"Japanese Diet"
By: Abby Thompson
Article Summary:
This article was written by Sara G. Miller on March 22, 2016 and it was published through Live Science. In summary, the main goal of this article is to inform the reader that new studies have been done, showing that eating the traditional Japanese diet may lead to living a longer life. This diet includes a high intake of fish and soybean products, and a low intake of fat. Japan's dietary guidelines are presented as a "spinning top." It includes grains, vegetables, fish and meats, milk, and fruits represented by an inverted pyramid, with grains at the top. The study that was done to collect these findings included 36,000 men and 42,000 women across Japan. All of them completed a questionnaire about their food intake at the beginning of the study, and then again at the five and ten year follow up marks. While Japan already has the highest life expectancy in the world, following this diet strictly, increases their life expectancy even more. The study showed that if this diet was followed closely the person had a 15 percent lower risk of dying during a 15-year time period, as compared to people who didn't follow these guidelines. It also found that people who closely followed this diet were 22 percent less likely to die from a stroke or other related cardiovascular diseases. Researchers seem to think these findings suggest that a dietary pattern of a high intake of fruits and vegetables and a moderate intake of fish and meat can decrease the risk of morality from these diseases in East Asian populations.
Article Critique:
My author Sara G. Miller, has been working for Life Science has a health staff writer for 9 months now. Before working for Live Science she did various jobs for the Dr. Oz show, after graduating from Hamilton College in New York. Hamilton College is a little Ivy liberal arts school, that was ranked 14th in the nation among liberal arts schools. Sara's credentials seem to show that she is a credible writer. She attended a very good college and has held multiple jobs as an author. Also, she shows credibility in this article by citing where she obtained her information from, citing the picture she used, and putting in hyperlinks when needed. (To credible websites as well.) Next, when looking into the website Live Science I found it to be very credible as well. This website aims to bring new up and coming scientific findings to the average american. They keep things on a simple level so most people can understand them, but they make sure where they get their information is credible. They give us the author, the time and date it was published, and where they found their information. At the bottom of there website is also various links as to how to contact them, their copyright policy, privacy policy, licensing and reprints, and content. All these things assure me that this is a credible website to use. Lastly, the information used was credible. In the article, Sara tells us that she got her information from the BMJ. When looking at this first hand, the research shown was done by various professors and medical researchers. They published a paper showing their findings in a ton of detail, Sara just took what they found and made it easier for the average American to read.