Research has shown that Japanese people are the most likely people to reach 100. Researchers associate their longevity of life to their diet. So are those researchers correct, is eating tofu and rice the golden hammer to a long life? Are people able to just eat into living until 100?
Interestingly, Jiroemon Kimura, who passed away at 116, is the oldest man on record and is from Kyotango Japan. Even more intriguing, is the fact that the new record holder is Misao Okawa, a 116- year-old from Osaka Japan. According the the UN, the Japanese have the greatest proportion of centenarians in the entire world. The reason for the high proportion of people who live long-lasting lives is credited to their diet, popularly known as the Okinawan diet.
Ogimi is a village in Japan that is home to the oldest people in the world, containing around a dozen centenarians. The town is comprised of small houses, vegetable patches, and people just sitting on their back porch enjoying the weather. They eat rice, tofu, bamboo shoots, seaweed, pickles and small pieces of pork.
Dr. Craig Willcox, an American gerontologist, who has spent countless years examining the Okinawan longevity has summarized the benefit of the diet: “The Okinawans have a low risk of arteriosclerosis and stomach cancer, a very low risk of hormone-dependent cancers, such as breast and prostate cancer. They eat three servings of fish a week, on average … plenty of whole grains, vegetables and soy products too, more tofu and more konbu seaweed than anyone else in the world, as well as squid and octopus, which are rich in taurine – that could lower cholesterol and blood pressure.”
Obviously, a person living to 100 is not only based on diet; DNA, temperament, exercise all contribute to the chance of living a long-life. Being a girl also helps. 85% of the world’s centenarians are women. But there is widespread acceptance that diet can affect around 30% of how long a person lives.
Now the big question is- to eat the tofu or not to eat the tofu?

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jun/19/japanese-diet-live-to-100