In other words, people with this diet are
Food Culture  more likely to have diseases than people
How does diet affect health and lifespan?
By Alexis Zuniga
11/3/17
Mr. Matthews
Introduction
The world is made up of diverse
cultures. All of the people from these
cultures have different diets based on
needs, availability, trade and other factors.
Some could say that the Japanese live
longer than Americans and they may not
necessarily be wrong. How can that be? Is
the food they eat making them live longer or
is it just that the food you eat is making your
lifespan shorter? How does diet affect
health and lifespan? While some may think
this question can have a simple yes or no
answer, is it really ever that easy? People
could say that because Japan doesn’t have
fast food places at every street corner they
are inherently healthier. Then again people
could also say that because most hispanics
do manual labor to make a living they will
never be obese. Things are not always as
they seem. Certain diets make a person
more prone to diseases and others lack vital
vitamins that without them cause anemia.
Studies show that diet is very important.
Expert Opinions
Does diet affect health and lifespan?
In ​Escape From The Western Diet​ by
Michael Pollan he says,
“People eating a western diet are prone to a
complex of chronic diseases that seldom
strike people eating more traditional diets.”
(They say, I say, pg 421)
who don’t.
Michele Bellantoni from Johns
Hopkins University School of Medicine says
that it's not just the food you’re eating but
how many calories you’re intaking. (1)
People in the United States, right before
Austria and Greece, as it has been proven,
intake more calories than any other country.
(2) Calorie intake leads to obesity and
obesity leads to health problems, shortening
lifespan.
On the other hand, a study taken in
Japan determined that the high life
expectancy is from diet. The study
assessed, “Tens of thousands of men and
women,” and their diet. Japan, which has
one of the lowest mortality rates in the
world, recommended a food guide in 2005.
The study surveyed people after fifteen
years and found that people who followed
this food guide had a 15% lower mortality
rate. The study concluded: “Our findings
suggest that balanced consumption of
energy, grains, vegetables, fruits, meat, fish,
eggs, soy products, dairy products,
confectionaries, and alcoholic beverages
can contribute to longevity by decreasing
the risk of death, predominantly from
cardiovascular disease, in the Japanese
population.” (3 & 4) What this means is that
a balanced diet can contribute to having a
longer lifespan by decreasing risk of death.
Likewise, hispanics who have
moved to the United States have a, “24%
lower risk of all-cause mortality and lower
risk of 9 of the leading 15 causes of death in
the United States.” (5) (1 min) Hispanics eat
more processed foods and adjust to life in
America but their diet still contains essential
foods that they have eaten since they were
children. Hispanics eat more beans that any
1
other americans and in fact consume ⅓ of In total there were 17 participants.
the beans that are eaten each year in the 56% were hispanic or of spanish origin,
United States. Beans seems to be the 28% were American or white, 8% were
answer to the Hispanic Paradox. A Asian, and 8% were black or African
confusing case because in america American.
hispanics have virtually no insurance or
health care of any sort and yet they live
longer than the americans who do.
While the experts stated above have
the same idea, that certain foods are better
for you than others and can make for a
healthier lifestyle and longer life, they seem
to disagree on several occasions. What
foods are the ones extending a person's
lifespan and making them healthier? Is a
person’s lifespan really being extended or
are people just dying younger? So the Figure 1: Nationality
question remains, how does diet affect (see appendix for larger picture)
health and lifespan? Are people’s views on
diet and our society’s culture what impacts Results
our diet the most? A question asked was, how
important is your diet to you on a scale of
Methodology one to ten and the results were as follows:
In order to find out what people eat, Level 1 - 11.8%
why and how it affects them physically I Level 2 - 11.8%
surveyed a group of students. (6) This Level 3 - 0%
survey included 10 questions about race Level 4 - 0%
and diet. Those surveyed are my fellow Level 5 - 23.5%
students. All of those surveyed have a Level 6 - 0%
range of age from 14 - 18. While having Level 7 - 17.6%
different age groups would have provided Lever 8 - 5.9%
better results, surveying children has it’s Level 9 - 5.9%
advantages as well. Level 10 - 23.5%
Children and young adults eat whats
put in front of them or make their own food.
The food they’re eating is most likely food
from their parents nationality as many
people have immigrated to the United
States. Even young adults who make their
own food tend to lean towards what they
have eaten all their lives. This has worked in
our favor as we now have different cultures
and their diets to examin.

2
Figure 2: Dietary Importance
When asked which of the following
was the best diet 41.2% of participants
answered, a vegetarian based diet which
includes fish but no meat like chicken or
steak. On the other hand 29.4% of the
participants concluded that an all organic
food based diet was the best choice.
Figure 5: Portion Sizes
A follow up question was asked, do
you eat portion sizes? The majority, 41.7%,
responded no. 23.5% of people said yes,
17.6% of people said sometimes and 11.%
chose the response, I don’t believe in
portion sizes.

Figure 3: The Best Diet

A persons opinion on the best diet
differs from their actual diet and so the
question was proposed, what is your diet?
The answers to this question are as follows:
52.9% for whatever I feel like having, 41.2%
for latino or hispanic origin food and 5.9%
for “the American diet” which includes hot
dogs, cheeseburgers, etc. Figure 6: Putting it to Practice: Eating
Portion Sizes
To be fair and to provide us with
more information the question was asked,
how many times do you eat in a day?
Participants responded, 17.65% for 3,
11.8% for 4, 41.2% for 5, 17.6% for 6, 5.9%
for 7, and 5.9% for 10 times in a day.

Figure 4: Your Diet

What do you consider when buying
food? The participants answered: 41.2% for
taste, 35.3% for price, and 23.5% for health.
Another question in the survey was,
do you believe in portion sizes? This was a
yes or no question which received 58.8% for
yes and 41.2% for no.
Figure 7: Snacks and Meals in a Day

3
 important. Keep these experts opinions and
Analysis and Discussion the results from the survey in mind next time
The results of this survey suggest you decide to go shopping for groceries or
that a person’s point of view on diet is want to stop at a fast food restaurant.
entirely based on their nationality and
availability. The survey also confirms that Bibliography
when food is available in excess people will
overeat. No, this is not taking into account 1 ​“Foods for a Strong Heart, Brain, and 
the physical tendencies of the participants, Bones.” ​WebMD​, WebMD, 
but even football players have a limit as to https://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/featu
how many calories they should intake. This res/longevity-foods#1
survey asks the question, do you believe in 2 ​ChartsBin. “Daily Calorie Intake Per 
portion sizes? The next question was, do Capita.” ​ChartsBin​, 
you eat portion sizes. Although many http://chartsbin.com/view/1150
answered yes to the latter, do you believe in 3 &4 ​Gander, Kashmira. “Japan's High 
portion sizes, many more answered no to Life Expectancy Linked to Diet, Study 
the question, do you eat portion sizes. As Finds.” ​The Independent​, Independent 
found by the experts in this field, like
Digital News and Media, 28 Mar. 2016,  
nutritionists and doctors to even your very
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/healt
food conscious neighbor, certain foods are
h-and-families/health-news/high-life-expecta
better for you. The results of this survey
ncy-in-japan-partly-down-to-diet-carbohydra
enlighten you, the reader, as to just how
tes-vegetables-fruit-fish-meat-a6956011.ht
many people around you may or may not
ml
have a good diet dependent on their
5 ​FACLM, Michael Greger M.D. “The 
nationality.
Hispanic Paradox: Why Do Latinos Live 
Longer?”​NutritionFacts.org​, 1 Aug. 2016, 
Conclusion
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-hispanic-p
Question, experts, results, what
aradox-why-do-latinos-live-longer/
does this all mean for me? In the expert's
opinion, diet does affect health and lifespan.
The survey taken confirms that people from
different cultures and have different diets
live either longer or shorter periods of time.
A good diet, it seems, would be the one
recommended by the Japanese. They have
after all, decrease the mortality rate by 15%.
An important point to notice is that when
excess of food is available people overeat.
Your calorie intake, as stated by Michele
Bellantoni, one of our experts from earlier, is
important and excess food means more
calorie intake which can lead to obesity and
a whole other list of problems. Your diet is

4
Appendix

Japan’s food guide

5
Figure 1: Nationality

Figure 2: Dietary Importance

6
Figure 3: The Best Diet

Figure 4: Your Diet

7
Figure 5: Portion Sizes

Figure 6: Putting it to Practice: Eating

Portion Sizes

8
Figure 7: Snacks and Meals in a Day

Survey

How Diet Affects ●

●
American
Western European
● Asian
Health and ● African
● Native American (Ex: Andrea)

Lifespan ● Other:

How important is your diet to

Please answer the following questions by
you? ​*
choosing only one of the answers provided
not really
* Required 1
2
What nationality, race or ethnic 3
4
group do you consider yourself
5
to be in? ​* 6
7
● Latino or Hispanic
8
9
9
 10 10
very important
How many meals do you eat in
Which of the following is the a day (not including snacks) ​*
best diet? ​* 1
2
● A vegetarian based diet (includes 3
fish but no meat including no 4
chicken)
5
● A vegan diet (no meat, fish, chicken,
6
eggs or anything from an animal)
● Spicy foods 7
● All organic foods
● Protein diet What do you consider when
buying food? ​*
What is your diet? ​*
● Price
● Whatever I feel like having ● Taste
● Latino or of hispanic origin food ● Is it Organic?
● Seafood based diet ● Health
● “The American Diet” (burgers, hot ● Animal treatment
dogs, pizza)
● European diet (everything organic/
local) Do you believe in portion sizes?
● Asian diet
*

How many times do you eat in a ● Yes

● No
day (including snacks) ​*
1 Do you eat portion sizes? ​*
2
3 ● Yes
4 ● No
● Sometimes
5
● I don't believe in portion sizes
6
7
8
9

10
How many glasses of water do
you drink in a day? (1 glass = 8
ounces or 1 cup) ​*
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

SUB

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