Talk:Okinawa diet

"The typical Okinawan reaching 110 years of age has had a diet consistently averaging no more than one calorie per gram" So if I weigh 60k I can eat 60,000 calories??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Turgonml (talk • contribs) 18:18, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

It means 1 gram of food, not 1 gram of your weight. --74.137.224.33 (talk) 19:45, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

references

need fixing. some are doubled... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.80.119.92 (talk) 08:08, 7 August 2008 (UTC)

If Okinawans don't eat meat, why is it known as "The Island of Pork"? The references are a little wonky and may be referring to a diet plan and the justifications (however good or bad they may be) for its structure rather than the actual diet of Okinawans, and maybe a distinction should be made. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.193.155.91 (talk) 13:32, 8 August 2009 (UTC)

There's nothing in those references that says the fat is boiled off. This sounds like it was written by someone who thinks that fat is bad for them. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.204.36.48 (talk) 23:10, 21 September 2010 (UTC)

On Okinawan meat eating: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okinawan_cuisine, http://www.bento.com/okimenu.html, http://www.helium.com/items/329291-a-guide-to-okinawan-cuisine, http://www.japanupdate.com/?id=6715 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.193.155.91 (talk) 13:42, 8 August 2009 (UTC)

"Half a serving per day". Although certain people love using "serving", but the rest of the world may not understand the concept (which can mean anything, depending on the foodstuff). Perhaps a more concrete amounts could be used here instead? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.167.226.189 (talk) 06:53, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Fixed the content, added some sources, and removed an inaccesible one. It did indeed sound like this article was written by someone who thinks fat is bad for you. Someday people will learn the truth. Anyway, the fact remains, despite "science", that Okinawans eat lots of fat and stay healthy. Just because "science" says it's bad for you doesn't change that fact. Also, I lived in China for two months, and never ate so much meat in my life. Just thought I would throw all this in. Shicoco (talk) 00:39, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

Reversion

I reverted the article to a previous version for a couple of reasons. First, it had many contradictions. The article states that this diet is a low-calorie diet and has only 75% of the grains of the typical Japanese diet, yet the new material stated that the vast majority of their calories came from carbs. Were this true, it would not be a low-calorie diet. Also, the only reference added by the previous version is biased and starts with the conclusion, and does not support all the facts in the previous version. Okinawa is known as "The Island of Pork", and those who have been there will attest to the fact that they have a very high-fat diet. Shicoco (talk) 19:16, 14 November 2011 (UTC)

The statement that the majority of their calories came from carbs is supported by Willcox (2007) and by Willcox (2009), both of these sources say that the diet is 85% carbohydrate based. Why is it impossible for a high-carb diet to be a low-calorie diet at the same time? The primary source of calories is the sweet potato, which only has 1 calorie/gram or even less (nutritiondata.com quotes boiled sweet potato as having 0.76 calories/gram). It is quite difficult for a human being to eat much more than 2 kg/day of food. Low energy density of sweet potato is what makes the Okinawa diet "work" - that's what makes it low-calorie despite being high-carb.

The reference to ci.nii.ac.jp, which was in the article before I got here, quoted consumption of pork on the island in 1979 as less than half of consumption of pork in the United States today, and less than one tenth of total meat consumption in the United States. I've never been to Okinawa but the source seems credible to me.

If you have any sources that give hard numbers with regard to consumption of pork or fat, let's see them. All we have in the article and its references right now is vague statements.--Itinerant1 (talk) 11:00, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

P.S. The statement that the traditional Okinawa diet has 75% of the grains of the Japanese diet seemed questionable to me. Willcox (2007) reports the following figures for Okinawa and Japan in 1949/50:

Okinawa: 192 g grains, 965 g of vegetables, and 3 g of meat per day

Japan: 481 g of grains, 301 g of vegetables, and 11 g of meat per day

Clearly these numbers are in conflict with the claim of "75% of the grains". But that claim may have been made with regard to the contemporary rather than traditional Okinawa diet, and I couldn't check the original source cited.--Itinerant1 (talk) 11:08, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

Even if you think that Willcox is biased, here's an article by an unrelated author dated 2001. Apparently Okinawans love their pigs, and they often eat them on holidays, but their _everyday_ diet is still very-high-carbohydrate: for teachers and public officials, this article reports the dietary composition of 42 g of protein, 4 g of fat, and 546 g of carbohydrates per day. --Itinerant1 (talk) 12:01, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

The arguments here make no sense. A diet being high-carb and being low-calorie is not mutually exclusive. Someone seems to be thinking calorie and carb are interchangeable. Sounds like paleo-nutjob thinking to me. Even if the diet were all carbs it could be low calorie provided they ate few calories.

Decline in life expectancy

More recent "An Age of Centenarians? Lifelong Learning Policies and Ageing" http://ghrforum.org/design/ko/pdf/(TA-4)PETER_JARVIS.pdf) slide 18:

The Reality:

• But by 2005 changes were taking place amongst the Okinawans – some 100,000 emigrated to Brazil and they immediately assumed a Brazilian diet and the life expectancy of these Okinawans is now 17 years lower than that previously in Okinawa –
• but things are also changing in Okinawa too: the younger generation have discovered fast food and men under 50 in Okinawa now have Japan's highest rates of obesity, heart disease and premature death (Wiseman, 2008 [2002]).

--Gwern (contribs) 23:14 29 December 2011 (GMT)