The Secrets to Okinawan Longevity

[Guest guest]

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/GMA/GoodMorningAmerica/010611_gma_okinawa.html

Everyone wants to know how to live as long as possible and how to have the good

health to enjoy it. Whenever we meet

especially long-lived individuals, we always ask about their secrets of

longevity and healthy aging, unfortunately, the

answers they give are totally inconsistent, from daily walks to daily cigars.

 

We are also fascinated by reports of societies in remote parts of the earth that

boast of unusual numbers of healthy old

people. Most of the reports turn out to be groundless. One that may not concerns

the islands of Okinawa, formerly the

Kingdom of the Ryukyus, now a prefecture of Japan. In the West, Okinawa is known

as the only Japanese home territory on

which the Second World War was fought — the battle of Okinawa was one of the

longest and bloodiest of the war — and as

the site of American military bases. Okinawans, particularly older Okinawans,

have experienced unusual social turmoil in

their lives.

 

Nonetheless there are more centenarians there than anywhere else in the world,

and the Okinawan population enjoys much

greater health and longevity than other Japanese. And the Japanese have the best

health and greatest longevity on the

planet. Moreover, thanks to meticulous keeping of birth and health records in

the islands, there is no doubt about the

veracity of claims to longevity, as there is in other regions that have been

promoted as conducive to long life.

 

The fundamental question to be asked about this population is how much of the

good health and longevity is genetic and

how much is environmental. It is impossible to answer it definitively, but I am

inclined to think Genetic factors are

not the major cause. I say that because research on aging is generally

demonstrating the overwhelming influence of such

lifestyle factors as regular physical activity and social connectedness. Also

younger Okinawans, who are abandoning

traditional ways in favor of those of contemporary Japan and America, are

beginning to show the expected declines in

health and growing incidence of Western disease.

 

I have made many trips to Japan over the past forty years, but I have been to

Okinawa only once, in November of 1999,

when I went to the main island to lecture, meet local shamans and healthy

oldsters, and get a little sense of cultural,

especially dietary, differences from the rest of Japan. On that occasion I met

the authors of this book and first

learned about their research project on successful aging. My experiences during

that brief visit left me eager to

return, to see more of the islands and its remarkable people, and to learn more

about what Drs. Willcox and Suzuki call

" the Okinawa way to everlasting health. " At first meeting Okinawans seem

different — both from Westerners and from other

Japanese. They look different, have quite different customs, and eat very

different foods, including a great deal of

bitter melon and turmeric tea, for example. But, as you will learn in this

scientifically factual and highly readable

book, the general principles of living the Okinawa way are not foreign. Indeed,

they are highly accessible to everyone

and quite consistent with the latest medical research on healthy lifestyles and

healthy aging. They include getting

lifelong, regular physical activity, eating a mostly plant-based diet that

includes fish and soy foods with a great

variety of vegetables and moderate amounts of the right kinds of fat, and

enjoying strong social and community support

as well as a sense of independence and self-responsibility for health.

 

This book is not about magic potions or age-erasing supplements. It is a

realistic, very thorough look at a remarkable

society that has mostly escaped notice by Western medical researchers. I

congratulate the authors on doing such an

excellent job of introducing the health-promoting culture of Okinawa to Western

readers. I look forward to learning

about more of the findings of their ongoing research. In reading the book, I was

happy to discover that I already

practice many of the Okinawans' " secrets " of health and longevity. I am highly

motivated to include more of them in my

own life. Tucson, Arizona January 2001

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Good health & long life,

Greg Watson,

http://optimalhealth.cia.com.au