Okinawans Have Highest Percentages Of CentenariansDr Bradley Wilcox from the Pacific Health research Institute spent ten years studying the long-lived people on the Japanese Island of Okinawa. He describes Okinawa residents as having a diet higher in water and fibre content, and lower in fat. And he names foods - they're big for vegetables, fish, boiled lean meat ... and they drink a lot of green jasmine tea. He also cites the effect of World War II on the populace, all of the elderly have had to learn to deal with the grief of lossed loved ones. These elderly folks of Okinawa are healthy and active, not doddering old folks. The studies encompass physical and psychological testing as well as life histories of more than 800 centenarians. If finds that they balance diet, exercise, and psychological factors with a beneficient heredity. Depression and isolation leads to major problems among many elderly in other societies, but in Okinawa these old folks have a positive outlook, and have learned to cope with the problems of life. The most significant factor is probably the relatively low-calorie diet they eat. While they typically eat as much food as a Westerner, it is higher in water and fiber content and lower in calories. In fact, Dr. Wilcox notes in his book The Okinawa Way that younger people who emigrate from Okinawa to other countries and adopt the diets of those countries, also tend to have the lower life-expectancies typical of those countries. |
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