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Japanese Root & Tea Diet

Jun 14, 2011 | By Milo Dakota
Japanese Root & Tea Diet
Photo Credit Barry Wong/Photodisc/Getty Images

Japanese live longer than anyone else on the planet, according to the World Health Organization. Their inclusion of fiber-filled, nutrient rich root vegetables and green tea in their diets may help explain their longevity. Benefits of root vegetables include improved vision and bone development and health benefits of green tea include weight loss and prevention of heart attacks and strokes.

Burdock and Carrot Stir-Fry

Kinpira gobo is a popular dish in Japan. It contains two root vegetables --- burdock root and carrots. A recipe to serve four persons includes 3 ft --- about ½ lb --- of thinly sliced burdock root --- also called gobo ---and two carrots cut into short, thin strips. You add the gobo strips to 2 tbsp. vegetable oil and fry them for a few minutes before adding the carrot strips, 1 tbsp. of soy sauce, 1 tbsp. of sugar, 2 tbsp. of mirin and 1 tbsp. tamaro. You stir fry until vegetables reach desired crispness, remove from heat and add 1 tsp. of sesame seeds, according to a recipe from Mitoku. Some recipes include sesame seeds and sake.

Health Benefits of Root Vegetables

Burdock root is high in fiber and contains prebiotic properties that could improve health, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. It acts as a blood purifier and a diuretic. It may be safely eaten, but side effects of burdock taken as an extract --- used in folk medicine to treat a variety of ailments --- are unstudied. Carrots contain beta-carotene that converts to vitamin A and promotes bone development, a healthy reproductive system and good eyesight, according to the Mayo Clinic. Other healthy root vegetables include sweet potatoes, a good source of vitamin C, vitamin A, potassium and fiber, and rutabaga, containing 35 percent of your daily requirement for vitamin C per serving.

Green Tea Health Benefits

A study that followed the health of 40,000 people in Japan for 11 years found that drinking green tea helped people live longer, healthier lives. People who drank five cups or more of green tea daily were 26 percent less likely to die from cardiovascular disease, according to the study led by Shinichi Kuriyami of Japan's Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine. People born in Japan die of heart attacks and strokes 30 percent less often than native North Americans, according to Shinichi's study, published in the September 2006 issue of the "Journal of the American Medical Society."

Green Tea Antioxidants

Green tea contains antioxidants called flavonoids, believed responsible for most of the tea's health benefits. All natural teas --- black, green, oolong and white --- contain antioxidants, but some possess more than others. Green tea, for instance, contains 3.5 times as many flavonoids as black tea. If you want to get the greatest benefits from catechins, you should brew green tea from loose leaves because processing destroys antioxidants. A cup of freshly brewed loose leaf green tea contains 132 mg of catechins, for instance, while tea brewed from bags contains 19 mg to 100 mg and bottled green tea contains 12, according to the U. S. Department of Agriculture.

Precautions

Green tea antioxidants are tolerated in high quantities. Mayo Clinic patients who consumed 2,000 mg of green tea flavonoids daily reported no ill effects and some improvements in their symptoms of leukemia. Green tea contains caffeine, although much less than black tea or coffee. Green tea comes in decaffeinated versions but contains about 50 percent fewer antioxidants. Pregnant women should consult their physicians before adding caffeinated beverages to their diets as caffeine consumption has been linked to low birth weight babies, according to the "British Medical Journal." Pregnant women should consult their physicians before adding burdock to their diets.

References

Article reviewed by GlennK Last updated on: Jun 14, 2011

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