A visit to the "longevity village" of Japan
I'm writing this week from an island home to the "longevity village": Ogimi, Okinawa. Have they found the secret to the "fountain of youth" in their diet and sense of purpose?
I traveled from mainland Japan to Okinawa first by plane, landing in Naha, and then by taxi driving an hour north into the most heavily forested part of the island. I’m here to learn more about the plants, people, and health traditions that keep such a high percentage of the local population alive and in good health into their 90’s and even 100’s! Others have written about this community, using different lenses to understanding the path to longevity:
Rob Goss wrote a great piece in National Geographic Magazine in 2020 focusing on the ties between resilience and longevity in, “This island unlocked the secret to long life—and knows how to get through tough times”
Dan Buettner has written about Ogimi (Okinawa) and other “Blue Zones” in a series of books of the same name theme which focus on diet and lifestyle, such as The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest, Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way, The Blue Zones Solution: Eating and Living Like the World’s Healthiest People, and The Blue Zones of Happiness. I actually had a lovely meeting with one of the elder women (now aged 96) who inspired a few recipes in his book, The Blue Zones Kitchen: 100 Recipes to Live to 100.
Héctor García and Francesc Miralles wrote about the Japanese concept of Ikigai (keeping your hands busy/having purpose in life) from a psychological perspective, and their book was informed by a visit to Ogimi: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Healthy Life.
Others have taken a scientific approach to investigating the unusually high lifespan here. For example, Paul Cox and James Metcalf undertook an ethnobotanical survey of potentially neuroprotective L-serine rich foods consumed in the Ogimi diet in their paper: Traditional Food Items in Ogimi, Okinawa: l-Serine Content and the Potential for Neuroprotection.
Most notably, The Okinawa Centenarian Study (OCS) has evaluated the health behaviors and outcomes of more than 1,000 centenarians on the island since 1975. The goal of the OCS is described thus:
The OCS looks for underlying commonalities in their diets, exercise habits, genetics, psychological and spiritual practices, and social and behavioral patterns. By studying exceptionally-aged individuals in a multidisciplinary biological, social, and cultural context, the OCS seeks insight into processes promoting disease prevention and healthy life extension.
One of the key underlying factors thought to contribute to longevity in Okinawa, and especially in Ogimi, is the diet. It is rich in complex carbohydrates, fruit and vegetables, and fish. But, there are other components, such as green tea and a tart local citrus (Citrus depressa, locally known as shikuwasa, pronounced she-ku-wah-sah) that is also important. Shikuwasa juice contributes high levels of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory molecules to the diet.
You asked, here are the answers!
I sent out a request to paid subscribers to send me questions in the chat thread of Nature’s Pharmacy. Here are their questions, and my somewhat surprising answers about food traditions in the village!
Send me more suggestions and questions please in the chat thread or comments below. I’ll try to get to them during my visit to Ogimi this week.
Question from Tom: My understanding is that the Okinawan diet is almost entirely plant based, but I wonder what plants.
The diet is mainly plant based—heavy in sweet potatoes, bamboo (wild harvested), and cultivated vegetables. I checked out several home gardens and found that in addition to sweet potatoes, they grow bananas, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, and soybeans. Tofu is a staple as well. They do eat a good amount of fish, but what surprised me the most was the local love for pork dishes! That caught me completely by surprise because based on my reading of features in the above listed books (especially by Buettner), I don’t recall him ever mentioning pork (though I could be wrong). I know that spam was introduced by US military servicemen in the region, and that is a more recent addition, but the reliance on pork, and especially wild boar caught in the forest was fascinating! Popular pork dishes include pork on the bone in broth based dishes, usually with vegetables and sometimes noodles (e.g. udon). They also like pork steamed and fried. I’m staying with family on their farm in the village, and the grandfather has at least 20 wild boar he has captured or bred from held in large pens. He feeds them vegetable scraps and they are used to feed his family and their visitors. I’ve enjoyed many of lovely meal with the family and their neighbors that feature pork, fish, and various vegetable dishes. They also eat mixed grains in their rice.
To be honest, this gave me some hope. We don’t have to have a perfect vegan only diet to achieve longevity. It’s more complex than that, of course, and there is some room for the occasional fatty meat dish. The elders I spoke to who don’t have a farm or pen of their own boar eat pork once or twice a week, mainly due to its expense limiting how often they eat it. One women in her late 90’s reported that this has always been a common dish, even in her childhood; she also enjoyed chicken.
Question from Vic: Hi Cassandra, ask which wild plants were commonly eaten and how many different wild species could they estimate were eaten annually.
I’ve been surprised by the relatively few wild plants that locals seem to be eating. Granted, this is based on just a few interviews completed thus far, but I’m not seeing nearly as many reports as I’d typically expect. The main ones that have come out so far include a fungus whose local name translates to “fungus on dead tree that looks like a jellyfish”, bamboo shoots, wild plums, and hibiscus flowers (used to color water as an infusion, and then Citrus deliciosa juice is added in). They do enjoy a tea made from cinnamon leaves (not sure on the ID of the species yet), but this is cultivated. I’ll keep asking and will provide an update on my next post!
Yours in health, Dr. Quave
Cassandra L. Quave, Ph.D. is a scientist, author, speaker, podcast host, wife, mother, explorer, and professor at Emory University School of Medicine. She teaches college courses and leads a group of research scientists studying medicinal plants to find new life-saving drugs from nature. She hosts the Foodie Pharmacology podcast and writes the Nature’s Pharmacy newsletter to share the science behind natural medicines. To support her effort, consider a paid or founding subscription, with founding members receiving an autographed 1st edition hardcover copy of her book, The Plant Hunter.