Speaker 1 (00:08):
The shocking reasons why the Japanese live so long. According to the 2022 World Health Statistics published by the WHO, the country with the longest life expectancy is way for it. No, not Japan. Endora, a tiny country between Spain and France, a lifespan of 84.5 years, but Japan is right behind with an average life expectancy of 84 years. Now, in comparison, the life expectancy of an American is 76.5 years. We’re ranked 40th of all countries. Now, here’s another interesting fact. In April of this year, Japanese resident Kane Takanta. One of the oldest living people in history died at the ripe old age of 120. And as you may know, the city of Okinawa, Japan is one of the world’s five blue zones, which means they have some of the longest living people in the world, at least they used to. They also have some of the lowest risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer, and other major diseases linked to aging.

(01:36):
So how do they pull this off? Well, the people in Japan in general are doing a lot of things right when it comes to their health. For starters, the Japanese stay active. In the town of Metsumoto, officials have developed a network of more than 100 walking routes to encourage people to exercise. Community groups and neighborhood associations organize communal walks. Even in winter, clusters of residents can be found regularly walking along Matsumuto streets, parks, and canals, and around its historic medieval castle downtown. Everyday life in Japan involves more commuting by public transport than by car, meaning that there is more daily exercise in Japan than, for instance, in the US. Interestingly enough, statistics show that people who live in large cities, busy cities, who rely more on public transportation actually are fitter and walk far much more than people living in the suburbs, and that’s particularly true in the United States.

(02:56):
Now, there are health benefits for walking that we’ve talked about at Infanato. You can pick up all the health benefits of walking by watching our episode with Shane Omara, a walking expert. How to get more walking in your life? It sounds silly, but get a dog. Uh, dogs make you take them for a walk at least once and preferably twice a day. We’ve recently had some rather impressive rainstorms here in Southern California, uh, but that did not deter my dogs and I and my wife, Penny, from putting in their requisite two miles walking in the rain. Uh, we got soaking wet, they got soaking wet, and everybody had a good time. So don’t let bad weather be an excuse. If you live in Seattle and Portland, you know what I’m talking about in terms of rain and bad weather. Now, the Japanese also have a very interesting sense and value of belonging.

(04:05):
They actually have lots of collective opinions and decision making, even in the factory floor. There’s less of a hierarchy among workers in Japan, and they ignore this hierarchy by having social interactions at all levels of society, something that unfortunately doesn’t happen in an industrial society like ours. It gives them, we think, and they think, a much more bigger sense of belongingness to society as a whole. Interestingly enough, in Japan, there’s still a very strong tradition of commitment to a single company, uh, throughout your lifetime. Whereas here in the United States, that used to be true maybe 50 years ago, but now people change jobs at a moment’s notice. So this lack of commitment to even a job is very different in the United States than it is in Japan. Check out episode 145 with Marta Zaraska, where we talk about how loneliness can impact your health.

(05:20):
So what can you do from learning from the Japanese? Well, getting back to point one, walk with friends and neighbors. Walk with a dog. It is amazing how you become friendly with other people, and you stop while the dogs sniff each other, and you chat with that dog walker. Second thing, volunteer. I can’t say this enough. Volunteering is one of the best ways to establish social connections, and there’s a very strong, longevity connection to volunteering. Join a club. Uh, it’s time to get back to the exercise classes, and I don’t have to say this enough having just completed the holiday season. Spend some more time with friends and family. Any connection that you wanna have, uh, that’s gonna benefit you in terms of loneliness. Now, similarly, the Japanese culture values another concept called ekaji, and it refers to something that gives a person a sense of purpose or a reason for living.

(06:31):
Interestingly, the Japanese retire at a very old age if they retire at all. And when they retire, they find meaningful work to do into old age. They’re much more purpose driven, though they may have a different word for it, ekagi or having a purpose in life, it’s a strong uniting link among the blue zones. So how do you find your ecagi? You need to find something that ticks these four boxes. Number one, passion. You gotta do what you love. Vocation. What you are good at. Mission, what the world needs, and you gotta have a profession. What you get paid or rewarded for. My ikaji is exactly what I’m doing right now, providing people like you with the tools they need to live their happiest, longest life. And I’ll tell you from my patient population, and I’ve said this over and over again, please do not retire.

(07:41):
I can’t tell you the number of times I see men and now women who leave their workforce often early, thinking that this is the greatest thing that ever happened to them. They’ve saved enough to go and retire. And I see just an inevitable downward spiral. So if you’re going to retire, then start your next career, start your next volunteering work, start some new passion or hobby, because otherwise, things are not gonna go well for you. Last on the list, but certainly not the least is the Japanese diet. Some of the interesting things of ancient Japan, like Okinawa prior to World War II, when the Okinawan diet was actually studied, they a lot less saturated fats and a lot more f- healthy fats, and they didn’t really have much red meat. Now, unfortunately, the Japanese diet is now rapidly catching up with the Western diet, the American diet.

(08:49):
They eat more fermented foods. Recently, I came back from the Paris Microbiome meeting where I heard a fascinating study looking at the microbiome of the Japanese that is activated by components of seaweed, and they produce compounds that tell the Japanese that they’re full. And that’s a really important concept. Now, the Japanese diet have an expression of stopping eating when you’re 80% full, and it’s called harachiboo. But this research suggests that it’s not a conscious decision that they’re stopping when they’re 80% full, but it’s actually their gut microbiome eating seaweed, making compounds that actually tell their host that they’re full. And I think that’s a really important concept that I’ve talked about in previous books, and I’m really expanding on that in my upcoming book. Now, green tea, the Japanese drink a lot of green tea. They don’t put milk in it or other compounds that will stop the effect of polyphenols.

(10:13):
And as most of you know from unlocking the keto code, one of the keys to longevity and being thin is the amount of polyphenols in their diet. Now, the Japanese diet is very similar in many ways to the Mediterranean diet and other blue zone diets, but the similarity is actually in the high polyphenol content of their diet. For instance, the ancient Okinawans, 85% of their calories was from a purple sweet potato, and the purple is caused by the anthocyanins of polyphenol in that sweet potato. And oh, by the way, the Okinawans do not eat rice. They don’t eat beans. If they have soybeans, it’s fermented miso. If they do have a little bit of rice, it’s white rice, not brown rice, but that’s an infinitesimal part of their diet. But what’s interesting about the Okinawan diet is their love of spicy greens, and those spicy greens are the other source of polyphenols.

(11:26):
So if you wanna eat like an Okinawan, get yourself purple sweet potatoes there in most grocery stores now, and look for polyphenols whenever you can. What is surprising about the Japanese diet is that studies a number of years ago showed that when people of Japanese descent move from Japan to Hawaii and subsequently moved from Hawaii to the United States, the people who made it to Hawaii already started dropping their life expectancy compared to relatives who stayed in Japan. And if they moved all the way to the United States, their life expectancy rapidly approached those of us living in the United States, which shows that it’s the diet rather than your genes that actually has the effect on longevity that we’re all looking for. Okay, so why not try taking some of these Japanese secrets and applying them to your own life?

Speaker 2 (12:37):
I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Dr. Gundry Podcast. If you did, please share this with family and friends. You never know how one of these health tips can completely transform someone’s life when you take the time to share it with them. There’s also the Dr. Gundry Podcast YouTube channel, where we have tens of thousands of free health insights that can help you and your loved ones live a long, vital life. Let’s do this together.