which is much higher in traditional Japanese food than you get in several days of a typical western diet.

There is a difference growing crops with chemicals versus giving living fish food that has been grown chemically. They don't have immune system to deal with it unlike fish. And being constantly in the water is very good for the health. I'm sure there are many factors I never denied that but you keep repeating it, but some factors are bigger than others. raw food

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

There is a difference growing crops with chemicals versus giving living fish food that has been grown chemically.

Can't quite follow this, but I'm assuming you mean feeding live fish with food that's been grown chemically? Not sure if I got it right ....

Another thing that could be taken into consideration is that many fish farms are execrable in terms of healthy conditions for the fish, unless they are farmed in open ocean, which some are. In tanks, waste accumulates, water becomes contaminated, the fish produced are anything but healthy themselves and probably not too healthy for the people who eat them.

And if the fish are tank-farmed, what are they being fed? How often are the tanks cleaned and decontaminated? Farming fish right is an expensive, time-consuming business, and anyone in it for the money is going to be less interested in accruing those costs than in just getting the fishs weight up and shooting them out the door, so to speak.

By the way, your question re why the Japanese seem so much healthier, generally, than the Western world was posed some time back (I cant remember if So Koreans were also mentioned), and I think the conclusions reached were that it was partly a different ethos re eating, including traditional foods not commonly consumed in the West, as well as what and how much they ate, their higher intake of iodine, and their spiritual connection to both what they ate and the world aound them.

I think that @Kadar 's suggestion that the higher intake of K2, both MK4 and MK7, might have something to do with it has merit, too.

The Japanese have a long tradition of large amounts of fermented foods, from natto (fermented soybeans) to veggies of all sorts as do the Koreans. This might produce a healthier, more disease resistant microbiome,

So theres the potential for a lot of things to play a part in this puzzle. No need to get starchy when other members point that out.

 

[IThinkImTurningJapanese]

I don't think it has necessarily to do with the diet but how the food is produced, which chemicals,pesticides (different ones and amount) etc that they use.

Japan uses considerably more chemicals in agriculture than the US.

And mental illness is less.

It's much worse.

I think I figured some parts of it out. majority of their food is sea food and you dont really grow sea food you collect it so no use of chemicals.

A large portion of it is farmed and Japan excels at development of feed supplements, but to think that our seafood is somehow pristine would be naive. We are a highly industrialized nation.

I had an improvement in health when I moved here, specifically my gut health. But why I couldn't say. Statistically, we suffer more stomach cancer than the West and I've seen that attributed to the pickled foods consumed, but I don't believe it.

If you blamed cigarettes and alcohol I could accept that.

The Japanese have a long tradition of large amounts of fermented foods, from natto (fermented soybeans) to veggies of all sorts as do the Koreans. This might produce a healthier, more disease resistant microbiome,

This is the most likely answer, there's hardly anyone that hasn't been consuming probiotics from childhood to adult. But there are so many things about diet here that are unique. Many consume wild harvested vegetables which are interesting. One of the ones I eat is carcinogenic, yet we consume it when there is very little of that substance and it serves as a spring allergy tonic. It's called Fukinoto.

Caloric restriction could be the answer as well. Yet there is also the exposure to cold and heat, we haven't really started using insulation on a regular basis. And few miss regular baths in natural onsen that are mineral rich.

@fishboy9320 you've opened one the biggest puzzles in nutritional health. The Japanese diet exceeds the results of the Mediterranean diet, well.... according to one book I read. But why?

 

[hapl808]

I also think calorie restriction could be very important as the portion sizes in Korea and even more so Japan are quite different than the USA.

However @IThinkImTurningJapanese has brought up the confounding mess that is Japanese health and diet. Same goes for Korea, with different specifics (even more fermented foods but mostly forms of kimchi, probably even more alcohol abuse, etc).

I've also wondered at the fact that both Korea and Japan surprisingly have some of the highest rates of stomach cancer in the world. It doesn't seem to correlate with alcohol or smoking I believe (looking at other countries on the list), although genetics could also play a part. I've also wondered that certain strains of probiotics seem to correlate with HIGHER rates of some cancer I believe, so possibly the same foods that are protective in some areas could be causing problems in other areas?

In any event, it's a fascinating subject but I don't believe anyone can say they have a confident idea of why we see certain outcomes.

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

you've opened one the biggest puzzles in nutritional health. The Japanese diet exceeds the results of the Mediterranean diet, well.... according to one book I read. But why?

I agree. The puzzle is confounding and infuriating ....

In any event, it's a fascinating subject but I don't believe anyone can say they have a confident idea of why we see certain outcomes.

Again, totally agree. I think that when some answer is stumbled on, even if it's an incomplete but telling part of the puzzle, it'll be something small and seemingly unimportant that everyone, sweep up in the mystery, has overlooked or skipped by...

 

[kula]

I’m sure there are many factors involved, but after being diagnosed, getting treated for h pylori, and learning about the disease, I think that this infection also plays a role in contributing to the high rate of stomach cancer in Asian countries. I still worry about the cancer risk of Asian foods too, but eat in moderation because they are so tasty!

 

[fishboy9320]

I’m sure there are many factors involved, but after being diagnosed, getting treated for h pylori, and learning about the disease, I think that this infection also plays a role in contributing to the high rate of stomach cancer in Asian countries. I still worry about the cancer risk of Asian foods too, but eat in moderation because they are so tasty!

So if they Korea or Japan does use many less chemicals as I believe and thus preservatives that could mean they are at higher risk of their food getting infected by something. Which is kind of a trade off. Japan and south Korea does have one of the most expensive food and they are also the top healthiest.
It could also be the specific chemicals they use, maybe the chemicals they use does cause stomach cancer but it is healthier in some other way meaning it doesn't affect other body tissues like the ones used in the west. Maybe this is why people love japan so much they feel better healthier when they visit and they think it is the culture they like when in fact they just are healthier because of food so they confuse the two.

japan also has very good pollution control technology (air and in water) so their soils may be healthier and their lungs dont have to constantly fight off bad air leading to healthier body.

 

[kula]

So if they Korea or Japan does use many less chemicals as I believe and thus preservatives that could mean they are at higher risk of their food getting infected by something. Which is kind of a trade off. Japan and south Korea does have one of the most expensive food and they are also the top healthiest.
It could also be the specific chemicals they use, maybe the chemicals they use does cause stomach cancer but it is healthier in some other way meaning it doesn't affect other body tissues like the ones used in the west.

japan also has very good pollution control technology (air and in water) so their soils may be healthier and their lungs dont have to constantly fight off bad air leading to healthier body.

Sorry for the confusion, my comment was for hapl808's post about stomach cancer....I tried to quote but it didn't show up. I just wanted to bring up the association between stomach cancer rate and h pylori prevalence in Japan and Korea since he/she mentioned alcohol, smoking, and genetics.

 

[fishboy9320]

I believe this is how the japanese can live so long
its all in how the food they eat is produced from start to finnish. Nothing to do with what they eat or how much.

 

[L'engle]

And mental illness is less

I don't think this is the case. People may be physically healthier due to diet and lifestyle but people I have met from Japan and South Korea are generally very stressed out. These are very success-based cultures and everyone struggles to keep up with expectations and social strictures.

Adopting the diet is probably a good idea, it is very healthy.

 

[hapl808]

I believe this is how the japanese can live so long
its all in how the food they eat is produced from start to finnish. Nothing to do with what they eat or how much.

Very hard to know the reasons for longevity in a country. Culture, food, physical environment, healthcare, etc.

As for food, my personal guess would be a combo of portion size, cleanliness, food quality, etc. Not one element. And they seem to use a surprising amount of preservatives for a country that is very concerned with freshness.