Quote:
Originally Posted by Mudder
Again I ask, have you been to Okinawa to actually see for yourself? Are the people there as mentally healthy and happy as we here in The Vilages are. In today's world a study done ten years ago is already outdated. All the studies are good and moslty valid, but until you see the reality of it all, it's just facts and figures on a page.
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No, I have not been to Okinawa to see for myself. When we are compared with a group somewhere in the U.S., will you go there to see for yourself? What will you see? Will you go door to door asking people if they took part in the survey? Will you demand to know how long ago the survey was done? Will you tell Dr. Peterson that it's no good unless it's a fresh survey?
If you are really interested in learning about it, I would suggest reading the book. It was based on a 25 year study and I think there is an updated version. It may still be ongoing for all I know. I'm in a "NIH AARP Diet And Health Study" and it's been ongoing since 1995. It started with 500,000 of us and will keep going as long as we are still living.
There are other good long term studies that are more recent and we could be compared to them as well. One is The China Study which went on for over 20 years. I haven't been there either. I believe it was funded by the NIH.
The problem with comparing studies in the U.S. is that there are no significant differences between one city and another or one small town and another. We have all moved around so much that we are culturally homogeneous. We all watch the same TV programs, see the same movies, eat the same foods at home, go to the same chain restaurants etc.. If it's a retirement community, they will have club houses, golf, tennis, baseball etc..
What if we are slightly better in one way but slightly worse in another? What if we are slightly better in every way or slightly worse in every way? What will we make of it? If they are slightly worse, will we think it's because they're not having enough fun? If we are slightly worse, will we think it's because we have poorer eating habits or because we don't exercise enough? When people record what they eat, for example, it's all based on their best recollection. So if there's not much difference between one town and another, I think it will be difficult to make much out of it. That's my opinion.
P.S. Yes, it would be outdated in some respects but what I had in mind would require that they (Okinawans) take the exact same survey that we took.