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Originally Posted by Villages PL
That's a good point, quirky, but they don't eat just rice. The Okinawa food pyramid states: Rice, Noodles, Breads, and other Whole Grains, 7 to 13 servings per day.
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Okinawans also eat a large quantity of fatty fish and eggs. Also the grains that we have in this country have not only been genetically modified in recent years, but food scientists have been cross pollenating and modifying our grains for fifty years. I don't know if that's the case in Okinawa. Also, many of the noodles that are eaten in Japan are rice noodles.
What is also of concern is the amount of hidden sugar and grains in our foods. There are over 600,000 processed food products sold in the US and over 80% of them contain corn syrup. many also contain corn starch and gluten under different names. I don't know if this is the case in Okinawa.
There are also many, many other factors to be considered when looking at something like this. We're taking a very small area of the world that has moderate temperatures year round. The climate of Okinawa is similar to Florida. The air quality is very good compared to most places. Comparing Okinawa to the US is silly. We have many varying climates and we have some very bad air pollution in our most populated areas. We also have a lot of conveniences that a lot of people on a small island in Japan may not have which means that they might get a lot more exercise than the "average" American. And who knows, maybe if those Okinawan elders eliminated or reduced all those grains in their diet, they might even live longer?