Magic Foods That Extend Lifespan: The Surprising Answer Found by Global Longevity Research
It was already getting dark outside the window.
Steam rose slowly from the miso soup, and next to it was a side dish of simmered beans.
Without giving it any particular thought, I picked up one bean and brought it to my mouth.
To be honest, I wasn't thinking about anything at that moment.
What these beans were made of.
Why they had been eaten since ancient times.
What significance they had for health.
I had never even thought about such things.
I just eat them because they are in front of me.
Simmered beans were just that kind of existence to me.
I don't dislike them.
If they are served, I eat them.
But to be honest, seeing them doesn't make my heart leap.
"Beans again today?"
They were just that kind of side dish.
However, recently, my perspective has changed a little.
The trigger was a single research paper.
As I brought a bean to my mouth, I suddenly thought about it.
Japanese people have been eating beans for a long time.
Natto, tofu, miso, soy sauce, edamame, simmered beans. When I list them like this, I am surprised. Beans are not just a side dish. They become a main dish, a side dish, and even the raw material for seasonings.
The Japanese dining table is supported by beans more than we realize.
Of course, in the past, meat and fish were not as easily available as they are today. Therefore, one could explain that beans were valued as a plant-based protein source.
But is that all there is to it?
There must have been various food ingredients throughout long history. However, beans have continued to occupy an important position in the Japanese diet for hundreds of years.
Could it be that this is not just a coincidence?
There must be a reason why things that have remained at the center of food culture over many years have done so.
Thinking about this, I looked into it and came across an interesting paper.
[What did the paper show?]
In 2004, Darmadi-Blackberry et al. investigated the relationship between diet and lifespan in 785 elderly people in Japan, Greece, Australia, Sweden, and other countries.
Source:
Darmadi-Blackberry I, Wahlqvist ML, Kouris-Blazos A, et al.
"Legumes: the most important dietary predictor of survival in older people of different ethnicities"
Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2004.
This study is part of the FHILL (Food Habits in Later Life) study, which tracked the relationship between what the elderly eat and their subsequent survival rates.
The researchers compared various food groups, including vegetables, fruits, meat, seafood, dairy products, and grains.
As a result, legumes were the food group most strongly associated with survival rates.
Furthermore, for every 20-gram increase in daily legume intake, the risk of death decreased by approximately 7 to 8 percent.
Of course, this study is an observational study.
It does not prove that "eating beans will make you live longer."
However, it is very interesting that as a result of comparing elderly people from various countries around the world, the food that remained as the most significant factor was beans.
[What Surprised Me]
What surprised me was the result itself.
It was not fish.
It was not vegetables.
It was not the superfoods that have been trending lately.
After researchers investigated the link to longevity, the one thing that remained was beans.
To be honest, I had imagined a more flashy answer.
I was thinking of health foods featured on television or expensive supplements.
However, the research papers pointed to foods that Japanese people have been eating for a long time, such as natto, tofu, and miso.
[Thinking About Japanese Cuisine]
After finishing the papers, I thought about Japanese cuisine again.
There is miso soup for breakfast.
Some people eat natto.
Sometimes chilled tofu is served for lunch.
Simmered beans are served as a side dish for dinner.
Thinking further, both soy sauce and miso are made from soybeans.
We tend to think of rice and fish as the main stars of Japanese cuisine.
Of course, that is not wrong.
But looking at it again, Japanese cuisine is surprisingly supported by beans.
Natto.
Tofu.
Miso.
Soy sauce.
Edamame.
Simmered beans.
If even one of these were missing, the Japanese dining table would look quite different.
Thinking about it this way, beans are not just a simple side dish.
They might be one of the foundations that support Japanese cuisine itself.
[Did people in the past know?]
Of course, people in the past did not know about nutritional science.
They were not keeping statistics on mortality rates either.
Even so, over many long years, people continued to choose their food based on experience.
Beans are by no means a flashy ingredient.
They are not a feast, either.
However, they can be a main dish, a side dish, they store well, and if fermented, they become miso or soy sauce.
Before you know it, they have permeated every corner of Japanese food culture.
Perhaps people in the past, even if they could not explain it with numbers, somehow knew the value of beans.
[Implications for us]
Of course, eating only beans will not make you healthy.
Exercise is likely necessary as well.
Sleep is likely necessary as well.
Human connection is also important.
However, this paper taught me one thing.
It is that health is unexpectedly found in modest things.
We tend to look for special health methods.
But the answer that longevity research finally arrived at was food that has been on our tables for a long time.
At dinner that day, I tried eating one more bite of the simmered beans.
It is still not a flashy side dish.
But I see it a little differently than before.
Beans, which I had only thought of as a side dish good for digestion, were actually a leading player in global longevity research.
The answer that researchers around the world spent decades searching for had been on Japanese dining tables all along.
Thinking that, they somehow started to look a little more reliable.
#60s
#RestartingLife
#Health
#Longevity
#Diet
#JapaneseFood
#Natto
#Tofu
#ResearchPaper
#Relearning