rss feedExperts: Tofu might be a key to longer life
Eating soybean cake on a regular basis as part of a balanced meal might actually help extend a person’s age, experts believe.
In a June 7 article in The Sunday Times, author Michael Booth wrote about traveling to Okinawa to investigate why so many residents of this group of Japanese islands are living to at least 100 years old.
That number is estimated to be more than 800 people, he said.
On Okinawa, Booth quoted Craig Willcox, a Canadian gerontologist and medical anthropologist who has studied the residents and their health.
Among many factors, Willcox gives the nod to soybean cake as contributing to better health for Okinawans. “They have lower cholesterol and suffer less from heart disease, arteriosclerosis and many cancers,” he told Booth.
Then, Willcox listed a typical diet for an island resident:
Plenty of fish, whole grains, vegetables and soy products….They eat more kombu (a type of seaweed), kelp and tofu than anyone else in the world, and lots of squid and octopus.
Other factors on Okinawa, Booth noted, that help residents live longer include exercise, strong spirituality, solid social networks and a less stressed outlook toward time.
Last year, author Dan Buettner told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that bean curd, which is low in calories, is beneficial to people.
“Tofu is probably the best longevity food ever invented,” he told writer Randy Salas.
I know American eyeballs roll when you say ‘tofu.’ But tofu is very high in protein, very low in fat, full of minerals and has all of the amino acids necessary for human sustenance….It can also help keep your skin looking younger longer.
Buettner is the author of The Blue Zone, a book about longevity. He examined areas in the world, including Okinawa, in which people have long lives.
One diet lesson that Booth learned after visiting Okinawa: “I now eat more fish, more vegetables and as much seaweed and tofu as I can.”
To learn more, one place to visit is the Web site of the Okinawa Research Center for Longevity Science.
These reports are certainly worth investigating. I should say it’s probably best to read as much as possible about this topic and talk with as many doctors and researchers about it.
But if tofu does help contribute to a longer life, then Liu An, the Chinese man who reportedly helped invent the food might not have been too far off in his goal of finding a long-life medicine.
As the story is told in China, he instructed his assistants back in 164 BC to find such a medicine. Why?
He believed in Daoism (Taoism) and wanted to live longer. But instead of making medicine, his assistants created tofu – by accident.
