I live in a city with many Chinese people. The oldsters are nearly all bent over their walkers with severe osteoporosis. My daughter married a half Japanese man who was brought up to eat polished white rice daily, as well as other Japanese food habits. They also pretty much live on noodles. He's lost several older relatives to cancer of the stomach and bowel. Yet they continue with the tradition of feeding polished white rice and noodles to the kids, despite trying to buy everything else organic (meats, vegetables, fruits).

I suspect that all the books and articles I have read about Chinese and Japanese diets being healthier are completely skewed. I see no evidence of it just looking around. Everything I read about soy tells me it's harmful and yet it's also still being promoted as a good source of protein. My daughter feeds her kids tofu dogs which I consider frankenfoods. They are called veggie dogs and there's not one vegetable in them. They are made of wheat and heavily processed soybeans.

Could experts stop trying to convince us that the Asian ways of eating are healthier? I put Japanese and Chinese in the same category as they both emphasize noodles and rice. There is so much printed about their healthier emphasis on a lot of stir fried vegetables with just a touch of meat for garnish. So yes, they don't get as obese as we do on the standard American diet, as they do not eat as many junk foods, but they do not get healthy. I have no data on how many died from stomach cancer before they emigrated from Japan, or how straight are the backs of old people living in China on a traditional diet with nothing Western added.

It's just that the myths are still written about and they bother me. How is polished white rice better for health than Froot Loops????