Italian pasta or Japanese rolls: which country in the world has the healthiest cuisine?

How to understand which country in the world has the healthiest cuisine? There is no universal method. You can only take into account the opinion of nutritionists and scientists, look at the official WHO statistics on life expectancy and the percentage of people suffering from obesity, and consider a few more criteria. Let’s say at once that Russian cuisine is not on the list of the healthiest.

Small portions – Japan

The most useful cuisine in the world is considered to be Japanese. Just do not think that it is exclusively sushi and rolls. The basis of the cuisine – fish, seafood, rice, colorful vegetables, beans, buckwheat noodles, greens, light dressings. Meat – pork. And be sure to have green tea, which has a lot of antioxidants. In addition, the culture of serving helps: in Japan, cooked food is served in small quantities in separate dishes.

Average life expectancy in Japan is 84.5 years.
The number of people suffering from obesity is 4.3%.

Protection against cancer – India

In Indian cuisine there is always a lot of fiber, whole grains are actively used, not rice. The basis of many dishes are legumes. And a lot of spices and herbs: turmeric, ginger, chili, cumin, cloves, cardamom. They protect the body from inflammation, reduce blood pressure and prevent the development of cancer. Meat – poultry. True, the average life expectancy is not greatly affected by a healthy cuisine, but in this case a rather low indicator is explained by unrelated to food reasons.

The average life expectancy in India is 68.8 years.
The number of people who are obese is 3.9%.

Intangible cultural heritage – the Mediterranean

Mediterranean cuisine is considered an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO because of its balance and diversity. Not everything tasty is unhealthy. Fish, poultry, seafood, vegetables, fruits, beans, whole grain cereals, nuts, cholesterol-free olive oil, spices and herbs instead of salt… There is room for cheese pizza, pasta with sauce, everything else, and definitely good wine.

The average life expectancy in Italy is 82.8, Spain – 83.1, Greece – 81.2 years.
The number of obese people in Italy – 19.9%, Spain – 23.8%, Greece – 24.9%.

Fast frying, stewing and steaming – China

A peculiarity of Chinese cuisine is the rapid frying of products, thanks to which harmful components of oil do not have time to be absorbed into the food. But frying is rarely used, stewing and steaming are much more common. The basis of dishes includes a variety of vegetables, rice, whole grain products, fish, legumes and fruits. The diet includes a lot of liquid dishes, which help to maintain the body’s water balance.

The average life expectancy in China is 76.4 years.
The number of people who are obese is 6.2%.

Minimize saturated fat – France

Probably, many people associate French food with a wide variety of pastries and desserts. France certainly has it all. So is the habit of doing without light snacks, preferring instead main courses. This allows you to reduce the number of calories in the daily diet by about 500. Cooks try to use such a method of heat treatment, such as baking. This way they remove saturated fats from the food. A variety of seafood and vegetables pleasantly complements the diet.

The average life expectancy in France is 82.9 years.
The number of people suffering from obesity is 21.6%.

The tastiest things are your own!

And Russian cuisine, perhaps, can be called the most diverse. Not always useful, often even harmful, but very tasty. After all, nutritionists say that the most useful is the cuisine based on products characteristic of a particular region. And it is impossible to draw a definite conclusion that the Japanese eat right and we do not.

The average life expectancy in Russia is 71.9 years.
The number of people suffering from obesity is 23.1%.

Much in terms of health depends not so much on cuisine, but on lifestyle. In this case, the advice is the same and traditional for everyone without exception – eat in moderation and move more.