The Magic Food That Extends Life: What the Latest Research Shows
While preparing dinner, I found a block of firm tofu left in the back of the refrigerator.
This will do for tonight, I thought.
With that in mind, I heated up a pack of barley rice in the microwave.
I placed half the block of firm tofu, well-drained, on top.
I drizzled it with dashi soy sauce and added a tiny pinch of Ajinomoto.
If you like, adding white sesame seeds, shredded nori, and Japanese ginger makes it taste even better and balances the nutrition.
On a hot day, this is just right.
It is not flashy.
However, there is a strange sense of comfort in this bowl.
Looking at that tofu, I remembered an article I had written before.
The Magic Food That Extends Life.
In that article, I introduced a study published in 2004 which showed that legumes were the food most strongly associated with longevity.
After I finished writing it, I suddenly wondered.
It has been over twenty years since then.
What has happened with the research since?
How Have the Papers Evolved?
Health information changes quickly.
It is not rare for a food that was said to be good for you yesterday to be re-evaluated a few years later.
So, I looked for a follow-up to that paper.
Then, in 2023, I came across a large-scale review paper.
Source
Zargarzadeh N, Mousavi SM, Santos HO, Aune D, Hasani-Ranjbar S, Larijani B, Esmaillzadeh A.
Legume Consumption and Risk of All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality: A Systematic Review and Dose–Response Meta-Analysis of Prospective Studies
Advances in Nutrition.
2023;14(1):64-76.
DOI: 10.1016/j.advnut.2022.10.009
(Published on PubMed)
Authority of this paper
This study is a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis.
In medicine, this method of integrating and analyzing multiple high-quality studies is considered one of the research designs with the highest level of evidence.
The analysis covers:
32 prospective cohort studies
1,141,793 individuals
93,373 deaths
which is an extremely large scale.
What the paper showed
The authors report:
“Individuals with high legume consumption had a lower risk of all-cause and stroke mortality compared to those with low consumption.”
They report this.
Furthermore,
“An additional 50g of legume intake per day was associated with an approximately 6% lower risk of all-cause mortality.”
This result was also demonstrated.
On the other hand,
No significant association was confirmed regarding cardiovascular disease mortality, coronary heart disease mortality, or cancer mortality.
The conclusion of the paper is also cautious,
"The certainty of evidence was judged from low to moderate."
(The certainty of the evidence was evaluated as low to moderate.)
as it states.
I felt favorably toward this sentence.
Health information tends to become assertive all too easily.
However, researchers properly distinguish between what is known and what is not yet known.
This is what science is supposed to be.
[The paper from 20 years ago was not wrong]
In the 2004 FHILL study,
the more legumes elderly people ate—20g more per day—the higher their survival rate was.
And now, 2023.
The number of subjects has expanded significantly from 785 to 1.14 million.
Of course, since the research methods are also different, the numbers cannot be simply compared.
Even so,
even after twenty years, research supporting legumes has continued to accumulate.
This was the most impressive part to me.
Health information is replaced one after another.
However, there are not many foods that have been studied for twenty years without their reputation being significantly undermined.
Perhaps this is what a truly valuable food is.
[Implications for us]
After writing the previous article,
I wondered, "Are beans really a magic food?"
What I realized after re-examining it this time is,
it wasn't studied continuously because it was magic.
It is plain, but its reputation has not been significantly undermined even after decades.
That is where its value lies.
Of course, eating only beans will not make you healthy.
Exercise is also necessary.
Sleep is also necessary.
Connection with others is also essential.
Even so, I have come to think that,
health is not about continuing to search for something special,
but about continuing to eat what has been eaten as a matter of course since long ago.
I have come to think that it is the accumulation of that.
Beans have been on our dining tables for a long time.
They are not flashy.
That is why we overlook them.
However, even after twenty years, its value has not faded.
Today, I think I will have tofu on my rice again.
It is delicious, satisfying, and healthy, so I truly believe there is no better meal than this.
Today's Takeaway
A truly valuable health practice does not fade even after twenty years.
#60s
#LifeReignited
#Health
#HealthyLifespan
#Diet
#JapaneseFood
#Tofu
#Legumes
#ResearchPaper
#Learning
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[Another Challenge Started in My 60s]
As part of reigniting my life, I am also working on writing novels.
I am currently publishing a legendary mystery novel on TALES.
It is a slightly different world from note, but this is also an important creative activity for me.
If you are interested, please take a look.
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