How to Acquire 'Food Literacy' to Survive Healthily in Japan, a 'Processed Food Superpower'? Part 5

This is a summary article of the video (full version) by Tsukasa Abe, a former top salesman for food additives.

A portion of Tsukasa Abe's webinar is available to watch on YouTube✨

This is the final chapter of the five-part series.

Please refer to the previous articles below↓

When Mr. Abe was talking about school lunches with a nutritionist...

"We add oil to the rice because it lacks calories."

or

"We switch to soft processed foods because the children leave leftovers."

or

He was surprised to hear such things.

If you try to strictly adhere to nutritional science, it inevitably ends up that way💦

Because you have to go by calories, and because there aren't enough calories...

Indeed, I just saw people around me choosing what to eat from restaurant menus based on calories...

In Japan, additive labeling, nutritional science, food processing technology, and laws are unable to keep up with the development of processed foods in today's society😓

The rest of the world is cautious about the three brothers of overconsumption: oil, salt, and sugar...

"Banning commercials after X o'clock"

or

"imposing taxes", but Japan just lets it happen without any regulations💦

Certainly, that was fine for Japan in the past🇯🇵

Because the additives taken from processed foods were not a big deal...

However, with processed foods increasing this much, and the three brothers of overconsumption also increasing😓
And with cases of atopic dermatitis of unknown origin continuing to rise...

It reached the point of, "Isn't this dangerous?"

Regarding thoughts on macrobiotics, veganism, and new nutritional science,
what is Mr. Abe's answer to the question of whether it is good to practice them?

"Is it really necessary to be so extreme?"

"What about the joy of eating or the stress involved?"

"I end up worrying about unnecessary things."

That is what he says...

The "Hifumi Principle" advocated by Mr. Abe, who is basically an "omnivore"

Hi: Non-traditional
Fu: Unnatural
Mi: Inexperienced

Let's avoid non-traditional things and unnatural things that never rot!

What about something where just an ear-pick's worth has the same sweetness as a kilogram of sugar?

It might be inexperienced, and these artificial sweeteners might have zero calories, but...

Let's avoid things we have no history of eating!

That is his stance...

There is a history of approval and deletion for additives.

Flavorings that had been used for a long time are suddenly banned...

60 chemically synthesized items have been banned💦

There were 24 synthetic food colorings, but half were deleted, and now there are 12.

The reason why so many are approved is...

Because we have to bring things in from all over the world,

and since Japan is an importing country in particular, we need to standardize them.

" Cooking Japanese food at home " recommended by Mr. Abe 🍚

Japanese food has a history of over 1,000 years, and it is something our ancestors have guaranteed the safety of.

However, even with Japanese food, if you don't have knowledge of additives, you will end up taking in large amounts of additives without knowing it, so be careful.


It is impossible to live in Japan today without consuming any processed foods (additives), but...

It is best to understand the benefits and risks of additives and get along with them well.

Health is deeply related not only to the body but also to the richness of the heart and the richness of human relationships, and it is also important to spend enjoyable time with family and close friends 🍀

There are about 1,500 additives approved in Japan when counted by group name😓

If you count by substance name, there are about 5,000...

The US has a high number of registered additives, but it seems Japan has an overwhelmingly higher number in actual use💦


Since Japan is an importing country and many people are busy, will the number of additives continue to increase???

Living in Japan, where regulations are looser and risks are higher than in other countries, how is the food that enters our mouths actually made?

It seems like a good idea to have some level of knowledge about processed foods (additives).

End