In the last post, I said that miso soup was the most typical Washoku, the Japanese cuisine. Today I would like to share with you the five health benefits miso is said to have, so stick around.
Hi, my name is Sachiaki Takamiya. I am in my late 50s but haven’t had any problems at my yearly checkups so far. I am the founder of Ikigai Diet. Ikigai Diet is a diet and an integrated lifestyle that will help you stay young and healthy so that you can enjoy your 100-year-life. It is based on the traditional Japanese diet and the modern understanding of health and wellness.
We have a saying in Japanese “A bowl of miso soup a day will keep the doctors away.” Miso has always been a symbol of health, and it has been used in all kinds of cooking.
In the last 50 years or so, however, the consumption of miso has decreased, and a lot of young people in particular hardly eat miso soup these days. I sometimes host junior high school students from big cities on their Satoyama experience tours, and some of them tell me that they don’t usually have miso soup at home. Many people have bread for breakfast and our traditional Washoku breakfast; rice, miso soup, nori, and natto, is becoming a thing of the past.
Recently though, the health benefits of miso are in the limelight again, and many TV programs and magazines are featuring miso soup. There are a lot of recipe books, as well.
So what are the health benefits often being talked about?
There are about 5 of them.
1, Miso reduces the risk of cancer
2, Miso reduces the risk of other lifestyle-related diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.
3, Miso has an anti-aging effect.
4, Miso reduces your blood pressure.
5, Miso makes your skin smoother.
Yes, it seems to prevent many diseases, help you stay young, and make your skin young and beautiful.
Since I am not a doctor, I will not go into detail of how miso can help certain diseases, there are many other sites dealing with them, but one thing I can say is that it is a soybean-based fermented food and it contains a lot of probiotics which support your overall intestinal flora. Your gut flora is the key to your health, and if you need to do one thing, you can just take care of your gut microbiota, and miso helps you do that.