Japanese Food Good For Mice, Researchers Say

[Mulboyne]

[floatr][/floatr]MDN: Researchers find Japan's traditional food healthier than Western food
Japanese researchers have found what many in the country have long believed -- that its traditional fish-based, low-fat diet is much healthier than the average American menu and contributes to a longer life...A nutritionist created two menus comprising 21 typical foods from the United States and Japan...Each meal, freeze dried and mixed into powder, was given to eight mice for a period of three weeks, the reports showed. The American menu included hamburgers and fried chicken, while the Japanese menu included sashimi, or raw fish, and rice porridge. The study found that several genes that work to break down cholesterol and fat were 1.5 times more active in the mice which received the Japanese menu as opposed to those fed with American food...The team plans to conduct a similar study on humans at a yet-to-be-set date...more...

[6810]

[6810]

"Japan boasts some of the world's oldest people. Life expectancy for Japanese is 86 years for women and 79 for men, according to Health Ministry figures."

I wonder how this would change once we adjusted for disproportionate numbers of youth to elderly?

The effects of the penetration of the "unhealthy" "American" in the Japanese diet probably won't materialise for another 20 years... so stick around!

[Mulboyne]

...American or "Western" food really is just about anything isn't it...And what's more, fewer Japanese actually eat "traditional" Japanese food anymore as their diet consists of higher proportions of beef and pork as well as pre prepared instant and frozen foods high in fat and other calories.

There is an obvious agenda here - the article says as much when it connects this research to concern about child obesity - but I'm not sure that they have been as simplistic as you think:

The Tohoku University team used data from the Japanese government's nutrition survey and the USDA Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals to make a typical menu for the study.