Food Glorious Food

Food Glorious food
We're anxious to try it
Three banquets a day
Our favorite diet

From the musical "Oliver!" Written and composed by Lionel Bart (1930-1999)

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I have three recent stories that I think might be worth sharing.  The theme is "food":

How the Japanese Diet Became the Japanese Diet
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/food-matters/how-the-japanese-diet-became-the-japanese-diet/

I feel the need to quibble a bit about this article. The idea that Japan completely "transformed its diet" after World War II is a little bit hyperbolic. Sushi dates back more than a thousand years; the form of sushi we see today dates back to the mid 19th century. Miso goes back into pre-history. Deep frying became common more than 400 years ago ("tempura" comes from "tempora," Latin for "time periods"; for religious reasons, the Portuguese avoided meat during Lent and on Fridays). 

Yes, the author clearly shows that modern Japanese cuisine is very different from what existed before World War II, but I'm not quite sold on the idea that there's been a wholesale reshaping.

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Why spicy food may be the secret to a longer life
http://www.livescience.com/51743-spicy-food-linked-with-longer-life.html; 
http://mashable.com/2015/08/05/spicy-food-longer-life/#kvg2mcbWYPqn

Recent research in China seems to show that eating spicy food may lead "to a slightly lower risk of an earlier death." 

There are problems with the study. I don't know what they mean by "spicy." This is a self-reported study (which means you're trusting people's memories). And the authors do make it clear that this was an observational study, not one that looks for a causal relationship.

Still, it did involve 500,000 people over a period of seven years, and that's pretty impressive. Pass the Sriracha!

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Are we what we eat? Evidence of vegetarian diet permanently shaping human genome to change individual risk of cancer, heart disease https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160329184939.htm; http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/03/09/molbev.msw049.full.pdf+html


This is moderately cutting-edge stuff. What it boils down to, is the idea that people who, for generations, have eaten a vegetarian diet, have acquired a mutation that makes it crucial for them to eat diets rich in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. If they don't -- if they start eating meat or even just an unbalanced diet -- they run an increased risk of heart disease and colon cancer.

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That's it for now. Hope you find these interesting!