Sushi Benefits – Avaliable in every High Street food store, and a lunchtime favourite among office workers, sushi could be providing more than a tasty lunch.
Scientists believe it is one of the reasons why the Japanese are among the most healthy people in the world.
On average, the Japanese diet – raw fish, vegetables and rice – contains only 30pc fat, most of it the healthier polyunsaturated variety, compared with 40pc in Britain.
As a result, their rates of heart disease are among the lowest in the world. Recently, scientists in Japan found that sushi dishes – flavoured parcels of rice with raw fish and vegetables – could even protect smokers against lung cancer.
Professor Toshiro Takezaki, who led the study, says: ‘Japanese people love fresh fish, particularly sushi. We think that is why, even though the Japanese smoke as much as people in the UK, their rate of lung cancer is only two-thirds as high.’
The Cancer Research Campaign believes giving up smoking is the biggest preventive step, but says a high consumption of fresh fish and vegetables would lower the risk.